Rangers' three-game win streak snapped by Flames despite Igor Shesterkin's 46 saves

CALGARY, Alberta — The Rangers didn’t give up a goal in the first minute of Thursday night’s game, as they had Tuesday night in Vancouver. But their start to the game still was pretty awful.

They were absolutely dominated by the Calgary Flames in the possession and shots-on-goal departments for the first half of the game and fell behind by two goals before a late second-period rally got them back in the game.

Ultimately, though, Connor Zary’s goal with 9:25 remaining in the third period broke a tie as the Flames earned a 3-2 victory, their third straight win.

Zary fought off a check by Kaapo Kakko and lifted a shot over the shoulder of goaltender Igor Shesterkin (46 saves) for the game-winner, ending the Rangers’ winning streak at three games.

But it wasn’t the ending that annoyed Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, it was the start.

“We got outworked tonight,’’ he said.

Playing without center Filip Chytil for the third straight game — he joined the team in Calgary and skated with the extras at the morning skate Thursday but wasn’t in the lineup — the Rangers (12-5-1) were outshot 49-29, including 20-5 in the first period.

“We know some things that help make us successful that we get away from,’’ Jacob Trouba said. “We know what we’re capable of and how we’ve been playing on this road trip. It’s been pretty simple. Simple, hard road hockey. Just not a good start tonight and fought our way back and just didn’t have enough in the tank.’’

The Rangers fell to 2-1 on the four-game road trip, with the finale upcoming Saturday night in Edmonton.

At least the Rangers emerged from the game healthy. They got a scare when they lost No. 1 center Mika Zibanejad for the final 7 1⁄2 minutes of the first period after he was hit with a shot by Calgary defenseman Rasmus Andersson while killing a penalty.

As soon as he was hit, Zibanejad doubled over in pain, skated directly to the bench and went immediately to the locker room. But he was out to start the second period.

The Rangers fell behind 1-0 at 7:26 of the first period on a goal by Long Island native Matt Coronato, who took a pass from Yegor Sharangovich just inside the blue line on a rush, used Braden Schneider as a screen and whipped a shot past Shesterkin for his sixth goal of the season.

The Flames (11-6-3) made it 2-0 at 8:29 of the second on a power-play goal by Sharangovich, who hammered a one-timer from the right circle past Shesterkin for his third goal of the season.

The Rangers challenged the goal, alleging there was a hand pass before the shot by Jonathan Huberdeau. After reviewing the replay, the officials ruled the puck deflected off Huberdeau’s glove and went to Coronato behind the Rangers’ net but was not passed by the hand. So the challenge was unsuccessful, which meant the Rangers had to kill another penalty. They did, but they clearly were upset that the play was allowed to stand.

“He opened up his hand to play the puck. It . . . bats off of his hand and goes right to their player,’’ a fuming Laviolette said. “It got called dead two more times in the game — exact same plays. It gets called dead every time. Any time that ever happens on the ice, it gets called dead. So I don’t understand. I still don’t understand.’’

Somehow the Rangers turned things around in the latter half of the second period. They started getting some shots on Calgary goalie Dustin Wolf and eventually tied it on goals by Alexis Lafreniere at 16:37 and Will Cuylle at 16:53.

Cuylle’s goal came while he was skating on a makeshift line with Kakko, usually a right winger, shifted to center and Jimmy Vesey playing in Kakko’s usual spot on the right wing. Kakko won an offensive zone faceoff (he was 6-for-9 on draws) and Adam Fox worked the puck over to K’Andre Miller, whose shot was deflected in by Cuylle for his seventh goal of the season.

Kakko finished the game playing center for the entire third period as the Rangers shortened their bench and cut down to three lines. Jonny Brodzinski, who started the game at center between Cuylle and Kakko, played sparingly in the third period, taking Vesey’s usual spot as the fourth-line right wing.

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.