Rangers Return From Break And Lose 5-3 In Nashville
Monday night in Nashville the
Rangers returned to action playing their first game in six days, but
still seemed to be on holiday break, falling to the Predators at
Bridgestone Arena 5-3.
New York has now lost four of its last five games and is 2-6-1 in its last nine overall. The Rangers have not won on the road since November 21 in Florida, posting a 0-6-2 record in that span.
Not even the return of injured defensemen Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein was enough to spark a Rangers team that saw the game slip away Monday by allowing three consecutive third-period goals.
Henrik Lundqvist allowed five goals on 35 shots before being pulled in favor of Antti Raanta--who himself returned from a head injury which had caused him to miss the previous three games--at 12:07 of the third period.
The Rangers were fortunate to be trailing only 1-0 at the first intermission after being outshot 15-6 and out-attempted 29-12 during a fairly lopsided first period. Lundqvist, though, was extremely sharp in keeping the Predators at bay, especially when his club surrendered the first seven shots of the game.
However the Predators managed to break through late in the period with their red-hot power play striking on its first opportunity. With Derick Brassard in the box serving a roughing minor, Nashville's Filip Forsberg one-timed a Roman Josi feed into the back of the net with 64 seconds remaining in the opening period. It mraked Nashville's 11th power play goal in 40 opportunities during the month of December, the league's fourth-best power play this month.
The second period was played on a much more level playing field, with the Rangers holding a 14-11 shots advantage and both teams scoring once in the period, giving Nashville a 2-1 advantage after 40 minutes of play.
Jesper Fast redirected a Girardi shot past Predators goalie Pekka Rinne to pull New York even, 1-1, at the 6:59 mark of the second period. The goal was Fast's sixth of the season and came on a nearly identical play to one in the first period in which Rinne made a quick pad save after Fast deflected a shot while positoned between the circles.
The assist was Girardi's first point since December 6th and only his second in his last 14 games played dating to November 19. Of course Girardi had missed the previous five games leading into Monday's encounter because of swelling in his knee. On Monday Girardi skated freely and was very active in the offensive end. In fact he recorded New York's first shot of the game at 5:50 of the first, an excellent scoring opportunity from right out in front, set up by Dominic Moore after his own strong cycle with the puck.
New York nearly took the lead 13 minutes into the second, but Rinne made a clutch save on Dan Boyle's right-wing shot off a 3-on-2 rush. Shortly thereafter Nashville rushed the other way and James Neal snapped his 14th goal past Lundqvist as the Predators regained their one-goal lead, 2-1, at 13:48.
Rick Nash, who played with jump and recorded five shots on goal through two periods, came awfully close to tying things up again at 18:47 of the second when he powered to the net and fired a shot that got through Rinne, but was swatted away from the goal line by Calle Jarnkrok as Klein charged in from the right wing.
Trailing 2-1 Lundqvist kept the Rangers within striking distance with several big stops early in the third period. That and a bit of good fortune kept this a one-goal game.
It appeared that Forsberg had given the Predators a 3-1 lead at 5:18 when he banked a shot from behind the net off of Moore and Lundqvist and into the cage, but the Rangers challenged the on-ice ruling, claiming that Craig Smith had interfered with Lundqvist. After a lengthy video review the Rangers challenge was upheld and the goal was taken off the scoreboard.
Good luck did not remain on the Rangers side when Nashville's Smith scored two minutes later on a deflection and the goal at 7:34 was this time upheld by video review--officials declaring that Smith did not touch the puck with a high stick as Lundqvist had thought.
The wheels then came off for New York as Ryan Ellis netted a power play goal at 9:52 and Neal scored his second of the night--and 15th of the season--at 11:13, putting the Rangers in a 5-1 hole.
The Rangers showed some life, though, as Nash scored an unassisted goal at 13:20--his 11th this season--and J.T. Miller followed with his eighth at 16:02 to bring New York within two goals, 5-3.
