Vladimir Tarasenko scores in return to St. Louis, but Rangers lose in OT

ST. LOUIS — It was hard for most of the Rangers to match the same energy, intensity and passion Thursday night against the Blues that they brought in Wednesday’s emotional victory over Tampa Bay.

The Blues already had been eliminated from playoff contention and also didn’t bring a lot of emotion into this game.

But Thursday was maybe the biggest game of the season for Vladimir Tarasenko.

Playing for the first time in St. Louis since the Blues dealt him to the Rangers Feb. 9, along with defenseman Niko Mikkola, Tarasenko sat on the bench and watched an emotional tribute video for him, saw both teams stand and do stick taps in his honor, and then scored a goal in the third period.

Ultimately for the Rangers, though, his efforts were only good enough to help the Rangers earn a single point as they lost, 3-2, in overtime on a goal by Kasperi Kapanen.

“We had a game [Wednesday] night, so I had no time to think,’’ Tarasenko said when asked about what it was like anticipating his return to the place where he played 10-and-a-half seasons and won a Stanley Cup in 2019. “When I went to bed, I start thinking. But I’m not going to lie. It was very hard for me emotionally and I have very good feelings when I walked through the building, you know, see all the guys and you have a chance to talk with my teammates, my friends now.’’

Tarasenko’s goal, on the power play at 1:55 of the third period, tied it 1-1 before Tyler Pitlick put St. Louis back in the lead with a goal at 10:13.

Then Vincent Trocheck, who won 15 of 17 faceoffs, scored the Rangers’ second power-play goal of the night, this one with 2:03 left and with the goalie pulled to create a six-on-four advantage. But Kapanen connected on a one-timer to beat Jaroslav Halak (19 saves) at 1:16 of the overtime.

“It’s a little bit of a funky game, probably,’’ Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “I don’t think it was our best game all around. We gave ourselves a chance at the end, got a point. Overtime could go either way.’’

Trouba admitted it was difficult for the Rangers to play a game with so little at stake, especially on the second night of a back-to-back with a two-and-a-half-hour overnight flight in between.

“It might be the first time my career I’ve done it back to back in different conferences, from home,’’ said Trouba, who started his career in Winnipeg. “I don’t make excuses, but it’s obviously tough to come in here with little sleep and kind of turn right around. But I thought there was an effort there. I don’t think we were terrible. I think we had our looks, had our chances. The goalie [St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington] made some good saves.’’

The overtime loss, combined with the Devils’ lopsided win over Columbus earlier, dropped the Rangers four points behind the second-place Devils in the Metropolitan Division. That all but ended any hopes the Rangers may have been holding onto about somehow gaining home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Devils have 108 points and the Rangers have 104. Both teams have three games left.

The Rangers played a second straight game without Patrick Kane, out with a lower-body injury, and once again dressed a lineup that featured 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Having seven defensemen, though, gave coach Gerard Gallant — and assistant Gord Murphy, who runs the defense — the opportunity to lighten the load on some of the heavy-minute defensemen.

And through the first two periods, at least, Murphy more or less rotated all seven defensemen on the ice relatively equally.

The action was minimal until Artemi Panarin was stripped of the puck inside the St. Louis blue line by Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko, who raced up the left wing on a partial breakaway and whipped a wrist shot past the glove hand of Halak at 8:00 of the second period to open the scoring.

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.