Henrik Lundqvist did all he could to keep his vastly outplayed team in its finale of a three-game trip to California Saturday afternoon, but a third-period explosion by the San Jose Sharks against the mistake-prone Rangers was the difference as New York suffered a 4-1 defeat.
The Rangers earned three of a possible six points on the trip. They beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 on Wednesday before suffering a 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings in Los Angeles on Thursday. Saturday’s defeat was a bitter finish to a difficult trip which started out so well.
“It certainly is nowhere near good enough, but there’s no sense in beating ourselves up,” explained alternate captain Derek Stepan after the team held a closed-door post game meeting. “We have to reset ourselves. We played some good hockey on this California trip until today, now it’s about our playoff push with ten games to play.”
Lundqvist carried the Rangers on his back, somehow backstopping a 1-1 tie into the early stages of the third period. He had stopped 36 of 37 shots through the opening two periods, but his team’s mistakes finally caught up with Lundqvist when the Sharks scored three times in a span of three minutes 20 seconds in the third.
Joe Thornton scored the go-ahead goal off a clean rebound with no defenseman near him at 5:45. Joel Ward netted his second of the game, off an odd-man rush at 7:35; and Joe Pavelski scored his team-high 33rd of the season, also off an odd-man rush at 9:05. In an eye-blink, a 1-1 tie became a 4-1 deficit for the Rangers.
“For two periods I felt as good as I’ve felt in a long time,” said Lundqvist. “It wasn’t enough so I’ve got to be better, find a way to make that extra save. It was a tough game to play, so many chances. Together we have to figure it out.”
Lundqvist was lifted from the game after Pavelski’s goal and replaced by Antti Raanta. He faced 47 shots over 49 minutes 5 seconds, stopping 43. Raanta stopped the five shots he faced as New York was outshot by a whopping 52-26 margin.
“I mean, it was 4-1, and he was by himself there,” answered head coach Alain Vigneault when asked why he removed Lundqvist at that point.
While Lundqvist’s brilliance through two periods was a major storyline story Saturday, there were several important sub plots played out throughout the first 40 minutes, as well, not the least of which was Dan Boyle scoring against his former team to help the Rangers forge a 1-1 tie late in the second period despite being badly outplayed.
Boyle, who had aggressively jumped into the play all afternoon long, did so again with two and a half minutes remaining in the middle period, and this time he connected. Derick Brassard slid a pass from the bottom of the left circle towards the front of the Sharks net where Boyle collected the pass, deked goaltender Martin Jones down and out, and roofed his 8th goal of the season–and second in as many games–into the cage to pull the visitors even at 17:32.
Just before Boyle’s goal Rick Nash was viciously slashed by Ward as he crossed over the blue line. Nash was in obvious pain as he exited the ice, and was writhing on the bench when Boyle tied things up. Fortunately he was able to return on his next shift despite the wicked unpenalized slash.
Earlier in the period Ward had scored the game’s first goal, a power play one-timer after a pretty reverse pass from behind the goal line by teammate Joonas Donskoi at 7:50.
That was the only goal surrendered by Lundqvist through the opening two periods of play. He stopped all 16 shots he faced in the first period before stopping 20 of 21 in the second period when he was under siege nearly the full 20 minutes.
In that middle period it was one highlight-reel save after another for Lundqvist, starting with his well-positioned denial of Thornton’s weaving attempt after the big-bodied Sharks center had powered through the Rangers defense at 1:36. His victims later on included Melker Karlsson off a 2 on 1, Hertl one on one, and a stunning sequence where Hertl, Thornton, and Pavelski were all robbed during a wild scramble in the crease. Lundqvist also stoned Brent Burns on a clean breakaway.
“We left Hank out to dry,” stated team captain Ryan McDonagh. “The way he was competing, we weren’t nearly as good as he was.”
Added defenseman Marc Staal, “That type of game at this time of the year is garbage.”
Lundqvist was unabke to continue to be a one-man show, and the Sharks capitalized on Rangers mistakes to score three times early in the third period to pull away and hand the Rangers a loss in their road trip finale.
“We come into this locker room, on the road, third game in four nights, tied 1-1 we’re feeling good about our position even if we were not playing our best,” explained Stepan. “Then in the third we weren’t even close.”
McDonagh added, “Guys have to take a real good look at themselves.”
The Rangers headed back to New York following the game and, after a day off Sunday, they will be back in action Monday night hosting the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden.
Jim Cerny
BlueshirtsUnited.com
(Reprinted with permission of New York Rangers)
