AP Photo/Kathy Willens

AP Photo/Kathy Willens

On Saturday the Rangers blanked the Habs 1-0 behind their backup goalie. Last night, they themselves were blanked 1-0 by their opponent’s backup goalie. It’s kind of funny how that works out. The Kings did to the Rangers what they did to the Canadiens, completely outworking, out possessing, and outplaying them in every facet of the game. If not for stellar play from Henrik Lundqvist, this game would have been a lot worse than the 1-0 final score.

Now don’t get me wrong, the Rangers didn’t play poorly last night. Their powerplay didn’t convert on five chances, and two separate 5-on-3s, but it wasn’t for lack of creativity, shots, or puck movement. Their defense and goaltending was good. They just couldn’t solve Ben Scrivens (37 saves), subbing in for the injured Jonathan Quick. The Kings goal was a fluke goal too. These games happen sometimes. Puck luck just doesn’t go your way.

On to the goal (and the disallowed goal):

Kings 1, Rangers 0

I couldn’t really get a picture here, they all came out blurry. Sorry.

After a defensive zone face off win, Ryan Callahan made an attempt to clear the zone with a pass, but it was picked off by Robyn Regehr in the neutral zone and fired back into the Rangers zone. The Kings generated some decent chances off the turnover, and New York was just unable to clear the zone. Eventually, the puck winds up on Tyler Toffoli’s stick at the point. He let a slapshot go that hit off Anton Stralman’s skate and through Hank’s wickets. It’s a bad luck goal, but the Cally turnover there really cost them.

It’s worth noting that the Kings were constantly pressuring the Rangers, and were forcing them into a lot of turnovers. Cally wasn’t the only one to give the puck away, and he didn’t even give the puck away in front of the net (a few Rangers were guilty of that).

Disallowed goal

Sorry folks, but Dominic Moore kicked this one in. Not much else to analyze, it’s a clear kick.

Fenwick Chart:

Per ExtraSkater

Per ExtraSkater

The chart above is very misleading. The graph shows the total Fenwick numbers, including powerplay shot attempts. However, it is best to analyze Fenwick at 5v5, since powerplay chances really skew numbers. This game is a perfect example, The Rangers were dominated pretty badly at 5v5 (43.5% FF%), but because of five powerplays, they had more shot attempts throughout the course of the game. When the game was played at even strength, the Kings were the better team. Considering how the game went, that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

These types of losses happen. It seemed the puck couldn’t bounce the Rangers way. That’s what happens when you run into a very hot goalie, even if he is a backup. The Rangers are now 1-1 in their three game stretch against playoff teams. I’ve been saying a 2-1 record would be considered a win for this stretch, and the Rangers can still do that against Boston on Tuesday night.

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