Rangers' West Coast trip gets off to tough start with loss to Vegas
Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev falls into Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin after scoring while Rangers right wing Kaapo Kakko, left wing Chris Kreider and defenseman K'Andre Miller look on during the first period of an NHL game Thursday in Las Vegas. Credit: AP/Ian Maule
LAS VEGAS — Throughout their recent struggles, there’s been a constant refrain from the Rangers. They say they aren’t giving up a lot of scoring chances in games; it’s just that the ones they do give up are just too good.
On Thursday, they were singing the same song again.
Ivan Barbashev scored two goals, Jonathan Marchessault, fourth-liner Keegan Kolesar and former Ranger Brett Howden had one each and goaltender Logan Thompson made 29 saves as the Golden Knights beat the Rangers, 5-1, at T-Mobile Arena.
“I mean, it’s a tough one,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought our guys started with the right intentions and played hard the whole night. I hate the score, and the game just kind of unraveled in the wrong way for us, for what seemed like a group that was ready to play.’’
The Rangers started their four-game trip with a game against a banged-up team missing co-leading scorer Jack Eichel, No. 1 goaltender Adin Hill and third-leading scorer William Karlsson, and they appeared in good position to continue their recent upswing. That wasn’t what happened, though.
Said Chris Kreider: “I feel like the last couple of years, we were that team. It didn’t matter who we were playing, we were looking to counter and get those chances. And I’m sure most teams that played us felt like we do right now, where it’s like, ‘I can’t believe we just lost the game by that score’ when we felt like we’re doing a lot of the right things.’’
The trip continues with games in Southern California on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings and Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks before concluding Tuesday in San Jose.
Igor Shesterkin, coming off his strongest performance in some time in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over Seattle at the Garden, didn’t look like the same goalie, allowing four goals on 25 shots. The Rangers (28-14-2) trailed 4-0 before Mika Zibanejad broke up Thompson’s shutout bid with a power-play goal 40 seconds into the third period. Howden got that back with a shorthanded goal into an empty net.
In the first period, the video board played a short video tribute to goaltender Jonathan Quick at the first media timeout, welcoming him back to Las Vegas for the first time since he helped the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup last season.
Quick, who was traded by the Kings to Columbus and then immediately flipped to Vegas to serve as insurance, played 10 regular-season games for Vegas and no playoff games. Serving as the backup to Shesterkin on Thursday, Quick smiled and waved to acknowledge the video.
The Rangers had the better of play early in the first period, generating pressure and getting some chances. Kaapo Kakko, playing his third game since returning from a 21-game absence with a leg injury, had the first threatening chance at 3:59 of the period. He started the play when he passed the puck to defenseman Ryan Lindgren — playing in his 300th game — in the neutral zone, drove the net and redirected Lindgren’s return pass on net. But Thompson made the save.
On the next shift, five seconds later, Alexis Lafreniere cut around Thompson — who catches with his right hand and holds his stick in his left — wide of the right wing post and tried to tuck a backhand shot behind the goalie. With Thompson lying on the ice, the puck came to Vincent Trocheck, but he didn’t get full control of it and couldn’t lift it over Thompson and into the net.
With the Rangers unable to capitalize on those chances, Vegas (26-14-5) took the lead on Marchessault’s goal at 11:35 of the period. Marchessault scored on a three-on-two rush, passing to Nicolas Roy and then whipping Roy’s return pass off Shesterkin and in for his 19th goal.
Vegas made it 2-0 at 14:48 on Barbashev’s first goal. It needed to survive a video review because the puck went in off his skate as his stick was tied up by Kakko as he crashed the net. The Situation Room in Toronto checked it and ruled there was no distinct kicking motion by Barbashev, so the goal counted.
Vegas doubled its lead with two goals 25 seconds apart late in the second. Barbashev scored on a power play at 17:59 and Kolesar managed to get a tip on a shot by Kaedan Korczak at 18:24.
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.
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