Despite dominating play in overtime, the Rangers fall to the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4. In an exciting back and forth match up, Jakub Voracek would have the last laugh on a breakaway following an unfortunate turnover by Keith Kinkaid. However prior to this, there was lots of big news and last minute changes for the New York Rangers who suspiciously did not have a morning skate.
We knew at the start of the day Rangers forward Phil Di Giuseppe was placed on the leagues Covid-19 protocol list. What we didn't know is that he wouldn't be the only one placed on the list. Pavel Buchnevich and Adam Fox, arguably two of our most important players, also found themselves ruled out of tonight's game and until further notice. This is a huge loss for this Rangers team who was so close to finally having their entire team active for the first time pretty much all season. However some good would come out of this bad news.
Tarmo Reunanen would be called up from the taxi squad to make his NHL debut. As there is with many of our prospects, there is a lot of excitement about this kid who we are finally seeing potential out of after battling through several injuries including back surgery. Tarmo would see just about nine minutes of ice time and registered his first NHL point on an absolutely beautiful pass to Artemi Panarin for the Rangers first goal of the night. An overall, great showing from this young defenseman who should have earned his keep for at least the next game.
Now as for the start of this game, it was not looking good. James van Riemsdyk, who has been red hot for this Philadelphia team, scored on a backhander to make it 1-0 just under four minutes into the game. Wasn't too long after that when Ivan Provorov let a shot go off the face-off to make it 2-0 Flyers. The Flyers out played and out shot the Rangers 11-6 in the first period, not all that surprising considering the Rangers haven't skated since their game in Boston on Saturday.
Luckily, the Rangers turned it on in the second period. Panarin would score off Reunanen's beauty of a pass about eight minutes in to make it one nothing, his first since his leave of absence from the team. Two and a half minutes later, Panarin would set up Conor Blackwell for a one timer to tie it up at two, another beautiful pass, this time from Panarin himself for his 15th assist of the season. Not bad for missing a handful of games. With about five left to go in the second, Julien Gauthier turned on the jets to beat the defender and make a slick move, fooling Carter Hart to make it 3-2.
Julien Gauthier absolutely deserves to stay in the line up and especially with Buchnevich out, deserves a look in the top six. Unfortunately, Gauthier had almost as many penalties as ice time yesterday which for some reason is a continuous problem for him. This has to be the only thing holding him back from more ice time and moving up in the line up. If he can stay out of the box, there is a good possibility he really breaks out as the player we're all hoping he could be.
Penalties in itself would become a problem in this game, Joel Farabee would let a shot go from a Claude Giroux feed that if you blinked, you would've missed. Tie game to head into the third. The Rangers would stay poised, coming into the games final period just as strong as they were in the second. Kevin Rooney, who continues to impress scored on a wrist shot to give the Rangers the lead once again. Unfortunately, their last lead of the game. Julien Gauthier would get a double minor high sticking penalty after some discussion as the penalty was.. under review? Didn't really understand that one especially since the same thing happened to Lafreniere against Boston and nobody said boo. Nevertheless, the Rangers were in the box and Claude Giroux was on the scoreboard, tip in goal to tie it up at 4.
And then there was overtime. The Rangers looked so good and so confident in overtime, winning the face off and controlling the play. The team had so many chances to end it but just couldn't find the net. Then came Jakub Voracek, who arguably should've been ejected earlier in the game for being the third man in on a dispute between Nolan Patrick and Brendan Smith. Nevertheless, the calls were not in our favor and Voracek would score on a breakaway to end the game.
I try to give goalies the benefit of the doubt as much as I can but this was all Keith Kinkaid's fault. Something he apparently has in common with Alexandar Georgiev is having no idea how to play the puck in overtime. When you're a goalie playing the puck, especially in overtime, you need to be confident and make the smart decision. Kinkaid was not confident skating out to that puck and inevitably made the wrong decision, throwing the puck to a tired Artemi Panarin who had Voracek right on his tail. Igor Sheshterkin is sorely missed for sure but his strong ability to play the puck definitely would've come in handy here.
On the bright side, the Rangers walked out of the Garden with a point. They're back at it tomorrow night once again against Philadelphia. We hope the placements of Fox and Buchnevich are just precautionary and they will return to action soon. It will be interesting to see again if David Quinn looks to get Georgiev going again or sticks with Kinkaid who struggled a little bit last night. Regardless, it is exciting to see Reunanen is finally getting his chance and we will look forward to seeing if he continues his solid play in the NHL going forward.
Chris Feldman
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