The New York Rangers are not looking for moral victories, but they did get one in playing very well but losing 3-1 to the defending Stanley Cup champions St. Louis Blues. Mika Zibanejad scored, and Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves for the Rangers, who have lost three straight following a five-game winning streak. Artemi Panarin had his 13-game point streak end.
Zibanejad has goals in eight of the Rangers” last nine games and 12 of the past 15 to take over the team lead from Panarin, who has 32 goals and 90 points. Unfortunately, the Rangers ran into a team on a streak, who have the best record in the Western Conference and previously had winning streaks of seven and eight games this season. The Ranger will continue to need some improved effort as they have a tough road ahead with Washington visiting on Thursday, then New Jersey on Saturday, followed by a trip to Dallas, Colorado, and Arizona.
Head Coach David Quinn pleased with New York Ranger’s effort, not so with officiating.
Despite the loss, most are pleased with the Ranger’s effort. This includes head coach David Quinn who said after the game that “It is all about winning and losing, but you also have to take into consideration, do you give yourself a chance to win? And that was a big boy hockey game right there. There wasn’t a lot of room out there. There was a playoff feel to it.”
It certainly was a well-played game, especially in the second period, when the game went over 10 minutes without a whistle. Also, Quinn was not especially pleased with the officiating, especially some of the calls that were not made against the Blueshirts.” Listen, when that team is allowed to do some of the things they do…and they compete their behinds off, so I’m not taking anything away from them. And I loved how we fought through it. We just kept playing through it.”
Being tactful as ever at some of the very obvious calls that were not made against the Blues. The good news is that everyone ahead of the Rangers lost, meaning that Rangers remain just four points out of a playoff spot.