Frustration, thy name is New York Rangers defense.
After winning four straight games and playing solid hockey throughout the streak, the Rangers coughed up a 2-0 lead in the third period Friday night in a 3-2 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit.
Andreas Athanasiou tied the game with less than three minutes in regulation to force the Rangers to relive their most recent ugly trend of giving up late goals.
Dylan Larkin then added to the misery with the overtime game-winner with just six seconds left on the clock.
“The way we played in the third period was fun hockey,” Larkin said. “We just worked and worked and worked until we got those big goals.”
The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the middle frame with power play goals from Kevin Shattenkirk and Neal Pionk.
The frustration was evident after the game.
“We cheated the game with a 2-0 lead, and you see the result,” Rangers head coach David Quinn said. “I would have thought we would have learned that lesson now, but we obviously haven’t. You can’t stop playing in this league.”
Justin Abdelkader got the rally started with an early third period goal.
“[Larkin] and [Athanasiou] are difference-makers, and those are the players that win games like this,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “Almost every game in this league is a one-goal game, so it comes down to who can make a big play. Those two want to make those plays.”
Jimmy Howard made 28 saves to get the win.
“We finally found the urgency we needed,” Howard said. “It took almost 65 minutes, but we were able to accomplish what we wanted to accomplish.”
[WATCH: All Rangers vs. Red Wings highlights]
Henrik Lundqvist made 28 saves in the most disappointing loss of the season so far.
“This one hurts, because we had complete control of this game for so long,” Lundqvist said. “We know we should have come out of this one with two points, and now we have to be happy just to get one.”
Young or not, rebuilding or not, dominating a game for 40 minutes at any level will not get the job done.
“We played with confidence for two periods and then we let them right back into the game. We stopped playing with confidence and started throwing the puck away, and you can’t do that in the other team’s rink. We needed to stay aggressive,” the Rangers’ Marc Staal said after the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.