Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images

Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images

The New York Rangers, they of the two defensemen from opening night in the lineup last night, managed to grab a point against the St. Louis Blues, they of the odd bacterial infection that at least isn’t ebola. The Rangers played a fairly good game actually, despite being incredibly shorthanded. They made some slick passes for a pair of goals, and looked like they were swarming on the forecheck for a good portion of the game.

Conor Allen looked solid and unspectacular, reminding me a lot of Anton Stralman with short, smart passes that moved the play up. Dylan McIlrath spent a lot of time in the box and didn’t really impress, but it’s only one game. I’m actually happy with a point against a playoff team, and they went 1-0-1 against this playoff team this year. I’ll take it.

On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Blues 0

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The Rangers had some good board work on the powerplay, as Chris Kreider was able to poke a loose puck to Anthony Duclair at the point. Duclair moved the point to Hunwick at the high slot with room as Kreider cut to the net. Hunwick kept his head up and hit Kreider in stride with a shot-pass meant for a deflection. Easy goal.

Blues 1, Rangers 1

Wowza. If you’re going to be pissed that the Rangers drafted McIlrath, be pissed that they drafted him over Vladimir Tarasenko, not over Cam Fowler.

Blues 2, Rangers 1

No picture on this one, but there were a few fails here. First, Hunwick’s clear didn’t go at least 150 feet, and the Blues were able to gather themselves for another controlled zone entry. Then Hunwick, now on the other side of the ice, had the puck for a moment for a clear, but cleared it right to Patrik Berglund. Berglund’s shot was stopped, and he tripped over a snot-angeled Dan Girardi as the puck worked back to the point for a Barrett Jackman shot. The shot goes off Hunwick’s stick and off Berglund’s skate past Cam Talbot for the goal. Two bad luck deflections created by three bad plays.

Rangers 2, Blues 2

What a pass by Carl Hagelin to Martin St. Louis after a strong shift by the Rangers. They generated a strong cycle and really wore out the Blues on this one. Also, wow what a pass.

Rangers 3, Blues 2

Another absurd pass, this time Rick Nash hit MSL with a nasty backhand sauce over three sticks to land perfectly on his blade for the easy tip-in.

Blues 3, Rangers 3

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This picture says it all, Jay Bouwmeester shouldn’t have been this open for this attempt. A player of his caliber will bury this every time.

Shift Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

I was trying to find a pattern here with the matchups for Allen/McIlrath, but McIlrath spent so much time in the box it was hard to find anything significant. They didn’t see the best the Blues had to offer, that was generally given to Dan Girardi and Matt Hunwick (the David Backes/Jaden Schwartz line) or Marc Staal/Mike Kostka (Vladimir Tarasenko).

Fenwick Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

The Rangers had the ice tilted in their favor for the first 25 minutes of the game, then let St. Louis tilt the ice in their favor for a ten minute span in the second. After that, it was all Rangers at even strength. The shootout is such a random event, pretty terrible way to end a game. But hey, they got a point with a shorthanded lineup. They got one over the weekend playing with four defensemen. Honestly, can’t really complain.

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