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The kids might be fine, but the Rangers need their veterans to win.
After a game in which their young core carried the team to at least one point in a shootout loss to the Penguins, the Rangers finally saw some life in their veteran squad, but not enough as they have fell 3-2 against the same team. Sunday night in Pittsburgh.
“Our veterans know they have to be better, there’s no question about that,” said head coach David Quinn after the loss, which sent the Rangers down to 1-3-1. “We spoke to them in private, they admitted it, they know it. The good news is, these are guys who are established players in this league and who are good players. The good news is that our young players continue to develop and play good hockey against real good players.
But the Rangers lost one of their most important youngsters just over halfway through the second period when Filip Chytil, 21, collided with Evan Rodrigues. He hit the ice hard and took a while to get up before heading to the locker room with what the team said was an upper body injury. Quinn did not have an update on Chytil after the match.
The Penguins, once again, came from behind, wiping out a 2-1 deficit to start the third period with goals from Jared McCann and Jake Guentzel. Despite a power play opportunity with the game tied 2-2 in the final quarter, Rangers were unable to capitalize and ultimately gave up on Guentzel’s game winner with around 1.5 hours to go.
“We can sit here and talk about some of the good things we’ve done and the chances we had in the third period,” Quinn said. “But you have to win hockey games, you have to find a way to win. A guy can’t get a pic of that area with a minute and 30 to go. You must have an emergency, you must know which is dangerous and really disappointing.
“Coming here and playing good hockey and coming away with a point is really disappointing.
For the second game in a row, the 20-year-olds were the only players to keep the Rangers competitive. Rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller interrupted play, put his teammates in the race and ceded Penguins star Sidney Crosby on the corners to keep the Rangers in the game.
Second-year defenseman Adam Fox extended his point streak to four games when his top-zone shot was redirected at 16:36 of the first period by fellow former Harvard teammate Colin Blackwell, who was promoted from the taxi team earlier today to debut with the Rangers.
The redesigned fourth row from Blackwell, Brett Howden and Kevin Rooney has generated some of the Rangers’ most dangerous opportunities.
Even though Ryan Strome scored his first point of the season by returning a rebounding puck into the crease of Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry to break the tie 1-1 at 5:17 pm of the second period, the Rangers just needed more than their first six. to withdraw a victory.
“We know our roles, we know our responsibilities, we just couldn’t do it,” said Mika Zibanejad, who had two shots on goal. “You can’t just lay down and feel sorry for yourself, you just have to work on it and start.
The only Rangers youngster who wasn’t in top form was rookie goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who turned away 16 of 19 shots he faced in his first straight start to the season.
However, the Rangers had one of their best early periods of the season, taking a 1-0 lead over Blackwell’s total at 16:36. But Bryan Rust managed to equalize on a breakaway more than half of the second period with his second goal in as many games against the Rangers.
“Obviously you get up a nothing, you feel good about it, but I just thought we were really sloppy for about 12 minutes in that second period,” Quinn said. “You could just smell it, I knew they were going to have one.”
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