Rangers fall to the Bruins 4-1 in a lackluster, offensive lacking performance. As expected, Boston went into Sunday afternoons game hungrier, playing with purpose right from the start. The Rangers could not generate offense or puck possession in the early minutes of the game. Just seconds into the Bruins first power play of the game following a cross check from Ryan Strome, Nick Ritchie landed on the head of net minder Alexandar Georgiev. Georgiev somehow ended up with a huge cut above his eye as he would get tended to by longtime Rangers trainer Jim Ramsey. It seemed as though Georgiev should've been called off as part of the league's concussion protocol but was given the go ahead to return to the net. Moments later, Charlie Coyle came down on his off hand side, cut to the forehand and roofed a shot past Georgiev.
Now, not that this would've made a bit of difference necessarily, but Georgiev never should've returned to the net. Yes, clean eye or not Charlie Coyle's shot on that play was bound for the back of the net. Nevertheless, why the league waited until Georgiev got scored on to decide to put him through concussion protocol doesn't make much sense. Following the goal, Georgiev would be waved off and Sheshterkin would finish out the first period. Luckily, this was all within the first ten minutes of the game so Igor was still somewhat loose from warm ups prior to the game. With just under two minutes to go in the opening period Connor Clifton would let a shot go from the point that Trent Frederic would tip in to make it 2-0.
As if the goalie situation wasn't already thrown off, Alexandar Georgiev would return to start the second period. This would eventually result in an undeserved loss added to Sheshterkin's career stats as his allowed goal would become the game winner. The Bruins would continue to control the play and about halfway through the period another Charlie, this time McAvoy, would find the back of the net. Again, the Rangers as a whole may have been flat but it's the same issues hurting this team. Mika is ice cold, Brett Howden is as good as invisible on the ice, lack of scoring, lack of consistency. One constant factor however resulted in the Rangers lone goal in Colin Blackwell. I think I speak for all Ranger fans when I say I was bummed to see Jesper Fast walk this off season but man, Colin Blackwell has done a heck of a job filling that role. Obviously "Quickie" is a kind of irreplaceable guy but like I said, Blackwell has stepped up finding his 5th goal tying him with Panarin and Buchnevich for third in goals on the team.
The Rangers would head to the power play late in the third and pull Georgiev for the extra attacker. Failing to obtain strong puck possession, Coyle would eventually find the empty net for his second of the day putting the icing on this very not tasty cake. However the game wouldn't end at the buzzer as Brendan Lemieux decided to (finally) drop the gloves with Nick Ritchie in retaliation of Ritchie falling on Georgiev. The Rangers could've used that spark about a period and a half earlier but kudos to Lemieux who probably had his worst game of the season otherwise.
The Rangers are back at it Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres, this will be their last home game before a fairly long stretch of road games. The Rangers are certainly hoping Filip Chytil will be good to go for Tuesday, same can be said for Kaapo Kakko. A couple other notes to keep in mind include Vitali Kravtsov and Tarmo Reunanen. Kravtsov is eligible to return to the Rangers upon completion of the KHL season, which is this week. The young talented winger has 16 goals and 8 assists in his campaign with Traktor this season. This has been the plan for him this season and the Rangers can certainly use him with all the missing pieces in the lineup, especially Panarin. Another news piece that has been slept on a little was Tarmo Reunanen being assigned to the NYR taxi squad. With Trouba out and the lack of certainty in Hajek and Johnson's play, it could very well be time for the Rangers to give the young Finnish defender who has two goals and three assists in five games with the Wolf Pack, a look in the NHL.
Chris Feldman
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