Rangers blanked by Oilers, shut out at home for third straight game to start season

The Rangers’ offensive woes at home are now historic.

The Blueshirts became the first team in NHL history to be shut out in each of its first three games to start a season when they lost 2-0 to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Trent Frederic’s second-period goal turned out to be the game-winner, and Adam Henrique added an empty-net goal with 1:08 left to play. Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 30 saves for the Oilers to earn the shutout.

And the Rangers could make more history in their next home game: The defunct Pittsburgh Pirates were blanked for the first 187 minutes and 19 seconds at home in the 1928-29 season, and with the Rangers’ goal drought to start the season now at 180 minutes, they can break that record if they fail to score before the 8:19 mark of the first period of their next game, which will be Monday against the Minnesota Wild.

And despite all that, the Rangers kept saying, over and over, that they played well, and if they continue to play the way they played the last two games, they’ll be fine.

“You go through slumps here and there,’’ said Sam Carrick, who hit the crossbar late in the second period and then was foiled by a strong glove save by Skinner with 2:31 remaining in the game. “I haven’t quite seen it like this to start the season, where we just can’t buy one, but I think this is where you can lean on experience, and our veterans that have been around and just stick with it. We know that they’re going to come here sooner or later, it’s just a matter of time.’’

“We can all go home and sleep well knowing we played another good hockey game,’’ said captain J.T. Miller. “We’re competitors, we want to win. We’d love to see the puck go in the net. But right now, it’s not. It’s on us to be mature about this and just keep bringing that (effort). I said that the other night (after Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Washington). It’s the same thing.’’

The Rangers had felt pretty good after the game against Washington, when they had controlled play most of the game, and outshot the Caps 35-21, and coach Mike Sullivan said after the game it was the best game the Rangers had played. They got off to a fast start against the Oilers, having the territorial advantage for the first half or so of the first period, before Edmonton started to dominate possession and pile up scoring chances against Igor Shesterkin (20 saves).

Braden Schneider cranked a shot off the crossbar at 1:55 of the second period, and then Frederic scored at 10:22 of the period when Urho Vaakanainen’s dump-in attempt from the red line hit the linesman and dropped right at the feet of Edmonton’s Kasperi Kapanen, who passed ahead to Frederic, sending him in on a breakaway.

The Rangers had three power plays, on which they generated nine shots on goal, but Skinner kept them at bay. The Blueshirts did not commit a penalty.

“Yeah, it's frustrating,’’ defenseman Adam Fox said. “I mean, we’re playing well, so I guess it takes a little bit of the frustration away. If you were getting dominated every game and not having the opportunities, I think that's more frustrating.

“But I think the important thing for us is . . . we've been playing, I think, really good ‘D,’’’ he continued. “I think if we keep playing this way. We have enough talent that they’ll start to go in.’’

And that was the message Sullivan delivered to the team.

“The message was that we have to make sure that we don't get discouraged, because there's a lot to like with our game over the last six periods,’’ Sullivan said. “I feel like we're controlling play. We're controlling territory. We're limiting shots and scoring chances. We're generating a fair amount on our own at the other end of the rink. . . . You can't always control whether the puck was in the net or it doesn't, but I think if we just stay with it, and we don't get discouraged, we just get determined, we're going to be we're going to be OK.’’

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.