FINAL STATS
NY RANGERS 3 NASHVILLE PREDATORS 5
Scoring Summary
1st Period
18:56 NSH PPG - Filip Forsberg (10) Slapshot - ASST: Roman Josi (18) 1 - 0 NSH
2nd Period
06:59 NYR Jesper Fast (6) Tip-in - ASST: Dan Girardi (8), Chris Kreider (11) 1 - 1 Tie
13:48 NSH James Neal (14) Wrist shot - ASST: Mike Ribeiro (18), Colin Wilson (11) 2 - 1 NSH
3rd Period
07:34 NSH Craig Smith (8) Tip-in - ASST: Roman Josi (19), Mike Ribeiro (19) 3 - 1 NSH
09:52 NSH PPG - Ryan Ellis (4) Slapshot - ASST: Seth Jones (10), Mike Ribeiro (20) 4 - 1 NSH
11:13 NSH James Neal (15) Wrist shot - ASST: Calle Jarnkrok (7), Miikka Salomaki (1) 5 - 1 NSH
13:20 NYR Rick Nash (11) Snap shot - ASST: NONE 5 - 2 NSH
16:02 NYR J.T. Miller (8) Wrist shot - ASST: Derek Stepan (7) 5 - 3 NSH
Penalty Summary
1st Period
18:33 NYR Derick Brassard Roughing - 2 min against James Neal
2nd Period
14:56 NSH Colin Wilson Tripping - 2 min against Dominic Moore
3rd Period
08:29 NYR Dominic Moore Hooking - 2 min against Calle Jarnkrok
shots by period
Period NYR NSH
1st 6 15
2nd 14 11
3rd 9 9
Total 29 35
Team Stats
Category NYR NSH
Power Plays 0/1 2/2
Hits 21 14
Faceoff Wins 21 35
Giveaways 7 14
Takeaways 3 7
Blocked Shots 17 9
Penalty Minutes 4 2
RANGERS UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Next Game: Wednesday 12/30 @ Tampa Bay, Saturday 1/2 @ Florida, Tuesday 1/5 vs Dallas.
New York has now lost four of its last five games and is 2-6-1 in its last nine overall. The Rangers have not won on the road since November 21 in Florida, posting a 0-6-2 record in that span.
Not even the return of injured defensemen Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein was enough to spark a Rangers team that saw the game slip away Monday by allowing three consecutive third-period goals.
Henrik Lundqvist allowed five goals on 35 shots before being pulled in favor of Antti Raanta--who himself returned from a head injury which had caused him to miss the previous three games--at 12:07 of the third period.
The Rangers were fortunate to be trailing only 1-0 at the first intermission after being outshot 15-6 and out-attempted 29-12 during a fairly lopsided first period. Lundqvist, though, was extremely sharp in keeping the Predators at bay, especially when his club surrendered the first seven shots of the game.
However the Predators managed to break through late in the period with their red-hot power play striking on its first opportunity. With Derick Brassard in the box serving a roughing minor, Nashville's Filip Forsberg one-timed a Roman Josi feed into the back of the net with 64 seconds remaining in the opening period. It mraked Nashville's 11th power play goal in 40 opportunities during the month of December, the league's fourth-best power play this month.
The second period was played on a much more level playing field, with the Rangers holding a 14-11 shots advantage and both teams scoring once in the period, giving Nashville a 2-1 advantage after 40 minutes of play.
Jesper Fast redirected a Girardi shot past Predators goalie Pekka Rinne to pull New York even, 1-1, at the 6:59 mark of the second period. The goal was Fast's sixth of the season and came on a nearly identical play to one in the first period in which Rinne made a quick pad save after Fast deflected a shot while positoned between the circles.
The assist was Girardi's first point since December 6th and only his second in his last 14 games played dating to November 19. Of course Girardi had missed the previous five games leading into Monday's encounter because of swelling in his knee. On Monday Girardi skated freely and was very active in the offensive end. In fact he recorded New York's first shot of the game at 5:50 of the first, an excellent scoring opportunity from right out in front, set up by Dominic Moore after his own strong cycle with the puck.
