Coming off a pair of sloppy losses this past weekend, the New York Rangers put forth a much better performance Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets at Canadian Life Centre. But it still wasn’t good enough in a 2-1 loss to the team with the most points in the NHL.
The Rangers (31-28-6) lost their fourth consecutive game (0-2-2) and remain ninth in the Eastern Conference. However, they failed to gain ground on the Columbus Blue Jackets, who lost to the New Jersey Devils but remain two points up on the Rangers for the second wild card in the East. The Rangers also lost ground on the Ottawa Senators, who won their game Tuesday and are five points ahead of the Blueshirts.
Connor Hellebuyck outdueled Igor Shesterkin in a matchup of two of the best goalies in the NHL. Hellebuyck finished with 21 saves and allowed one goal or fewer for the 20th time this season. The win was his League-leading 38th for the Jets (45-17-4), who have two more points than the Washington Capitals in the race for the Presidents Trophy.
Shesterkin made 22 saves for the Rangers, who were swept in the season series by the Jets (0-2-0). Mika Zibanejad’s power-play goal in the first period was all New York could get past Hellebuyck, whose teammates blocked 21 shots. Artemi Panarin had an assist on that goal to extend his point streak to six games.
Vladislav Namestnikov and Gabe Vilardi scored for Winnipeg, and Cole Perfetti assisted on each goal.
“There’s no consolation at this point in the season,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said about his team playing better than in the weekend losses to the Senators and Blue Jackets. “It’s frustrating for sure.”
Winnipeg Jets 2 – New York Rangers 1
The Rangers have allowed the first goal within the opening two minutes of a game 12 times this season. But they nearly turned the tables on the Jets to start this contest.
However, on a quick rush into the Jets end, Carson Soucy collected a drop pas from Panarin and ripped a shot off the post 1:52 into play.
It could’ve been a massive jumpstart for the Rangers but instead was a near miss. Then three minutes and change later, the Jets actually did score the first goal of the game.
Despite having five men back defending and only three Jets in the offensive zone, the Rangers were caught out of position, allowing Perfetti space to zip a cross-crease pass to Namestnikov. The puck deflected off the former Ranger’s stick, hit Sam Carrick who was trailing on the back-check and caromed into the net at 5:18 to make it 1-0 Jets.
It was Namestnikov’s first goal in 13 games and 11th of the season.
The Rangers answered back at the 11-minute mark of the first period, when it was their turn to cash in a fortunate bounce. On the power play, J.T. Miller partially whiffed when trying to make a pass, but the puck trickled to Zibanejad in the slot and he wasted no time snapping a shot past Hellebuyck for his 15th goal. It was just Zibanejad’s fifth on the power play and New York’s first power-play goal in five games.
Chris Kreider nearly made it 2-1 at 15:44 when he got behind the Jets defense, but Hellebuyck made a strong pad save to keep the game tied.
It was a good first period on the road against a quality opponent for the Rangers, who out-chanced the Jets 13-7 in all situations and had a 56.65 percent xGF, per Natural Stat Trick.
The Rangers came out bombing in the second period, but Hellebuyck was on point to deny heavy slap shots by Carrick and Vincent Trocheck in the first three minutes. Then at 3:11, Matt Rempe was called for goalie interference when he landed on Hellebuyck after being shoved by a Jets defender. It’s a penalty that infuriated the Rangers since it appeared Rempe had no chance of avoiding the goalie after he was pushed.
Laviolette and company were even angrier a couple minutes later when the Jets cashed in with a power-play goal to take a 2-1 lead. Vilardi scored his 27th goal at 5:06, burying a backhand feed from Perfetti after Perfetti fumbled his initial pass attempt into the slot, not dissimilar to Miller on Zibanejad’s goal.
“I didn’t agree with it. They’re saying they want to protect the goaltenders, but I just didn’t agree with it,” Laviolette said about the call against Rempe.
The Rangers defensive structure broke down several times after falling behind 2-1, but Shesterkin made a string of huge saves to keep the deficit at one. The first came at 6:08, 62 seconds after the goal, when Namestnikov got behind Zac Jones for a clean break in. Later on a Jets power-play, Mark Scheifele took a feed right out in front, didn’t get all of his shot and Shesterkin cleaned that one up too. At 12:30, Jets forward Dave Lowry was in behind the Rangers defense, only to be stoned by Shesterkin.
Later in the period, it was Hellebuyck’s turn to star between the pipes. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner swallowed up Panarin’s snap shot after a head-man feed at 15:10. Then following a media timeout, Hellebuyck made a sharp save when Will Cuylle deflected a long Will Borgen shot. And seconds later, Borgen set up Zibanejad for a booming one-timer that Hellebuyck sticked aside.
The Jets thought they’d taken a 3-1 lead 3:06 into the third period, when Dylan Demelo’s drive beat Shesterkin. But the Rangers challenged, believing Morgan Barron –who was clearly in the blue paint battling with Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen — interfered with Shesterkin. Video review overturned the on-ice call, likely because Barron’s skate hit Shesterkin’s skate as the Rangers goalie was trying to kick out his right leg.
Shortly after, Demelo was assessed a minor penalty for high-sticking at 5:46. The Rangers had some good looks on their third power play but didn’t score. Back at even strength, Shesterkin was forced to make a big-time save on Perfetti after he raced down the middle of the ice from his own end for a prime scoring chance. Another sharp Shesterkin save came later in the period when Barron burst in for a hard, low backhand shot.
Most of the third period featured good pressure by the Rangers but few shots on goal, with the Jets repeatedly blocking shots and passes. One of the best looks came with 1:22 to play and Shesterkin on the bench for the extra attacker, when Trocheck’s open look deflected off a stick and out of play. Twenty seconds later, Zibanejad — stationed to the left of the net — hammered a puck out of mid air, but just wide of the cage.
The Rangers managed only five shots on goal in the third period. And that was part of the difference in a bitter one-goal loss for the Rangers, who head to Minnesota to continue this road trip with a game against the Wild on Thursday.
“Yeah, it sucks,” Borgen summed up postgame.
