Friday night at Madison Square Garden the Rangers came within seconds of securing their fifth straight victory, but instead allowed a late game-tying goal and then lost to the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 in overtime.
New York nearly won this wildly entertaining contest in overtime on two separate occasions, but Derick Brassard and Keith Yandle both were denied on excellent chances. Kings forward Tanner Pearson ultimately scored the game-winner at 3:10 of overtime on a short-side snap shot from right wing.
Awarded their first power play of the night when Kings defenseman Alec Martinez was whistled for a delay of game penalty at 13:30 of the third period, the Rangers responded with only their third power play goal in the last 19 games. Kevin Hayes drove to the net and Mats Zuccarello fed him perfectly for the score at 15:14 as the Blueshirts grabbed a 4-3 lead–one that looked like it would stand up to the finish for the Rangers who had won four games in a row coming in.
Hayes, who had a goal and an assist Friday, now has goals in back to back games. Zuccarello also scored a goal and recorded an assist Friday, as did Derek Stepan.
However the Kings scored a flukey goal with 29.7 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime. After a Rangers icing, the Kings won the offensive zone face off and Anze Kopitar wristed a shot towards the goal which hit Rangers defenseman Kevin Klein in the chest and bounced over the goal line–Kopitar tying the game with his third goal of the night and 16th of the season.
When the 2015-16 schedule came out it was probably assumed by most that Friday’s contest would be a match up of two of the league’s elite goaltenders–New York’s Henrik Lundqvist and Jonathan Quick of the Kings. However Alain Vigneault chose to rest Lundqvist, who had started 20 of the previous 21 Rangers contests, and Quick was out after suffering a recent lower body injury.
So it was Antti Raanta in goal for the Rangers, making his first start since January 17, and third-stringer Peter Budaj tending goal for L.A. after backup Jhonas Enroth had started in Thursday’s loss to the Islanders just 24 hours prior. Raanta made 29 saves for New York, while Budaj, who was recalled from the minor leagues just this week, finished with 24 stops, including three in overtime.
The Rangers spotted the Kings a 2-0 lead just 11:26 into play, but came back to secure a 3-2 advantage of their own by the midpoint of the second period. However Kopitar’s second goal of the night pulled the Kings even and sent the two teams into the second intermission tied 2-2.
A strong forecheck by the third line turned the tide for the Rangers after Los Angeles had roared out to its early lead. Oscar Lindberg won a puck battle along the right wing wall and skimmed the puck around behind the net to Hayes, who was tied up in a one on one battle of his own. Hayes chipped the puck into the slot where Viktor Stalberg beat the Kings defense to the loose disc, and he whisked his eighth goal past Budaj at the 13 minute mark of the first period, trimming the Kings lead to 2-1.
Stepan scored an unassisted goal at 7:44 of the second period to tie the game, 2-2. From the bottom of the left circle Stepan outworked three Kings, and he skated into the low slot before his wrist shot slipped through Budaj’s pads, his 10th goal evening things up.
With momentum clearly on their side, the Rangers grabbed their first lead of the night shortly thereafter on Zuccarello’s team-leading 19th goal. Zuccarello, who now has equaled his career-high in goals, sent a backhand shot off Budaj with the puck fluttering high in the air before landing behind the Kings goalie and rolling over the goal line at 9:21. Stepan and Chris Kreider assisted on the go-ahead goal.
After expertly killing off a Dominic Moore penalty right after Zuccarello’s goal the Rangers seemed to have grasped this game by the throat. However a turnover in the Rangers end of the ice led directly to Kopitar’s 15th goal that tied the score at the 15:46 mark of period number two.
J.T. Miller gave the puck up along the left wing wall on a hit by Kings captain Dustin Brown just as he was trying to clear the zone. Milan Lucic collected the puck and quickly zipped a cross ice pass to the wide-open Kopitar stationed by the left post. Kopitar had an easy tap on the play.
It was Kopitar who had opened the scoring Friday night, beating Raanta just 33 seconds into the contest with an open left-wing snap shot past the screened Blueshirts netminder. Former Ranger Marian Gaborik made it 2-0 by scoring a power play goal at 11:26 of the first, though he suffered an apparent knee injury on an unfortunate collision with Moore later in the period and did not return for the rest of the night.
The Rangers had their own injury scare late in the second period when Dan Girardi blocked a heavy Jordan Nolan slap shot and remained down on the ice for quite a bit before slowly skating to the bench. In typical Girardi fashion he played the rest of the game and did not miss a shift.
Next up the Rangers will host the Philadelphia Flyers Sunday night at The Garden.
Dan GirardiDerek StepanMats ZuccarelloKevin HayesViktor StalbergAntti RaantaOscar Lindberg Rangers Vs Kings February 12th 2016
(Reprinted With Permission of the New York Rangers)
