The New York Rangers will take the point, but they had two in the bag Sunday but coughed up three third period goals to the Winnipeg Jets and lost in the skills competition, 4-3.
Mark Scheifele, Jack Roslovic and Bryan Little scored in the third period to erase a 3-0 deficit.
“We know we have a lot of skill,” Scheifele said. “We know we can put three goals in in a game or in a period, so we just have to stick with it.”
The Jets improved to 16-8-2.
Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves to get the win.
“We had a lot of grade-A chances, ones that we normally bury, and they have a pretty good guy in between the pipes, so if it was going to be one of those nights where [Lundqvist] stole a game, it would be frustrating,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “But our mindset going into the third was just try to throw everything at him, see if we could squeak one by him and get a little momentum.”
Jesper Fast, Marc Staal and Chris Kreider scored for New York who dropped to 13-12-3.
“We felt good going into the third,” Staal said. “We were giving them one too many chances on the power play and we can’t do that. … They kept on coming and coming and were able to capitalize on a couple of opportunities. They are a team with guys that can score goals.”
If the Rangers are going to do anything more this season they will need to take more shots than 19 against a solid club like the Jets.
“They are one heck of a hockey team,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “Probably the best team we’ve seen all year.”
New York is 1-4-1 in their six.
“We probably lost one point instead of gaining one point. … We were giving them too much time and space … eventually they got their chances and they scored,” Mika Zibanejad said after the disappointing loss.
[WATCH: All Jets vs. Rangers highlights]
Henrik Lundqvist made 39 saves in the loss.
“I felt like they owned us,” Lundqvist said. “We tried to survive for two periods and then finally they got a goal and they just kept coming. … We tried our best, we got a point, but they are good.”
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