Rangers thoroughly outplayed, routed by Oilers in second straight loss

EDMONTON, Alberta — Try as he might, Jonathan Quick was unable to get a third straight shutout.

Quick, making his fifth start of the season, was spectacular in the first period and good overall. But he would have needed to be superhuman Saturday night for the Rangers to have had a chance to win.

He wasn’t, and the Edmonton Oilers — helped by two goals from Connor McDavid and a goal and an assist from Leon Draisaitl — spanked the Rangers, 6-2, handing them their second straight loss and sending them home from their four-game western road trip with a 2-2 record.

Quick made 34 saves, 19 in the first period, but fell to 4-1 as the Rangers dropped to 12-6-1. Edmonton improved to 11-9-2.

In front of a national television audience in Canada, the Rangers, who have struggled all season to produce at five-on-five, struggled at four-on-four and on the power play, too. Draisaitl’s goal came at four-on-four, and defenseman Darnell Nurse, returning to the lineup after being checked in the head by Toronto forward Ryan Reaves and missing three games, scored a shorthanded goal.

Artemi Panarin scored twice for the Rangers.

For the second straight game, the Rangers were absolutely dominated in the first period in terms of puck possession and shots on goal. They were outshot 21-9 in the period after being outshot 20-5 in Calgary on Thursday. This time they trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes.

“We’re leaving our goalies out to dry right now in the first period especially,’’ Vincent Trocheck said. “And we’ve got to come out with a little bit more — a lot more urgency. And we’ve got to dig, dig deep here and look ourselves in the mirror before next game.’’

Said Adam Fox: “These last two games, first period’s been just flat-out terrible. And I mean, you’re never gonna win a game when you’re putting yourself in that big of a hole early.’’

Quick was beaten at 17:33 of the period on a one-time shot by Vasily Podkolzin set up by Draisaitl. The play started when Panarin drove the puck into the Oilers’ zone but lost an edge, fell down and lost the puck. Podkolzin scooped it upm passed to Draisaitl, got it back and blasted a shot past Quick for his first goal of the season. The goal ended Quick’s string of shutout time at 145 minutes, 38 seconds.

Nurse scored with 8.4 seconds left in the period to make it 2-0.

“Yeah, that can’t happen,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said of giving up a shorthanded goal on the power play. “And it’s late in the period, too. That shouldn’t happen.’’

Draisaitl finished a pretty four-on-four pass from McDavid at 8:54 of the second period to make it 3-0. Evan Bouchard, who was a game-time decision with an illness but ended up playing, scored at 11:58 to make it 4-0.

Panarin, who played an energetic game, finally got the Rangers on the board. He fired a shot from the left circle faceoff dot that Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner got a big piece of, but it still dribbled across the line at 15:02. It was Panarin’s 11th goal of the season and his first point in three games.

Skinner, who entered the game with a 3.33 goals-against average and a save percentage of .876, looked a little shaky at that point, and the Rangers managed to get a few shots at him to cause him some trouble. He made a great save on Chris Kreider with 4:25 remaining in the period, getting over from the right post to the left to get a glove on Kreider’s shot from just below the circle.

McDavid scored both of his goals in the third period, at 5:49 and 9:37. Panarin scored his second goal at 16:29.

“It’s tough with these last two games,’’ Fox said. “I think it started off good and we just kind of lost our way. I think we keep reiterating those starts are just not going to cut it, especially against a team like that.’’

Notes & quotes: Goaltender Igor Shesterkin left the morning skate after getting hit by a high shot from Reilly Smith. Shesterkin returned to the skate and dressed as the backup to Quick . . . D Victor Mancini, who played three games for AHL Hartford after being sent there Nov. 13, said he was about to put his skates on for practice Friday when he was told to go check out of his hotel and make his way to Edmonton. He checked into the Rangers’ hotel at 3:30 a.m. Saturday and was in the lineup Saturday night, replacing Zac Jones, who the Rangers said has an upper-body injury. With Mancini in, Chad Ruhwedel remained a healthy scratch . . . Filip Chytil, who did not fly with the team to Seattle for the opener of the road trip but joined the team in Calgary, again skated with the extras at the morning skate and did not dress for the game. Chytil (upper-body injury) missed all four games of the road trip . . . The Rangers will host the St. Louis Blues on Monday, fly to Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday and face the Hurricanes on Wednesday.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.