Rangers blow three-goal lead, lose in overtime to Dallas Stars at MSG
Jonathan Quick of the Rangers looks on during the second period against the Dallas Stars at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Of all the not-good-enough performances the Rangers have had over the past two months, this one might just have been the worst. It certainly was the most infuriating.
Coming off a feel-good win Sunday over last-place Chicago, the Rangers were looking to build on that Tuesday, when they opened a two-game homestand at Madison Square Garden against the Dallas Stars. And when they jumped out to a three-goal lead in the first 12 minutes of the game, it looked like they would.
Instead, they found a way to lose.
They had lost the lead by the time the second period was over, but were able to nose back in front midway through the third, only to give it back again before finally losing in overtime, 5-4, on a power-play goal by Jamie Benn at 2:17 of the extra session.
With Artemi Panarin serving a hooking penalty, Benn shoved Adam Fox out of the way to create space for himself and redirected a pass from Jason Robertson past Jonathan Quick (35 saves) for the winner. The loss was the Rangers’ 17th in the last 23 games (6-16-1).
“You get that 3-0 lead, you want to play a little better,’’ Fox said. “But also, that 4-3 lead late, you want to be able to hang on to that. Yeah, it’s frustrating. I think we have been playing a lot better hockey, but you’ve got to get two points [with a win] out of that. One’s better than zero, but it definitely should have been two points tonight.’’
After blowing a 3-0 lead, the Rangers had gone up 4-3 on a power-play goal by Vincent Trocheck, his second goal of the game, with 7:04 remaining in regulation. Trocheck tipped in a shot from Mika Zibanejad, who extended his point streak to four games.
But an awful giveaway by K’Andre Miller deep in his own end to Dallas forward Sam Steel led to Thomas Harley’s game-tying goal, with 2:39 left, to force the overtime.
“You come out of the gates, you’re up 3-0 at home [and] you don’t win a hockey game, you did enough wrong defensively to not be happy with it,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said.
To make matters worse, the game wasn’t the only thing the Rangers lost.
Center Filip Chytil who had been their hottest player, but who has had a history of concussions and missed the final 72 regular season games last season with what was presumed to be a concussion, left the game late in the second period with what the team said was an upper-body injury.
Laviolette was unwilling or unable to shed any further light on Chytil’s condition after the game. “It’s an upper-body injury, being evaluated,’’ the coach said.
The Rangers took a 3-0 lead by the 11:24 mark of the first period, thanks to two goals by Alexis Lafreniere, who snapped a 13-game goal drought, and the first of two by Trocheck.
Lafreniere opened the scoring with a shot from the left circle that went over the shoulder of Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger at 6:56.
Trocheck tipped in a shot by Will Borgen to make it 2-0 at 9:55, and Panarin (three assists) sent Lafreniere in on a breakaway for his second goal at 11:24 to extend the lead to 3-0.
But 1:33 later, Matt Duchene’s centering pass went in off Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen’s stick to get Dallas on the board, and then a holding penalty to Braden Schneider led to Evgenii Dadonov’s power-play goal at 15:56, which pulled the Stars within 3-2. The Rangers seemed fortunate to escape the period with a lead. They were outshot 19-8 in the period, out-attempted 25-11, and the scoring chances were 15-9 for Dallas.
“We just gave up way too much off the rush,’’ Laviolette said. “We put ourselves on the wrong side of everything in the first period . . . It’s just too much.’’
Robertson’s goal to make it 3-3 came on a shift where Borgen had lost his stick, and none of the forwards on the ice gave him theirs.
Dallas’ Roope Hintz fired a shot that Quick saved, but couldn’t cover, and Robertson picked up the rebound, went behind the net and passed to Dadonov, who got knocked down from behind by Edstrom. Robertson, though, picked up the loose puck and backhanded a shot past Quick for the goal.
Notes & quotes: Forward Chris Kreider, who missed Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury, was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Sunday. To replace him on the roster, the Rangers called up forward Matt Rempe, who had been sent to AHL Hartford on Monday after the team claimed forward Arthur Kaliyev off waivers from the L.A. Kings. Rempe served the final game of his eight-game suspension… Kaliyev, who has yet to play in the NHL this season, took part in the morning skate, but did not dress for the game.
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.
