Coming off a big shootout win over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night at home, a 3-game winning streak, and goalie Henrik Lundqvist being named NHL’s second star of the week, the New York Rangers felt great about themselves going into Tuesday’s matchup with the rival Pittsburgh Penguins. Unfortunately, those feelings sunk when the boys in blueshirts were blown out, 7-2, in a very upsetting showing. Antti Raanta started for the Rangers, after Henrik Lundqvist started the previous three, and fans were 50/50 on head coach Alain Vigneault’s decision to start the Finnish goaltender.
In the first period alone, the Rangers were out-shot 22-10, yet somehow managed a goal from forward Matt Puempel as well as gave up a power play goal to who else but Sidney Crosby after Kevin Klein high-sticked Carl Hagelin. Overall, the team was out-shot 47-28, dominated in every aspect, and the Rangers defense just managed to have one of their worst showings of the season thus far.
After the first, is when mayhem decided to rear its ugly head once again. After some costly defensive mistakes and some bad calls by the refs, the Rangers lost their momentum following Michael Grabner’s 14th (and team leading) goal and ended up with a heartbreaking 7-2 loss. Head coach AV and his entire team were clearly frustrated in their post-game comments.
“You learn from it and go from there,” goalie Antti Raanta said. Despite the defensive errors, Vigneault praised his captain, Ryan McDonagh, and said, “Ryan’s a terrific defenseman. He just had a few errors.” The team heads home for a matchup against old friend Eric Staal and the Minnesota Wild before the three-day Christmas break. Let’s hope the team can give their fans some holiday cheer!
