Rangers suffer third straight loss for first time this season
The Rangers' Jake Leschyshyn and the Blues' Nick Leddy chase after a loose puck during the first period of an NHL game Thursday in St. Louis. Credit: AP/Jeff Roberson
ST. LOUIS — The Rangers’ dream start is long over now and the losses are beginning to pile up.
For the first time this season, the Rangers have lost three in a row. They dropped the opener of a two-game road trip Thursday night to the St. Louis Blues, who got a hat trick from Jordan Kyrou in a 5-2 win at Enterprise Center.
The Rangers played without their No. 1 center, Mika Zibanejad, who was a last-minute scratch when he was forced to leave during warmups with an illness that kept him out of practice on Wednesday.
It was a major blow to the lineup, especially occurring as late as it did. But even with Zibanejad healthy, the Rangers had been struggling of late. They are 8-8-1 in their last 17 games dating to Dec. 5.
The Rangers outshot the Blues 42-20. It was their third straight game with more than 40 shots on goal. Igor Shesterkin (16-10-0) stopped 15 of 19 shots for his third loss in four starts.
Jordan Binnington made 40 saves for the Blues.
The Rangers fell to 26-12-2 (54 points). They still hold a slim lead in the Metropolitan Division, but with Carolina beating Anaheim on Thursday, that lead is down to three points.
The Blues (21-18-1) entered the game with the worst power play in the league, a success rate of 10.6%. They scored two power-play goals in four chances against the Rangers’ penalty kill, which had entered the game tied for fifth-best in the league with a success rate of 84.4%.
“It’s frustrating to lose, of course,” Adam Fox said. “We wanted to get back on track and we played a pretty good game. But they capitalized on some power plays and a breakdown in the third when we were chasing there. I mean, we got shots and got chances but weren’t able to capitalize.”
With Zibanejad unable to play, that meant defenseman Zac Jones, the only healthy extra on the roster, had to enter the lineup and the Rangers played with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Jonny Brodzinski, who was supposed to be the fourth-line right wing, moved up to play in Zibanejad’s spot between Chris Kreider and Will Cuylle. Peter Laviolette double-shifted various wingers on the fourth line with Nick Bonino and call-up Jake Leschyshyn.
The Rangers got out to a fast start when Fox swept in a rebound for his fifth goal of the season, and his second in three games, at 1:51 of the first period. St. Louis tied it at 4:02 on Kyrou’s first goal.
Then Bonino, from his knees, tried to lift the puck and clear the zone, but he put the puck over the glass instead, giving the Blues their first power play. Kyrou scored his second goal at 7:30 to put St. Louis ahead 2-1.
The Rangers took three straight penalties in the second period: a holding call against Brodzinski, followed by an interference call against Barclay Goodrow and a hooking call against Vincent Trocheck 41 seconds after Goodrow’s penalty expired.
Thirteen seconds into Trocheck’s penalty, Brandon Saad scored. He took a pass from Brayden Schenn, who recovered the rebound of his own shot and nudged it across the slot to Saad. That made it 3-1 at 9:26.
“It’s never good when that happens,’’ Laviolette said. “I wouldn’t say that it’s the MO of our team that we’re taking penalties constantly, but we got whacked there three in a row, and whether I agree with them or disagree with them, it doesn’t matter; we’re in the box three times.’’
The Rangers got their first power play when Torey Krug was sent off for slashing Kreider from behind on a breakaway. It possibly could have been called a penalty shot, but the Rangers were happy with the power play. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t convert on it. Kreider hit the post twice, but the puck stayed out.
Kyrou completed his hat trick on a breakaway at 7:01 of the third period. Trocheck scored on a power play at 10:58 to pull the Rangers within 4-2, but Pavel Buchnevich scored an empty-net goal with 17.9 seconds left.
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.
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