Rangers continue to stumble, fall to Golden Knights at MSG
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin looks on as Golden Knights right wing Jonathan Marchessault celebrates his goal in the second period of an NHL game at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Back home at Madison Square Garden on Friday night against the Vegas Golden Knights in the front end of a back-to-back that will take them into the bye week/All-Star break, the Rangers were hoping for a victory that would start a turnaround from their protracted slump.
They would not get it.
Vegas got a hat trick from Jonathan Marchessault, a 36-save performance from goalie Adin Hill and a pair of goals 46 seconds apart in the second period to beat the Rangers, 5-2, handing them their second straight loss and fourth in the last five games.
The Rangers (29-16-3) will play their final game before the break on Saturday in Ottawa.
“I think the guys continue to try and push, and work hard and put the puck at the net, but at the end of the day, it’s not getting done. It’s not good enough,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “We lost another hockey game in our own building.’’
“We’re trying, but it just becomes a little bit of, I guess, poor execution from being desperate and trying to create something, and just try to get something done,’’ center Mika Zibanejad said. “And we’re obviously tired of losing. We’re trying to do whatever we can to get out of this, and we’ve just got to keep working . . . and earn our bounces. Because the bounces are not with us right now.’’
Goalie Igor Shesterkin’s struggles continued. He allowed four goals on 19 shots and his save percentage for the season fell to .899.
“In general, I thought that there’s things that our whole team can do better,’’ Laviolette said. “Igor, the power play, the forwards, the defensemen. There’s opportunity for us to be better in a lot of different areas . . . I think [Shesterkin] made some big saves, but at the end of the day, everybody’s got to do a little bit more.’’
The game wasn’t the only loss the Rangers experienced Friday. Center Filip Chytil, who has been trying to recover from a suspected concussion, suffered a setback during the optional morning skate at the Garden.
Then, midway through the first period, defenseman Ryan Lindgren left the game after getting hit into the end boards by Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar. Lindgren skated to the bench, doubled over, then headed to the locker room at 8:09. The team said he suffered an upper-body injury.
Coming off a disappointing 1-2-1 road trip to the West Coast and having lost to Vegas, 5-1, to start that trip, the Rangers got off to a tough start when Sheldon Rempal tipped home a shot by Paul Cotter to put the Golden Knights in front at 5:02.
The Rangers picked up the intensity after that and tied the score at 6:33 on a goal by Blake Wheeler, back on the top line with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. They dominated the rest of the period, outshooting Vegas 15-6, but were unable to score a second goal.
Vegas (29-14-6) regained the lead on a goal by Kolesar at 3:18 of the second period after he blocked a pass attempt by Artemi Panarin, skated up ice on a breakaway and fired a shot over Shesterkin’s catching glove.
Forty-six seconds later, it was 3-1 after Marchessault tipped in a shot by Ivan Barbashev for his first goal of the game.
Marchessault’s second goal, at 2:11 of the third period, made it 4-1. And after Kaapo Kakko scored for the Rangers with 1:05 remaining, Marchessault completed his hat trick into an empty net with 28.4 seconds remaining.
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.
