Rangers Suffer 7-5 Defeat In Edmonton

It started out as a night to remember for the Rangers Friday night in Edmonton, but it ended up as one to forget with the Rangers falling to the Oilers 7-5 in their last visit to Rexall Place, which will be replaced by a new midtown arena next season.
New York allowed Edmonton's Taylor Hall to score the game-winning goal with 1:33 to play in regulation--just 13 seconds after Rick Nash's power play goal had tied the score--in Alain Vigneault's 1,000th game coached in the National Hockey League, and the Rangers were left with an excruciating road defeat.

In addition to Vigneault's milestone Friday, Rangers team president Glen Sather was feted before the game in a classy ceremony celebrating his storied coaching and managerial career in Edmonton, a ceremony that included a banner raised to the rafters with Sather's name accompanied by the five Stanley Cups he won with the Oilers.

Vigneault juggled his line combinations to start the game--including inserting Emerson Etem into the lineup in the place of Viktor Stalberg--and then with his team trailing 3-1 after an ugly first period, he switched up all four line combinations to begin the second period. His moves paid immediate dividends as the Rangers scored twice within the first nine minutes of the middle stanza to forge a 3-3 tie--one that the two teams carried into the second intermission.
Chris Kreider scored on a backhand through the pads of Oilers goalie Anders Nilsson just 53 seconds into period number two to cut Edmonton's lead to a single goal, with Mats Zuccarello--who had just switched lines, joining Kreider and Kevin Hayes after starting with Brassard and J.T. Miller--picking up the primary assist.
The goal was Kreider's fifth of the season, and the scoring play started all the way back in the Rangers end of the ice. Lundqvist sent a long pass down right wing where Zuccarello corralled the puck, skated over the blue line, and then dished to Kreider who skated forcefully to the net to score the goal.
Nearly eight minutes later Nash, who switched lines with Zuccarello, hustled to steal the puck along the left wing wall before Edmonton could clear it out of their end of the ice, and then turned and skated between the circles. Nash dished to Brassard, who rifled a long shot past Nilsson to pull the Rangers even on the scoreboard, 3-3.
It was a drastic turnaround for the Rangers, who wasted a power play just eight seconds into the game after Nilsson was called for an early delay of game penalty after sailing the puck over the glass, and then gave up two goals late in the first period to fall behind 3-1.
After Edmonton opened the scoring at 6:35 of the first on Lauri Korpikoski's power play goal, the Rangers answered back at 12:16 when Zuccarello netted his team-leading 12th, collecting a pinballing puck and whipping it past Nilsson from ten feet out. The goal snapped a four-game pointless stretch for Zuccarello, New York's top scorer with 24 now on the season, and was just his second goal in the past ten games.
Rookie defenseman Dylan McIlrath picked up the first point of his NHL career assisting on Zuccarello's goal. McIlrath sprinted to his right to keep an Oilers clearing attempt in along the boards and then zipped a shot towards the net with the puck hitting Kreider before landing on Zuccarello's stick.
However the Oilers stormed back and scored twice in a span of 70 seconds off some poor defensive play by the visitors to put the Rangers in a 3-1 hole. Korpikoski, the former Ranger, scored his second of the night at 15:47 and Teddy Purcell followed with his sixth of the season at 16:57.
After a far better second period, the Rangers struggled in their own end of the rink again to start the third, and it cost them as the Oilers netted a quick pair to drop New York into a 5-3 deficit before three minutes had elapsed.
Hall, who recorded four points Friday, scored his first goal of the night when left wide-open in front of Henrik Lundqvist just 18 seconds into the period, and then Hall set up Darnell Nurse for a goal that slipped between Lundqvist's pads at 2:40.
Vigneault removed Lundqvist from the game at that point--Henrik having allowed five goals on 33 shots--and replaced him with Antti Raanta.
Brassard brought the Rangers back to within 5-4 at 6:28 when he potted the rebound of a long Nash shot that hit the post with the puck left alone in the blue paint behind Nilsson. The goal was Brassard's 11th of the season and fourth in the past three games.
Nash tied this one up by firing home his ninth goal at 18:14, but on the very next shift Hall scored off a 2-on-1 rush to deflate the Rangers comeback hopes. Korpikoski scored into the empty net to complete his first career Hat Trick with 37.7 seconds to play.
The Rangers, who have lost the first two games of this three-game swing through Western Canada, are right back at it Saturday night when they face-off with the Flames in Calgary.

 POST GAME WRAP UP: FINAL STATS
NY RANGERS 5 EDMONTON OILERS 7
Scoring Summary
1st Period
06:35 EDM PPG - Lauri Korpikoski (4) Wrist shot - ASST: Iiro Pakarinen (2), Mark Letestu (5) 1 - 0 EDM
12:16 NYR Mats Zuccarello (12) Wrist shot - ASST: Chris Kreider (9), Dylan McIlrath (1) 1 - 1 Tie
15:47 EDM Lauri Korpikoski (5) Wrist shot - ASST: Matt Hendricks (3), Justin Schultz (3) 2 - 1 EDM
16:57 EDM Teddy Purcell (6) Wrist shot - ASST: Taylor Hall (19), Leon Draisaitl (14) 3 - 1 EDM
2nd Period
00:53 NYR Chris Kreider (5) Backhand shot - ASST: Mats Zuccarello (12), Henrik Lundqvist (1) 3 - 2 EDM
08:44 NYR Derick Brassard (10) Wrist shot - ASST: Rick Nash (11), Marc Staal (9) 3 - 3 Tie
3rd Period
00:18 EDM Taylor Hall (13) Backhand shot - ASST: Teddy Purcell (12), Leon Draisaitl (15) 4 - 3 EDM
02:40 EDM Darnell Nurse (2) Snap shot - ASST: Taylor Hall (20), Leon Draisaitl (16) 5 - 3 EDM
06:28 NYR Derick Brassard (11) Wrist shot - ASST: Rick Nash (12), Keith Yandle (14) 5 - 4 EDM
18:14 NYR PPG - Rick Nash (9) Wrist shot - ASST: Dan Boyle (6), Ryan McDonagh (10) 5 - 5 Tie
18:26 EDM Taylor Hall (14) Snap shot - ASST: Leon Draisaitl (17), Teddy Purcell (13) 6 - 5 EDM
19:22 EDM EN - Lauri Korpikoski (6) Wrist shot - ASST: NONE 7 - 5 EDM
Penalty Summary
1st Period
00:08 EDM Anders Nilsson served by Jujhar Khaira Delaying Game-Puck over glass - 2 min
05:23 NYR Chris Kreider Interference - 2 min against Leon Draisaitl
09:27 NYR J.T. Miller Roughing - 2 min against Jujhar Khaira
2nd Period
18:13 NYR Chris Kreider Roughing - 2 min against Justin Schultz
3rd Period
18:07 EDM Teddy Purcell Cross checking - 2 min against Ryan McDonagh
shots by period
Period NYR EDM
1st 9 15
2nd 9 15
3rd 16 7
Total 34 37
Team Stats
Category NYR EDM
Power Plays 1/2 1/3
Hits 27 24
Faceoff Wins 35 33
Giveaways 11 11
Takeaways 11 4
Blocked Shots 11 10
Penalty Minutes 6 4


NEXT GAME: Tomorrow Night 10:00 PM Rangers look to salvage the Road Trip with a win in Calgary. Rangers @ Flames 10:00 PM on MSG+.