3 Rangers takeaways from momentum-killing 7-5 loss to Kraken
Apparently the New York Rangers aren’t quite ready to embrace prosperity just yet. After showing some resolve in a solid win Friday hours after their captain Jacob Trouba was traded, they went out and blew a second-period lead and lost to the Seattle Kraken 7-5 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon.
At first, it appeared the Rangers were well on their way to building momentum from the 4-2 win Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, racing to a 3-1 lead early in the second period Sunday. But then they allowed five straight goals and couldn’t catch up despite some late-game production.
The underlying metrics and most of the numbers from the game favored the Rangers. But yet they lost for the seventh time in nine games (2-7-0).
Three goals against in 5:18 of the second period and a total of five unanswered goals allowed the Kraken to pull a complete 180, earning their first regulation win against the Rangers in franchise history (6-1-1).
“I feel like we were kind of just stretching the game a little bit, looking for plays that were not there yet instead of collectively breaking the puck out and working on the forecheck as a group of five,” Rangers forward Reilly Smith said postgame. “I think we were probably looking for easy offense a little bit too much in the second period and it kind of caught us.”
Related: What to know about new Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen
3 takeaways from Rangers 7-5 loss to Kraken
1. Lack of killer instinct proves costly
The Rangers had the Kraken exactly where they wanted them over half-way through the game. They had a 3-1 lead, were the dominant team, and had all of the momentum as the game moved along. What they didn’t have, however, was the killer instinct to put the game away. One more goal likely could have sealed it for the Rangers. Instead, Kraken goaltender Philip Grubauer made several timely stops, including Smith on a breakaway, and the Kraken went on to score five straight.
In times like this when the Rangers are desperately in need of a win streak, there has to be a killer instinct. The Rangers needed to put the game away when they were ahead, but instead found themselves trying to claw their way back into it at the end.
To their credit, they didn’t quit down three in the third period. And they did score five goals, from five different goal scorers. But they didn’t get the timely goal nor put away the Kraken, at home nonetheless. Can’t happen.
2. Defensive zone coverage remains an issue
The Rangers, overall, didn’t actually play a terrible game in their own end. They grossly out-chanced the Kraken 27-11 and had an xGF at 5v5 of 69.27 percent, per Natural Stat Trick.
That being said, the defensive lapses that happen time and time again all happened to lead to goals against this time around.
“If you go back and look at it, the chances, all of them were the goals,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said postgame. “At those points in the game, we needed to defend better than what we did. We had the pieces in place, and it was a little bit too loose. That looseness cost us.”
In one instance it was Ryan Lindgren who was a step behind his man. In another, it was Kaapo Kakko who let Shane Wright get in front of him for a redirection. In any instance, the Rangers need more of a commitment in the defensive zone. They scored more than enough goals to win the game, but the defensive lapses cost them big time.
3. Signs of resiliency a positive, but not enough to win
If there was anything positive to take away from this game, it is that the Rangers showed a response to getting scored on in multiple instances, which is something that has been lacking this season. First, it was Filip Chytil who was able to score just 1:04 after Seattle tied the game 1-1. Vincent Trocheck added to that response with a goal of his own less than two minutes later.
It happened again when the Kraken scored to make it a 6-3 game. The Rangers battled back with a goal less than two minutes after the Kraken tally when K’Andre Miller got on the board. Then Alexis Lafreniere scored two and a half minutes after that. While the Rangers made it an interesting a 6-5 game, though it was not enough to come back and grab the win.
Nonetheless, it is good to see the Rangers showing some fight. They’ll need to take the positives from this game and build on them when they face the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday.
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