New York nearly took the lead 13 minutes into the second, but Rinne made a clutch save on Dan Boyle's right-wing shot off a 3-on-2 rush. Shortly thereafter Nashville rushed the other way and James Neal snapped his 14th goal past Lundqvist as the Predators regained their one-goal lead, 2-1, at 13:48.
Rick Nash, who played with jump and recorded five shots on goal through two periods, came awfully close to tying things up again at 18:47 of the second when he powered to the net and fired a shot that got through Rinne, but was swatted away from the goal line by Calle Jarnkrok as Klein charged in from the right wing.
Trailing 2-1 Lundqvist kept the Rangers within striking distance with several big stops early in the third period. That and a bit of good fortune kept this a one-goal game.
It appeared that Forsberg had given the Predators a 3-1 lead at 5:18 when he banked a shot from behind the net off of Moore and Lundqvist and into the cage, but the Rangers challenged the on-ice ruling, claiming that Craig Smith had interfered with Lundqvist. After a lengthy video review the Rangers challenge was upheld and the goal was taken off the scoreboard.
Good luck did not remain on the Rangers side when Nashville's Smith scored two minutes later on a deflection and the goal at 7:34 was this time upheld by video review--officials declaring that Smith did not touch the puck with a high stick as Lundqvist had thought.
The wheels then came off for New York as Ryan Ellis netted a power play goal at 9:52 and Neal scored his second of the night--and 15th of the season--at 11:13, putting the Rangers in a 5-1 hole.
The Rangers showed some life, though, as Nash scored an unassisted goal at 13:20--his 11th this season--and J.T. Miller followed with his eighth at 16:02 to bring New York within two goals, 5-3.
FINAL STATS
NY RANGERS 3 NASHVILLE PREDATORS 5
Scoring Summary
1st Period
18:56 NSH PPG - Filip Forsberg (10) Slapshot - ASST: Roman Josi (18) 1 - 0 NSH
2nd Period
06:59 NYR Jesper Fast (6) Tip-in - ASST: Dan Girardi (8), Chris Kreider (11) 1 - 1 Tie
13:48 NSH James Neal (14) Wrist shot - ASST: Mike Ribeiro (18), Colin Wilson (11) 2 - 1 NSH
3rd Period
07:34 NSH Craig Smith (8) Tip-in - ASST: Roman Josi (19), Mike Ribeiro (19) 3 - 1 NSH
09:52 NSH PPG - Ryan Ellis (4) Slapshot - ASST: Seth Jones (10), Mike Ribeiro (20) 4 - 1 NSH
11:13 NSH James Neal (15) Wrist shot - ASST: Calle Jarnkrok (7), Miikka Salomaki (1) 5 - 1 NSH
13:20 NYR Rick Nash (11) Snap shot - ASST: NONE 5 - 2 NSH
16:02 NYR J.T. Miller (8) Wrist shot - ASST: Derek Stepan (7) 5 - 3 NSH
Penalty Summary
1st Period
18:33 NYR Derick Brassard Roughing - 2 min against James Neal
2nd Period
14:56 NSH Colin Wilson Tripping - 2 min against Dominic Moore
3rd Period
08:29 NYR Dominic Moore Hooking - 2 min against Calle Jarnkrok
shots by period
Period NYR NSH
1st 6 15
2nd 14 11
3rd 9 9
Total 29 35
Team Stats
Category NYR NSH
Power Plays 0/1 2/2
Hits 21 14
Faceoff Wins 21 35
Giveaways 7 14
Takeaways 3 7
Blocked Shots 17 9
Penalty Minutes 4 2
RANGERS UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Next Game: Wednesday 12/30 @ Tampa Bay, Saturday 1/2 @ Florida, Tuesday 1/5 vs Dallas.
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