Rangers dig too deep a hole in 7-4 road loss to Senators: key takeaways

It was admirable that the New York Rangers didn’t throw in the towel and made a game of it Saturday night in Ottawa, after nearly being run out of Canadian Tire Centre in the first half of their contest against the Senators.

But in the end, not even a spirited comeback by the Rangers (7-5-1) could save them from a trio of three-goal deficits in a 7-4 loss, their fifth consecutive road defeat (0-4-1).

Though they did score four goals against third-string Ottawa goaltender Jonas Johansson in the second half of this game, the Rangers are not built to play from behind, especially after spotting the Senators leads of 3-0 and 4-1. New York is 0-4-1 when giving up the first goal this season, 0-3-0 when trailing after the first period, and 0-4-0 when down after two periods.

Pretty much every team in the NHL will tell you that their preference is to play from ahead, not behind. But it’s especially true for the Rangers, who lack the overall firepower on most nights to make up enough ground when chasing the scoreboard.

Such was the case Saturday in Canada’s capital city. Drake Batherson scored the first of his three goals on the night at 5:34 of the first period. Tim Stutzle put the Rangers in a 2-0 hole at 6:40.

“That first period just really did us in tonight,” Adam Foxlamented to reporters postgame.

But the Rangers weren’t done digging themselves an even bigger hole. Batherson made it 3-0 just 1:47 into the second period.

Now, Will Cuylle pretty much woke the Rangers up from the dead with a short-handed goal at 10:07 of the second period to cut the visitor’s deficit to 3-1. Just 1:14 later, the Senators answered back, but 92 seconds after that, J.T. Miller found a bouncing puck near Johansson’s crease and buried to make the score 4-2.

Then with 26 seconds left in the period, Miller set up Alexis Lafreniere on a 2-on-1 rush for his team-leading ninth goal. Just like that, after a simply terrible start, the Rangers had all the momentum and trailed by just one goal at the second intermission.

But it’s pretty darn difficult to come all the way back from a pair of three goal deficits, especially on the road, where let’s face it, the Rangers are pretty much a hot mess these days. So, despite dominating play for most of the third period, the Rangers allowed Jake Sanderson to bury a rebound at 13:38 to make it 5-3. Pavel Dorofeyev answered with an absolute missile of a goal at 15:32. But the Rangers couldn’t make it all the way back.

Two empty-net goals for Ottawa sealed the deal on this one. The Rangers dug themselves too big a hole in the first half of this game, and their spirited comeback ended up being a footnote. That 1-5-1 road record includes consecutive defeats in a three-day span up in Canada, where the Rangers also failed to rally in a 5-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

They’re back at home Monday, hosting old friends Artemi Panarin, Peter Laviolette and the Los Angeles Kings. The Rangers are a perfect 6-0-0 on home ice, and can only hope that what ailed them this week, and pretty much all season on the road, doesn’t creep into their game at Madison Square Garden, where they have not trailed at any point this season.

Playing from behind, particularly from way behind, is not a winning formula for these Rangers. and they proved as much again Saturday night.

Key takeaways after Rangers lose 7-4 to Senators

Line juggling

Cuylle’s shorty midway through the second woke the Rangers up, but some line juggling by coach Mike Sullivan help jump-start them, too. Sullivan made several in-game line adjustments, most notably dropping Dorofeyev to the third line, where he appeared energized playing alongside Cuylle and Noah Laba. Not only did Dorofeyev wind up second on the Rangers with four shots on goal, but he scored an absolute beauty late in the third period, after Cuylle put a pass perfectly into his wheelhouse. Laba also assisted on the goal, his second of the game.

“He got a nice goal tonight. It’s a goal scorer’s goal. We’re hoping that might get him going,” Sullivan said postgame about Dorofeyev, who scored for only the third time so far this season.

Oliver Bjorkstrand bumped up from the fourth line to replace Dorofeyev in the top six, and earned an assist on Miller’s goal. That line of Miller, Bjorkstrand and Tye Kartye had a ridiculous expected goal share of 94.83 percent in a bit more than five minutes together 5v5, per Natural Stat Trick.

Eeli Tolvanen slotted on to the fourth line, when bumped from the third, and his play picked up, as well. He nearly scored the tying goal in the third period from the doorstep of Ottawa’s cage.

Luke’s debut

Speaking of the fourth line, it was centered Saturday for the first time by Luke Glendening, who made his Rangers debut, two days after the Rangers signed him to a one-year contract. There was some good and not so good for Glendening, who had an excellent scoring chance in the second period off a short-handed rush with Cuylle and also helped generate some serious zone time in the offensive end during two of his third-period shifts.

However, Glendening was also minus-2, on ice for Batherson’s first goal and Sanderson’s backbreaker in the third.

All told, Glendening logged 6:08 TOI over 12 shifts, including 40 seconds of PK time. He won five of six face-offs and consistently got in the forecheck and went hard to the net. All in all, far from perfect, but not a bad start with his new team.

PK better than OK again

The Rangers were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill, and outscored the Senators in those 4-on-5 situations 1-0 thanks to Cuylle’s goal, which really was a turning point in helping them get back into the game. As stated above, Glendening came close to scoring short-handed too.

Though they struggle mightily to win games on the road, the one thing the Rangers do really well in away games is kill off penalties. They are now 17-for-18 on the PK in road games this season. Then again, their penalty kill is outrageously good no matter where they play — the Rangers so far allowed three power-play goals in 13 games.

Garand not getting better

Dylan Garand started his seventh straight game following Igor Shesterkin’s season ending knee injury Oct. 9. The 24-year-old rookie stopped 18 of 23 shots — with Ottawa’s two other goals scored into the empty net. He didn’t receive a whole lot of help, but for the second straight game, Garand was tagged with five goals allowed.

Of course that was preceded by an absolute gem on the road last Saturday, albeit in a losing 1-0 overtime final in Columbus against the Blue Jackets, and a solid outing at home in a 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Monday.

But right before that, Garand was pulled early in the second period against the New Jersey Devils after allowing four goals in an eventual 7-1 loss.

So, it’s fair to say that his game and the team’s mirror one another right now. And it’s more on the downturn. Saturday, for example, Garand surrendered goals on two of the first four shots he faced, and three goals on eight shots to begin the game.

In the third period, he did make a sharp timely save on Stutzle off an odd-man rush to keep the Rangers in it at 4-3. And he robbed Ridley Greig, who broke in behind the Rangers defense, though didn’t control the rebound which Sanderson finished off.

After Monday, the Rangers don’t play again until the Edmonton Oilers visit MSG six days later. That’ll give Garand time to get some rest, clear his head, and refocus. With journeyman Spencer Martin as the No. 2 right now on Broadway, the onus is on Garand to carry the load, a tall task for a rookie trying to fill the skates of Shesterkin.

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