Rangers' rally falls short in loss to Winnipeg Jets at MSG
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin reacts after a goal by Jets center Mark Scheifele during the second period of an NHL game Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. Credit: Noah K. Murray
When you are the Rangers, and you have Igor Shesterkin, it’s not often that you go into a game worrying too much about the opposing team’s goalie.
But against the Winnipeg Jets, and their netminder, Connor Hellebuyck, you do.
“The way I approach it, I just try to score, and pick a spot, but the better the goalie, the harder that is,’’ Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. “And I think to beat those kind of goalies like he is, you’ve got to pick those corners. Sometimes you can get it through him, but it seems like if you’re going to beat him, it’s going to be on a real good shot.’’
The Rangers threw 40 shots at Hellebuyck, the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy this season as the NHL’s best goalie. They only got two past him, which was one less than Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele scored Tuesday in the Jets’ 4-2 victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Scheifele’s hat trick — the third came into an empty net with 8.1 seconds remaining — plus a power play goal from Kyle Connor and those 38 saves by Hellebuyck were too much for the Rangers, who were playing their seventh game in 11 nights.
“He’s such a big guy in there,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said of Hellebuyck, who leads the NHL in save percentage (.923) and goals-against average (2.30). “There were some really good chances. Some point blank chances. And we got behind them a couple of times and scored goals. And just couldn’t get it done. We end up [two] short at the end of the night.’’
The Rangers, who trailed 3-1 entering the third period, got a goal from Alexis Lafreniere with 1:54 remaining and Shesterkin (23 saves) pulled for an extra skater, but Chris Kreider’s tip-in try off Artemi Panarin’s pass with 41 seconds left went just wide, and Scheifele put the game away for the Jets, who played without their head coach Rick Bowness. Bowness had flown back to Winnipeg after having what the team called “a minor medical procedure.’’
The Rangers looked quick in the first period, and looked intent on firing as many shots as they could at Hellebuyck in the opening 20 minutes. They outshot the Jets 13-9 in the period.
But Winnipeg got on the board 4:04 into the second period, on Scheifele’s first goal. Alex Iafallo’s shot from the blue line was blocked in front, but Scheifele got his stick on the rebound and managed to push it past Shesterkin for his 20th goal of the season.
The Rangers tied it up on a power play goal by Alex Wennberg at 9:30. The goal was his first for the Rangers, after coming over from Seattle before the trade deadline. But Braden Schneider got called for a hooking penalty at 11:50, and Connor scored on the ensuing power play at 12:18 to put Winnipeg back in front, 2-1.
Then Scheifele made it 3-1 at 17:55 when he stole the puck from Kreider inside the Jets’ zone and took off on a breakaway. Kreider didn’t chase him, and Scheifele skated in alone and whipped a shot past Shesterkin on the blocker side.
“The second period, it’s not good enough,’’ Mika Zibanejad said. “I think we got away, a little bit, from our game . . . I think the second period kind of messes the game up for us.”
Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel finally got to make his Rangers debut, 11 days after the Rangers dealt a fourth-round pick in 2027 to Pittsburgh to acquire him. The left knee injury suffered by defenseman Ryan Lindgren in Sunday’s game against the Islanders created an opening for Ruhwedel to enter the lineup.
“We’ve been waiting to get Ruhwedel in there,’’ Laviolette said after the morning skate. “And [the opportunity] just hasn’t presented itself.’’
Ruhwedel ended up playing 13 minutes, 31 seconds, and had one shot on goal, one hit, and one blocked shot.
“I thought he was good,’’ Laviolette said after the game of Ruhwedel. “I thought that the defense was good . . . I thought he came in and played steady minutes. Good minutes for his first game with us.’’
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.
