Coming off a road loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the New York Rangers were playing in Canada once again on Saturday night, this time against the Ottawa Senators.
Playing on the road has been an issue for the Rangers so far this season, and they came into the matchup with the Senators featuring a 1-4-1 record away from MSG.
To start this game, it was the Senators who jumped New York early in this one. Drake Batherson would score his fifth goal of the season to kick things off. Just about a minute later, Tim Stutzle scored his eighth goal of the year, giving the Senators a nice 2-0 lead in the first.
In the second period, the Rangers got caught with some guys on a long shift, and the Senators made them pay. Just under two minutes into the period, it was Batherson scoring his second of the game, jamming in a loose puck past Dylan Garand.
With New York playing down a man and trailing 3-0, the Senators made a mistake on the man-advantage, and Will Cuylle was able to get a short-handed goal on a nice pass from Noah Laba. Unfortunately, just as the power play for the Senators came to an end, the Senators would score their fourth goal with a puck going off Dylan Cozens past Garand.
Action would stay hot with the Rangers having a response. J.T. Miller grabbed a loose puck that was bouncing and knocked it home for his third of the season. With the game going to four-on-four late in the second period, it was Alexis Lafreniere with his ninth goal of the season to make it a 4-3 game and give the Rangers some major life.
Following a good second period, the Rangers really had some good momentum to start the third. New York had a lot of good looks and pretty much dominated play for the first 10 minutes of the period. Unfortunately, it didn't result in a goal.
Road Woes Continue
Despite the Rangers playing well, the Senators were able to get the best of New York on a transition opportunity. Jake Sanderson was able to score his first of the season to make it a 5-3 game. With a line shift during the game, Pavel Dorofeyev was able to score a goal on a rocket of a shot with a pass from his new linemate in Cuylle. With the game being 5-4, the Rangers would pull Garand, but an empty net goal sealed the deal.
With another loss on the road, the Rangers have to be a bit concerned with the struggles away from MSG. They are seemingly playing a bit sloppy and making some careless errors, which they are paying for. Fortunately, the offense has performed better away from home of late.
Next up, the Rangers will be back at home against the struggling Los Angeles Kings. This will be the return of Artemi Panarin, whom the Rangers traded away last season.
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