Rangers blow late two-goal lead in 5-4 OT loss to Ducks that keeps them out of playoff berth

The New York Rangers looked like they were all set to move back into the second wild card in the Eastern Conference by cruising past the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. But a late collapse turned a two-goal lead into a heartbreaking 5-4 overtime loss at Honda Center.

The inability of the Rangers (34-32-7) to close out a weaker opponent left them even with the Columbus Blue Jackets (33-29-9) and Montreal Canadiens (33-30-9) in the battle for the last playoff berth in the East. The Blue Jackets, who overcame a three-goal deficit and defeated the visiting Vancouver Canucks 7-6, hold the second wild card because they’ve played just 71 games; Montreal, a 4-1 loser to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, have played 72 and the Rangers have played 73.

The New York Islanders (32-29-10), who’ve also played 71 games, are one point behind all three.

The Rangers never trailed until Mason McTavish converted Jackson Lacombe’s pass 59 seconds into overtime for the win. Igor Shesterkin, who made 28 saves, had no chance after the Ducks capitalized on a defensive breakdown to hand the Rangers their seventh loss in nine games decided in 3-on-3 overtime.

“We made mistakes,” coach Peter Laviolette said in a very brief postgame media meeting, “and the mistakes ended up in the back of our net.”

Adam Fox, J.T. Miller, Alexis Lafreniere and Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers, who are 0-1-1 on a West Coast trip that ends with a visit to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

Leo Carlsson had a goal and three assists for the Ducks. Anaheim got a first-period shorthanded goal by Alex Killorn, and Carlsson’s 19th of the season early in the third period made it 3-2. Zibanejad’s power-play goal put New York back up by two, but the Rangers failed to capitalize on the last four of their seven power plays, and goals by Cutter Gauthier at 14:12 and Olen Zellweger with 1:45 left in regulation sent the game into overtime.

Former Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, who was traded to the Ducks on Dec. 6, played against his old team for the first time. Trouba was his usual physical self — he had no shots on goal and just one attempt, but was credited with four hits and two blocked shots in 15:50 of ice time before leaving 5:20 into the third period after crashing into the end boards behind the Rangers’ net.

Anaheim Ducks 5 – New York Rangers 4 (OT)

Luckily for the Rangers, Shesterkin was ready to go from the opening face-off in his career-high ninth consecutive start.

He got a break when a deflection by Jansen Harkins leaked through his pads but went off the post and stayed out, then survived a high-sticking penalty to Will Borgen — making three saves as his teammates kept losing face-offs.

The Rangers then grabbed the lead thanks to a fortunate bounce.

Artemi Panarin fired wide of the net from the right circle, but the puck came out cleanly to the right of Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal. Fox got inside position on Lacombe below the left circle and was able to chip the puck just under the crossbar at 3:20 to put the Rangers up 1-0.

The Ducks owned the next several minutes, getting a number of Grade A chances as the Rangers largely stood around and watched — all except Shesterkin, who made his best save when he robbed a wide-open Killorn from the slot just over five minutes in.

The shots were 10-3 Anaheim as the first period neared the halfway point when the Rangers finally woke up. For the next few minutes, they dominated play, hit a post and forced Dostal to make a couple of excellent saves, including one on Johnny Brodzinski on a shot he never saw.

The Rangers got their first power play at 15:21 when ex-Ranger Frank Vatrano was called for tripping K’Andre Miller. The Blueshirts controlled play for the first 75 seconds until Carlsson broke up a play in his own zone and sprung Killorn for a breakaway. Shesterkin stopped his first shot, but Killorn put home the rebound at 16:55 for a 1-1 tie. It was just the fourth short-handed goal the Rangers have allowed this season.

But the deadlock didn’t last long. J.T. Miller went to the net and found himself all alone when a pass intended for Will Cuylle ticked off the young forward’s stick and came right to him. Miller’s backhand swat went over Dostal’s glove went over Dostal’s glove for a 2-1 lead.

It became 3-1 just 14 seconds into the second period when J.T. Miller picked up an errant Ryan Strome pass behind the net and found Lafreniere racing into the zone. A perfect pass, a great shot from the right of the slot just under the crossbar on the short side and the Rangers found themselves with a two-goal lead.

New York dominated play for the next 10 minutes as the atmosphere in Honda Center grew quieter and quieter.

Anaheim got a power play at 11:48 when Carson Soucy was called for cross-checking, but Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras took a holding penalty 21 seconds later by grabbing J.T. Miller to prevent a breakaway, putting the teams at 4-on-4. However, Urho Vaakanainen tackled Lacombe in front of the net to end the Rangers’ brief power play and give the Ducks another man-advantage opportunity.

It became a 5-on-3 power play when J.T. Miller’s clearing pass went over the glass at 15:12, but the Rangers killed off Anaheim’s two-man advantage and the Ducks generated little at 5-on-4. The silence in the building was funereal as the Rangers skated off with a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.

Carlsson cut the margin to 3-2 at 2:22 of the third period when he stripped K’Andre Miller outside the Rangers’ blue line, cut to the high slot inside the zone and beat Shesterkin with a rocket of a screened shot. But Strome took a needless slashing penalty soon after, and the Rangers regained their two-goal lead at 4:35 when Zibanejad converted a pass from Fox.

But the failure to capitalize on four power plays in a span of less than 12 minutes came back and bit the Rangers when Anaheim refused to quit.

Gauthier chopped in a rebound of Carlsson’s shot with less than six minutes to play, and Zellweger tied it by finishing off a 4-on-2 rush after a penalty kill with a perfect shot over Shesterkin’s shoulder and just under the bar.

The Rangers never touched the puck in overtime before McTavish’s game-winner.

“Good teams do not lose a game like that,” Fox said. “That can’t happen, but we got one point. We’ll take that. We’re still in this with nine (games) to go.”