Rangers need to burn the tape after Blues 6-2 romp
The New York Rangers coming off a bad loss to the Wild in Minnesota found themselves in St. Louis looking to rebound.
Unfortunately, the only rebounds happening were against the Blueshirts goaltending and defense as the Blues overwhelmed them for six goals.
It was a game to forget and if there’s a tape my advice for the Rangers is to incinerate it.
Recap: Blues 6 vs Rangers 2
The Blues outshot the Rangers 16-11 in the first period while taking a 3-1 lead.
First they scored on a three-man rush, capped by a give-and-go play between Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas at the 13:05 mark. Just 45 seconds later Ivan Barbashev converted Brandon Saad’s centering pass with a point-blank shot.
Less than 2 minutes after that, Thomas took Kyrou’s pass from the right circle and scored from the slot to boost the lead to 3-0.
“Too many high quality scoring chances,” Jacob Trouba said. “We’ve got to get our game back to where we want it to be. You can’t throw away any shifts… we’ve got to be better.”
The Rangers scored a power-play goal to cut their deficit to 3-1 with 1:23 left in the period. Adam Fox raced up the right wing and set up Ryan Strome’s goal from the left circle.
Leaving Igor out to dry
But the Blues resumed their onslaught in the second period. Ryan O’Reilly chased Igor Shesterkin 15 seconds off of an aggressive forecheck. David Perron stole the puck in the left corner, then Brayden Schenn fed O’Reilly — who put the Blues up 4-1.
Losing goaltender Shesterkin allowed four goals on 17 shots before Alexandar Georgiev replaced him in the second period.
It’s on us as players to be better in front of (Shesterkin),” Barclay Goodrow said.
With the Blues playing with six attackers on a delayed Rangers penalty, the Blues sustained offensive zone pressure before Jake Walman scored from the right circle to increase the lead to 5-1.
David Perron spun high in the left circle and took a low shot that deflected by Georgiev to make it 6-1.
The Rangers cut the lead to 6-2 with another power-play goal, this time with K’Andre Miller breaking in from the blue line to tap in Artemi Panarin’s pass toward the left post.
Embarrassing loss
The third period was an opportunity for the Rangers at least to make a statement heading to Dallas. Woefully, the team mustered a grand total of 4 shots on goal. A stunning total considering how normally a team that’s down in the final frame outshoots the team with the lead.
“There’s lessons that need to be learned,” Barclay Goodrow said. “We need to learn from those and turn the page for a big game on Saturday (Dallas Stars).”
Rangers head coach was a lot harsher with his assessment of the team’s performance.
“They should be embarrassed a little bit,” Gallant said about the team leaving Shesterkin out to dry.
“The way this guy plays for them all year and then they come out and play like that? After a bad game in Minnesota.”
Ville Husso made 27 saves to earn the victory for the Blues. And although he made several great saves, the Rangers were never really a threat on this night.
“We looked soft,” a disappointed Gallant said.
Notable Rangers
- Igor Shesterkin allowed 4 goals on 17 shots, he also recorded an assist
- Alexandar Georgiev stopped 16 of 18 shots in relief
- K’Andre Miller scored his first NHL PPG
- Adam Fox registered 2 assists
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–Field Level Media contributed to this article
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