The Wrap: Lundqvist falters, Rangers lose to Leafs 3-2 in OT

                TORONTO---Between 8:30 and 9:30 tonight, Air Canada Centre’s exterior lights and concourse fixtures were lowered in accordance with Canada’s Earth Hour environmental movement.   

                   And inside, soon after 9:30, the Leafs dimmed the Rangers playoff chances with two late goals to erase a 2-1 lead and win 3-2, just 39 seconds into overtime on Nikolai Kulemin’s wraparound.

                       Kulemin’s goal denied the Rangers a third consecutive win and prevented them from gaining a second point that had looked assured midway through the final period. Should the Rangers miss the playoffs, one damaging stat may stand out: They are 1-7 in overtime.

                      The killer goal was the soft one that tied the score at 2 at 16:25 of the third period and one that Henrik Lundqvist wanted back. Defenseman Tomas Kaberle fired a shot along the goal line to Lundqvist’s left that banked off the goaltender’s skate at the post to tie the game at 2. 

                “I let in a ----- terrible goal,” said Lundqvist after slamming one of his pads on the floor in a somber locker room. “I’m ----. I was happy with the way I played before that but that cost us.”     

                  The Rangers (33-32-10, 76 points) missed a step in their determined climb to a playoff spot, and are four points behind seventh-place Boston and eighth-place Philadelphia with seven games to play. A damaging three-game losing streak had ended with a 5-0 win over the Islanders on Wednesday and a 4-3 shootout victory the next night in New Jersey.

                  “I feel like we gave a point away,” said Vinny Prospal. “It’s a tough way to lose. We started well and just never got a third goal.”  

                  With the Rangers ahead 2-1 in the third on first-period goals by P.A. Parenteau and Brandon Dubinsky, the Leafs drew a too many men on the ice penalty, and the ineffective power play failed for the second time.

                   But when Olli Jokinen was whistled for a questionable cross-check, the Rangers penalty-kill frustrated the power play for the second time, extending their effectiveness to 11 for 11 over four games.  Kulemin hit the goalpost with a 45-foot shot with just under seven minutes to play, and netminder Jonas Gustavsson, who won his seventh straight game with 36 saves, poked away Parenteau’s close-in attempt with under four minutes left.

                   Parenteau, called up in place of injured Ryan Callahan, had spun in the slot and slid the puck under Gustavsson’s extended right leg at 10:25 of the first for his second goal as a Ranger. With 10.6 seconds left in the period, Dubinsky went around the net for a wraparound to which Gustavsson couldn’t react and the Blueshirts had forged a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. Michal Rozsival, wearing the second “A” in Callahan’s absence, registered assists on both goals.

                    An early misplay in the second led to the Leafs cutting the lead in half. Michael Del Zotto couldn’t stay with Mikhail Grabovski behind the net and his centering pass was snapped past Lundqvist by John Mitchell, gliding in untouched from the blue line. With the Leafs picking up steam and the Rangers scrambling in their own end, coach John Tortorella called a timeout with 5:17.

                  Gustavsson had made two saves to prevent an insurance goal. He made a gorgeous pad save on a wide-open Sean Avery and then Erik Christensen, who scored the shootout winner in New Jersey, had a golden opportunity, but his five-hole shot on a breakaway was smothered with 4:29 left. Avery left the game with an apparent left knee injury after Luke Schenn’s check at 7:20 of the second.   

                 “I thought we had locked them down,” said Dubinsky. “It hurts. All we can do is get ready for the Islanders on Tuesday.”