The New York Rangers outplayed the Edmonton Oilers everywhere except the scoreboard, falling 3-1 on Monday. Down 2-0, New York received a breakaway shorthanded goal from Jaroslav Chmelař to cut the lead in half, but could not score the tying tally. The Blueshirts continue their Western Canada trip Wednesday in Calgary against the Flames.
Game recap:
Rangers lines vs. Edmonton:
Perreault-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Kartye-Miller-Dorofeyev
Cuylle-Laba-Bjorkstrand
Tolvanen-Glendening-Chmelař
Gavrikov-Fox
Pettersson-Schneider
Robertson-Morrow
Garand
Korpisalo
Scratches: Šmits (upper-body), Rempe, Del Gaizo
IR: Sýkora (lower-body), Durzi (lower-body injury)
LTIR: Shesterkin (knee injury), Veleno (lower-body)
A few thoughts:
1) Game play: While moral victories don’t count for much in sports, New York earned one for last night’s game. The Rangers deserved a better fate, but their inability to finish—a problem all season—came back to bite them. The Blueshirts’ forecheck pinned the Oilers deep during the contest. However, that did not translate to enough high-danger chances, and when those chances occurred, Edmonton blocked shots effectively in front of Devon Levi.
2) Top-six: If New York had generated any offense during the game, they would have won. While the forecheck was solid and defense was mostly stout, their inability to finish was on full display. That does not mean they lacked chances, but not high-danger ones, and other than Chmelar, no odd-man rushes.
Mike Zibanejad is playing well. But his offense has been somewhat nonexistent; he has just three goals overall in 19 games, only one scored at even strength. While he is doing almost everything else on the ice, a return to March Mika of a few years ago would be nice. JT Miller is having somewhat similar issues, as are the rest of the top-six and really top nine. Only Tye Kartye is exceeding expectations.
3) Dylan Garand: A bad mistake leading to Connor McDavid’s goal. Besides the gaffe, he was very solid in net. Garand did not look fazed by the task of facing Edmonton at home. He was calm in net, limited rebounds, and allowed just two goals.
New York missed Sean Durzi and Albert Šmits in the blueline due to injury. Matthew Robertson, who finally played in front of his hometown crowd, and Scott Morrow dressed in their stead. Both played well, much better than Braden Schneider, who had another rough game. When Durzi is back and Smits is listed as week-to-week, sit Schneider over Robertson or Morrow.
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