NEW YORK – The New York Rangers winning streak came to an end Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks 5-3. The Canucks snapped their own 9 game losing streak as well as bouncing back after a lose last night to the New York Islanders. On a night in where many American folks paid attention to the Presidential Election, the announced 18,000 in the Garden watched as the Rangers had one of their bad games of the season.
The Blueshirts opened the game with sustained pressure and that was about it. It was the special teams that was trouble for the Rangers. They went 1-5 on their power play on the night.
Pavel Buchnevich posted his first career NHL multi-point game, tallying three points (one goal, two assists) in the contest. As of the conclusion of tonight’s game, Buchnevich is the sixth NHL rookie who has posted at least one three-point game this season (along with Jimmy Vesey, Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, Mitch Marner, and Joel Eriksson-Ek).
Could it be some fatigue that has set in for the Rangers? Sure it could be, but tonight it was not a good effort by the Rangers that saw starting goalie Antti Raanta depart in period three for concussion protocol after a collision. Henrik Lundqvist came in cold and surrendered three goals that propelled the Canucks to the victory. Head coach Alain Vigneault on having to take Raanta out said, “When the league calls down and says that the spotter wants him out, then you’ve got to take him out. That’s what we did. We followed the rules.”
Raanta went on to speak about the decision and said, “That’s the rule nowadays and you have to respect that. I fell down and they saw that I hit my head on the ice, so that’s one of those things that they’re looking for. I pretty much knew it when Rammer (Trainer Jim Ramsay) was watching me the whole time from the bench there might be a goalie change and I’d have to go do the test. That was pretty much it. I tried to do it as quickly as possible and I felt good. Last year when I had the concussion I had way different symptoms, so I knew that it’s going to be fine, and I just tried to do it as quickly as possible and come back to the game. It’s not easy; it’s not easy to leave like that.”
Rick Nash registered his 400th career NHL goal and recorded three shots on goal. He is the 92nd player in NHL history who has tallied at least 400 career NHL goals. In addition, he is one of three NHL players who have registered at least 400 goals since the start of his rookie season in 2002-03 (along with Alex Ovechkin and Jarome Iginla). Nash has recorded a goal/point in four of the last six games and in seven of the last 12 contests (seven goals, three assists over the span). Nash is tied for the team lead in goals in 2016-17 (seven).
The coach talked about the game and said, “At the end of the day, I don’t think that was the difference in the game. Our execution was nonexistent. We couldn’t make a ten-foot pass, and when you execute like that, and you can’t pass, and you can’t put your speed on display… We didn’t deserve to win today, that’s it. It’s that simple.”
Captain Ryan McDonagh on not being able to capitalize early, “We talked about it going in. They were a desperate team and they played like it tonight. They played like the more desperate team. They won more puck battles than us and they had the puck a little bit more than us and when they had opportunities to score, they bared down and capitalized.”
The Rangers will now head to western Canada and begin a road trip. This will be another test as they play away from home until the 20th of November. The Rangers will be put to the test and and they must avoid a losing streak.
NOTES
Mika Zibanejad tallied a goal, recorded three shots on goal, and led the Rangers with eight faceoff wins in 17:05 of ice time. He has notched a point in eight of 14 games this season (three goals, seven assists).
Kevin Hayes tallied an assist in tonight’s contest. Hayes extended his point streak to six games, establishing a career-high (four goals, six assists over the span). In addition, he has registered a point in seven of the last eight games, recording 11 points (five goals, six assists) in those contests.
