Rangers lose to Blues, 4-1

ST. LOUIS -- No Gateway to the Best road trip. As they figuratively passed under the Arch on their way West for a date in Phoenix, the Rangers were ambushed by St. Louis here Thursday night, 4-1.

No singeing the Blues. Thorough St. Louis authority -- 36 shots on goal -- included a pinball-ricochet goal by Alexander Steen early in the third period to make it 3-1 and send the visitors on their way.

Most of the game defied logic, with the Rangers' early puck control resulting in a first-period 2-0 deficit, and St. Louis' overwhelming dominance in the next 20 minutes negated by Michael Del Zotto's score at 16:02 -- on only the second Rangers' shot on goal of the period.

Going into the third, the Rangers had been outshot by a whopping 27-16, with few of those 16 being serious assaults on Brian Elliott, the league's stingiest goalie (averaging 1.45 goals allowed).

The Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist, meanwhile, was beaten twice in the first -- by Patrik Berglund from the right dot at 7:06 and by David Perron's deflection of Carlo Colaiacovo's blueline blast at 11:03. It was the 11th time in its last 15 games that St. Louis had scored first and led to the Blues steadily tightening the screws both offensively and defensively.

Only Lundqvist's stellar work kept the Rangers in the game, their offense muddling along while forward Brad Richards wasn't used the last nine minutes of the first period.

After Tuesday's 1-0 loss to Dallas, a sharp U-turn from back-to-back 4-1 and 6-1 offensive eruptions, Rangers coach John Tortorella insisted there was no second thoughts about retaining the team's trusted dynamic.

SEE PHOTOSLong Island in the pros: NHL edition

"We had a game where we didn't score a goal," he said. "I don't call one game a rut. We just have to stay within ourselves . . . go with the same way we play. Defend first, try to get our forecheck going and see where we go from there."

St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock praised -- buttered up? -- the Rangers for having the best three-men-forward effort he has seen. "All's I know," Tortorella responded, "is we have a philosophy here, and we're tried to work on it, trying to play the right way.

"We [coaches] allow our players to do what they do offensively, but we really work on our play away from the puck. Because we feel we'll have it more that way. For us to have any chance to stay consistent and be successful, that's how we have to play."

Veteran hockey observers, of course, understand there is no absolute guarantee against what Tortorella called "just a dead game" against Dallas, or Thursday night's struggle to find momentum -- the kind of unexpected twist that inspired St. Louis native Chuck Berry to sing, " 'C'est la vie,' say the old folks; it goes to show you never can tell."

Neither Lundqvist, who took a hard shot by Dallas' Sheldon Souray in the collarbone Tuesday, nor defenseman Steve Eminger, hit by a shot in the arm, let those bruises keep them from action Thursday night -- though the Rangers called up 20-year-old defenseman Tim Erixon from Connecticut for this trip. Just in case. (Erixon didn't dress Thursday night.)

But, all in all, HBO's microphones were likely to hear some more naughty words from the Rangers.