Rangers ‘not close to good enough’ in OT loss to Sens
All the New York Rangers needed to do was hold on for 49 more seconds to put together two straight wins for the first time since November 19 and 22.
With the extra attacker on, the Ottawa Senators pressed in the Rangers zone as Jacob Trouba failed to get the puck out on a clearing attempt. In fairness, Thomas Chabot made a hell of a play to keep it in the zone, but his harmless point shot was tipped by Brady Tkachuk as he skated unchecked through the middle of the ice to knot the game up.
Tkachuk then put the final nail in the Blueshirts coffin as he slipped a puck through Igor Shesterkin’s pads with 18 seconds to go in overtime.
New York Rangers just not good enough
Senators 3 vs Rangers 2 (OT)
The Rangers have now lost three straight on Garden ice by blowing a lead in each contest.
“It wasn’t good enough,” Gerard Gallant said via the team’s YouTube channel. “I mean, obviously we had two chances in overtime, but we didn’t play well enough to even be there, to be honest with you. We were fortunate to be 2-2, but it wasn’t good enough, especially the first two periods.”
Shesterkin deserved a much better fate than a 3-2 overtime loss as he stopped 34 of 37 shots. But once again, the Rangers’ problems stemmed from not playing a full game the right way.
“We had probably 15 good minutes of a 65 minute hockey game,” he added. “After losing the last couple at home the way we did, it’s not acceptable for our group. It’s frustrating as a coach.”
New York started this game on the wrong foot when Filip Chytil was assessed a double minor for high sticking. However, the big kill gave the Rangers some life and eventually a lead when Vitali Kravtsov was able to beat Cam Talbot glove side for his first goal of the season 10:31 into the first period.
From there, the Rangers seemed to let up and go flat.
After Claude Giroux tied the game midway through the second, only to have it overturned to an offside challenge, Tim Stutzle got the job done on the power play a minute later.
Trouba was in the box for a trip when the Sens tied it and the Rangers captain went looking to spark some life into his team by dropping the gloves with the Sens captain and chief agitator Tkachuck. That was followed by Barclay Goodrow also trying to keep building the momentum with a tilt of his own.
It seemed to work with Mika Zibanejad crashing the net to put home Braden Schneider’s point shot. The Blueshirts leading goal getter found the puck after it caught Sens’ defenseman Artem Zub in the face to give the Blueshirts a 2-1 third period lead with under 14 minutes to play.
In the end, it wasn’t good enough and it has the Rangers still trying to find their identity for the 2022-23 season.
“It feels disappointing,” Zibanejad said. “Right now it sucks.”
Notable Rangers
- Igor Shesterkin stopped 34 of 37
- Vitali Kravtsov scores first goal of season
- Mika Zibanejad leads the team with 12 goals
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