Rangers Under Siege Throughout Ugly 6-2 loss to Oilers

Jonathan Quick was under siege early because the New York Rangers never consistently spent enough time in their offensive zone, could not stop Connor McDavid and wound up with an ugly 6-2 loss to Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

It was a disappointing finale to a four-game road trip that saw the Rangers win the first two before allowing a combined 41 shots on goal in the opening period to the Calgary Flames and Edmonton. The Rangers also lost consecutive games for the first time this season and lost by at least four goals for the second time this season.

Similar to Igor Shesterkin’s 46-save performance in Calgary on Thursday, Quick gave the Rangers a chance to get the lead by stopping the first 18 shots to extend his shutout streak to 146 minutes, 39 seconds before allowing two goals in the final 2:26 of the first period. Among his noteworthy saves was executing a split and making a right pad save on McDavid with 7:04 left and five minutes after stopping the superstar on a 2-on-1.

McDavid had two goals in the third period after the Oilers put the game out of reach and also set up Leon Draisaitl’s goal on a 4-on-4 in the second period.

Vasily Podkolzin opened the scoring and Darnell Nurse scored a shorthanded goal in the final seconds and Evan Bouchard scored the fourth goal against Quick.

“It was different tonight,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “It seemed like our heads were in it. Our game didn’t follow. The other night we just seemed to be flat. Anything that came in d-zone coverage I don’t think we handled it well. We were pushed back on our heels. You can’t win hockey games that way.”

Artemi Panarin scored late in the second when the Rangers started spending more time in their offensive zone. Panarin added his second goal in the latter portion of the third and was the Rangers’ better players on the ice for portions of a game when they only won 44 percent of their faceoffs and committed 23 giveaways.

“It was really bad,” defenseman Adam Fox said. “It was flat out, it was not good today.”

Quick allowed his most goals since joining the Rangers as a free agent before last season. He allowed at least six for the first time since March 28, 2023 with the Vegas Golden Knights and the 18th time overall.

The Rangers fell to 7-6-0 since opening the season with a six-game points streak (5-0-1) that often masked some of their defensive deficiencies. The Rangers were held under three goals for the seventh time in their last 13 games since the quick start.

Edmonton Oilers 6 – New York Rangers 2

Quick saw the Oilers constantly charge into the offensive zone and Podkolzin opened the scoring with 2:26 left in the opening period. Moments after Panarin fell down near the blue line in the Rangers’ offensive zone, Podkozlin blasted a one-timer from the edge of the right faceoff circle over Quick.

Another breakdown resulted in the Rangers entering the first intermission in a two-goal deficit.

Nurse entered the zone unimpeded, parked himself in the right circle and blasted a shot over Quick after Mattias Janmark made a cross-ice pass when the Rangers could not retrieve the puck from the boards.

“That can’t happen,” Laviolette said. “That shoudn’t happen.”

The Rangers’ second power play was negated after 20 seconds when Vincent Trocheck hooked Janmark in front of the Edmonton net with 11:58 left and 52 seconds later Draisaitl finished off a give-and-go with McDavid.

Following a giveaway by Jacob Trouba at the side of the net, the Oilers cycled the puck around and Bouchard lifted a shot over Quick to make it 4-0 with 8:02 remaining.

Panarin scored his 11th goal by lifting a wrist shot from the right circle over Skinner’s stick a few seconds after digging the puck out of the corner from Corey Perry.

McDavid scored twice in a span of 3:48 in the third. He redirected a pass by Bouchard for an easy tap-in at the right side of the net and then lifted a shot over Quick’s right pad after getting by rookie Victor Mancini and faking a shot.

After allowing 89 shots on goal in the final two games of their longest road trip this season, the Rangers return home Monday to face the St. Louis Blues before visiting the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers.