#Rangers’ struggles continue with shootout loss to Golden Knights

The second period, well, these were the Rangers at their best, controlling the play, getting the puck in deep, snapping off crisp passes, winning just about every shift in dominating the pretty darn good team from Vegas. 

It was 2-1 into the third for the Blueshirts off a pair of goals in the second, Mika Zibanejad with a five-on-five goal early and then Chris Kreider with a power-play goal off a brilliant feed from No. 93 midway through. 

But not only were the Rangers unable to carry momentum into the third period, they came to a screeching halt. No longer attacking, no longer getting the puck deep, no longer creating opportunities, the Blueshirts went 15:58 without a shot after Zibanejad’s deflection at 1:40. More (or less) than that, the team had all of two attempts through the first 15:30 of the third. 

The quest for a 60-minute effort thus continues following what became Friday’s disappointing 3-2 shootout loss to the Golden Knights at the Garden, who eventually tied the match with 5:16 remaining in regulation when Dylan Coghlan beat Alexandar Georgiev through a screen and then won it when Jonathan Marchessault recorded the skills competition’s only goal in the top of the third frame. 

That is the next step in the evolution of this 19-7-4 club that is 2-3-1 in its past six. That has been the objective for a while. 

“That’s the challenge for every team in this league,” said Kreider, whose goal was his 18th overall and 11th with the man advantage. “Every team knows how they want to play, it’s just a matter of getting the whole group to coalesce and do that over the course of 60 minutes. 

“I think we’re doing a better and better job of that. Thinking back to the beginning of the season, we’re stretching out those flashes of good play into larger chunks. There are definitely lapses but they’re fewer and farther between compared to the way it was the first 10 or 12 games when Igor [Shesterkin] was carrying us.” 

No one expected the Golden Knights to roll over. But it is still baffling that the Blueshirts did not at least attempt to continue to take the game to their opponents and ram it down their throat, especially with the added incentive of trying to get a victory for head coach Gerard Gallant in his first game against the team that fired him in January 2020. 

“It’s nothing we talk about, to back off, but we know how dangerous they can be and obviously there is a tendency to back off a little too much,” said Zibanejad, who had an extra snap in his step and crackle to his shot. “I thought overall the last little bit of the first and the rest of the game we played really well.” 

The Rangers did play well enough defensively in the third while attempting to protect the lead, but they never had the puck in Vegas’ end. If they chipped it in, it came out without much opposition. It’s not that the Golden Knights seized the match, they just kind of took it when the Blueshirts simply left it there. 

“It was one of those periods where there wasn’t a lot going on,” Gallant said. “They’re a high-powered team so you try to play them more defensively. 

“I want us to keep going, I want us to keep playing, a little safer, but it can be a mental thing sometimes with the guys. We’re pushing them on the bench, telling them to play hard and smart. The second period was as perfect a period we played all year, but that’s hockey. That’s the mental part of the game. 

“I didn’t think we played bad by any means in the third, but we didn’t take it like we did in the second.” 

If the third period was safety-first, safety-last and safety-always, the three-on-three overtime exploded into a cavalcade of glorious chances at both ends of the ice as both teams went for it on every shift. Georgiev stopped Max Pacioretty twice on breakaways, once at 1:35 and then with :30 to go. Ryan Strome was robbed at the doorstep by Laurent Brossoit, and then so was Filip Chytil driving to the net with 44 seconds on the clock. It was a thrilling five minutes. 

“It was pretty exciting for the fans, a couple of great moments that way and the other way, back and forth” Georgiev said. “It would have been a lot more fun if we won.”