The Rangers were dominated by the Flames the first two periods, but scored twice in 16 seconds in the middle frame to go into the third tied. New York carried play to start the third but allowed a Connor Zary tally with 9:25 to go that resulted in the 3-2 loss. If the Blueshirts play this way against Connor McDavid and the Oilers on Saturday, the contest could get ugly.
Game recap:
Lines versus Calgary:
Panarin - Trocheck - Laf
Kreider - Zib - Smith
Cuylle - Brodzinski - Kakko
Edström - Carrick - Vesey
Miller - Fox
Lindgren - Trouba
Jones - Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
A few thoughts:
1) Penned in: Calgary had the Rangers on their heels right from the get-go. New York lacked energy and were on their heels chasing most of the first 40 minutes. That was evident in the shot attempts in total and on goal.
Shot attempts period 1: 34-11, shots 20-4, Calgary with seven high-danger opportunities.
Shot attempts after two: 63:33, shots 37-19. Fairly stark differences.
The Blueshirts were better to start the last frame, but after a slight burst, the Flames took over. After Zary’s goal, New York rallied a bit, but were unable to breakthrough, resulting in the defeat. The solid play the last few games was a distant memory, replaced by the outplay we saw on the ice yesterday.
2) Hand pass: while the game didn't fully get decided by the call, it certainly had an influence. New York didn't play well up until that point and might have lost anyway but the lack of consistency even on this call is pretty staggering. Especially when the Rangers got called for a similar infraction, though slightly different application, later.
On the power play, the puck went to Jonathan Huberdeau who looked like he was trying to grab it and then deflected it with his hand. The play looked so egregious and like a hand pass, the Calgary player behind the net basically waited a beat or two before he played the puck, expecting a call. As the play continued, the puck went to Yegor Sharangovich who beat Igor Shesterkin wide, aided by a slight screen by K'Andre Miller.
"The Situation Room determined that the puck deflected off Jonathan Huberdeau’s glove prior to Yegor Sharangovich’s goal, therefore, it was not deemed to be a hand pass." ... Watch this, In the SAME GAME. First one deflection good but second one deflection bad #NYR#NHLhttps://t.co/W9pqoQw4Ycpic.twitter.com/nYJsFjfAMd
Peter Laviolette was livid and a read of the rules seems to back him up. As said above, while this didn't cause the loss, the end result gave Calgary a 2-0 lead and another power play. New York barely killed that off, after which, they scored the two goals in 16 seconds. The lack of clarity - again - and the similar type called the exact inverse later and at other times in the past few seasons is what is extremely frustrating.
"He opened up his hand to play the puck," Laviolette said. "He goes to grab it, and it bats off of his hand and goes right to their player. It got called dead two more times in the game – the exact same plays. It gets called dead every time. Any time that ever happens on the ice, it gets called dead. So, I don't understand it. I still don't understand it."
According to NHL rule 79.1, "A player shall be permitted to stop or ‘bat’ a puck in the air with his open hand, or push it along the ice with his hand, and the play shall not be stopped unless, in the opinion of the on-ice officials, he has directed the puck to a teammate, or has allowed his team to gain an advantage, and subsequently possession and control of the puck is obtained by a player of the offending team, either directly or deflected off any player or official.”
3) The offense mainly consisted of passengers after last night. After three solid games, the Mika Zibanejad line were vastly outplayed yesterday, subsumed in a blizzard of speed and grit they lacked. That trio was on the ice for Matthew Coronato's game-opening tally, lagging well behind down the ice. Plus, they failed to generate a single shot on goal while allowing 11 on Thursday.
Laviolette changed up the lines in the second, moving Kaapo Kakko to center, benching Jonny Brodzinski, and at times, Sam Carrick. I didn't think Carrick had a bad game, as he was noticeable physically when on the ice. Kakko, who won 6-of-9 draws, including the one prior to Cuylle's goal, was between Cuylle and Jimmy Vesey.
As Vince Mercogliano noted, the Rangers were outshot, 10-3, while Kakko was on the ice, with the numbers particularly striking (6-1 with a 12-1 disadvantage in shot attempts) before Brodzinski was removed from that line. Once the change was made, the play was more balanced and that unit was dangerous. Kakko was defending Zary on the game-winning goal. He gave Zary outside room and likely deflected the shot slightly, changing the trajectory over Igor Shesterkin's shoulder, but i didn't think he played it poorly.
One positive again was the play of Cuylle, whose deflection tied the game at two. What was even more impressive was his post-game comments. He was the sole person, maybe also Ryan Lindgren, who recognized what the problem was and called out the team overall rather than using generic statements and platitudes.
"We weren't doing anything right in the first period," said Cuylle. "I thought we were pretty bad."
"When we try to overcomplicate things and try to do too much through the neutral zone, I think a lot of times, it comes back to bite us, especially off the rush," Cuylle said. "If you look at all our games, when we're dominating and playing really well, I think we're keeping it simple and just getting pucks out of our end, through the neutral zone, into their end, and just recovering them. It’s more of a simple mindset."
"You've just got to commit to playing that way," he added. "And I think when we commit to playing that way − the right way − I think it'll be more consistent for us."
"They came out hard," Lindgren said. "They were all over us. They were forechecking us hard. We didn’t do a good job of getting the puck out, and when we did get it out, we weren't getting it in. We were turning it over and they were coming right back at us. It’s definitely not the way we want to start the game. It's tough to come back like that. We fought, ended up tying up, but didn't get it done in the third."
If the team allows Edmonton that much time and space, it will be a track meet, which is not how New York wants to play. The game could get ugly if that is the case. Based on the workload and workout Igor got yesterday, don't be surprised if Jonathan Quick is between the pipes.
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