The Rangers were playing a solid game for the first 34 minutes, but it’s a 60 minute game and the final 26 minutes is where things went south.
The Rangers saw a two goal lead evaporate in a 5:18 span of the second period as the Seattle Kraken went on to a 7-5 win at Madison Square Garden Sunday afternoon. It was the Kraken’s first win at the Garden in their four year franchise history.
After going 12-4-1, the Rangers have lost 7 of their last 9 and have fallen into a fourth place tie with the Islanders, and one point ahead of the Flyers and the Penguins for sixth and seventh place respectively in the Metropolitan Division.
After the Rangers scored twice to grab a 3-1 lead less than five minutes into the second period, Seattle scored three times to take a one goal lead after two.
Brandon Tanev took a pass from Mitchell Stephens down low and was able to tuck it in the net past Jonathan Quick to make it a 3-2 game.
Seattle tied the game a minute and 28 seconds later when Eeli Tolvanen fired a shot from the slot that beat Quick top shelf. The Rangers continued their alarming trend of leaving players open in the middle of the ice and Tolvanen took advantage to tie the game at three.
The barrage continued when Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his second goal of the game on a deflection in front as Seattle stunned the Rangers and the home crowd by grabbing a 4-3 lead with 36 seconds remaining in the second period.
The Rangers were not being overwhelmed by an inordinate amount of shots on goal as in previous games during this stretch, but Coach Peter Laviolette felt Seattle did a good job of cashing in their opportunities.
“The goals were the chances. We had the pieces in place, when it came down to the point where it had to be defended, it [the defense] got loose,” Laviolette said. “You’re in charge of a game 3-1, like I said, the chances were the goals and we could’ve been tighter and better in those situations.”
“We start the game well, thought we could’ve had a couple of more goals in the first,” said Mika Zibanejad. “Still, get up to a lead in the second, think we were doing a lot of good things. Momentum shift, a pushback from their side that they make the most out of and then we have to be more aware of some of the chances that we gave up.”
Vince Dunn scored a minute into the third period and Shane Wright drove to the net and deflected a pass from Tolvanen past Quick to make it a 6-3 game with less than nine minutes left.
“When we had the opportunity, we were next to people that were looking to score, we were in place, we need to do a better job in those situations and in those areas,” said Laviolette.
To their credit, the Rangers did not quit as they scored twice in 2:30 to make it a one goal game.
First, it was K’Andre Miller who scored his second goal of the season on a wrist shot that bounced off of Kraken’s goaltender Philipp Grubauer and into the net from a bad angle.
Alexis Lafreniere scored his ninth of the season to complete a pretty passing play to cut Seattle’s lead to 6-5.
Artemi Panarin was along the left wing boards and found Vincent Trocheck open down low. Trocheck fed Lafreniere who was open in the right face off circle and he fired it past Grubauer with a little over five minutes left to ignite the Garden crowd.
The Rangers pressed to get the tying goal and after they pulled Quick for the extra skater, Yanni Gourde ended the suspense by putting it into the empty net to stymie any comeback attempt.
“It’s just consistency throughout the game,” Trocheck said. “We gotta do that for a full 60 minutes and be urgent like we were in the third. To create and even when you’re up a couple of goals playing like that, it also keeps you of the d-zone so we gotta maintain that.”
There was a quick pace to start the game and the Rangers capitalized by taking the lead less than four minutes into the first period.
Miller fired a shot towards the net and when Grubauer couldn’t handle the rebound, Reilly Smith was there to poke it into the empty net for his fifth of the season and a 1-0 lead after one.
Bjorkstrand tied the game with his first of two just a 1:46 into the second period but Filip Chytil showcased when he could do to regain the lead.
Chytil had the puck behind the Ranger net and beat two Kraken players as he began the rush up ice.
Kappo Kakko had the puck along the right wing boards and fed a streaking Chytil in the slot. The Rangers center beat Grubauer with a patented wrist shot to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead at the 2:50 mark of the second period.
Less than two minutes later, Trocheck won a face off in the offensive zone and got the puck back to Adam Fox. The Rangers defenseman fired a shot that caromed off the back boards and right to Trocheck who was open in the slot. Trocheck shot a one timer into an empty net for his 8th goal of the season and a 3-1 lead that the Rangers could not hold.
After beating the Penguins with a complete effort on Friday night on the heels of the Jacob Trouba trade, the Rangers regressed into their bad defensive habits as they were outworked by a Seattle team that is not known for their offensive prowess.
“You gotta stay positive at times like this and make sure that we know what we’re capable of,” Trocheck said. “Like we played in the third period, I feel like we played like a team that knew we could comeback from down two or three goals. That’s the sense we had in the room last year, anytime we were down a couple of goals. I think that’s a step in the right direction in that sense and making sure we have confidence in our team and I think positivity feeds into that but you gotta win games and you got to do that for a full 60 minutes.”