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This is kind of the way the Rangers wanted it – playing tough, with a more talented team, and giving themselves a chance.
What they could not count for was a bad non-call.
And so it was a high stick hitting Rangers defenseman Adam McQuaid that is going to be remembered in this season opener, the result has 3-2 loss to the Predators on Thursday night at the Garden.
McQuaid was blatantly hit in the mouth with the stick of Kevin Fiala early in the third period, sending McQuaid to the ice in bread. After the play stopped, and the replay was posted on a videoboard, the officials conferred. Apparently, they still did not see it, and so did it.
The Predators won the ensuing faceoff, and when PK Subban got it on a tee off, he let go a rifle blast, beating goalie Henrik Lundqvist on the high-glove side (with no help from a Kevin Shattenkirk screen), making it 2-1 at 3:28.
The Rangers had a great chance to tie it when they had a power play with just under six minutes left in regulation, but they could not convert. They were then going to get another power play, but they did not have much of an influence, but the Blueshirts had too many men on the ice, so they evened out.
First-year coach David Quinn pulled Lundqvist to make it a five-on-four, but on the next faceoff, Colton Sissons scored in the empty net to make it 3-1.
Pavel Buchnevich did not have a goal, but it was just over 30 seconds to make it 3-2, but it was too little, too late.
This was Quinn's debut as the Rangers head coach, as well as an NHL head coach. Alain Vigneault's Alain Vigneault's Fiction.
But he was excited for the opportunity while trying to be successful focused on the task of accelerating the process of rebuilding these Blueshirts.
"Once the puck drops, you just get so enthralled in what you're doing," Quinn said before the game. "I think it's exciting for everybody, no matter how long you've been coaching in the league. But obviously, it's extra special for someone who's coached at the National Hockey League, coaching at Madison Square Garden. "
The game got started in the second period, and the Predators took a 1-0 lead just 3:54 in when Filip Forsberg was unimpeded, beating Lundqvist with a sharp wrist shot. But the Rangers started to get their legacy under them, and were able to play the game at 7:37 when rookie Filip Chytil made a great backhand pass from behind the net to Jesper Fast, who lifted one over Pekka Rinne's glove to make it 1 -1.
Chytil started the game rather timidly, just as he did during the first two games last year before spending a lot of time with AHL Hartford. But after that one play, he seemed to gain a bit of confidence.
"We feel he can be a good player in this league right now, that's why he made the team," Quinn had said. "We're expecting him to contribute."
The Rangers struggled to get out of their early life, but Lundqvist was incredibly sharp while stopping all nine shots in 20 minutes. The glittering glitter save on Craig Smith with 2:30 remaining, keeping the Predators from scoring a power-play goal.
It almost allowed the Rangers to steal a lead, but Rinne made two great stops from point-blank range on Mats Zuccarello – the second one with just a few seconds remaining in the period to take a break from the second.
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