The New York Rangers came into yesterday’s matchup against the Dallas Stars a bit fatigued, having played in Nashville the day before. They came out flat in this game, playing down to an inferior –albeit very skilled– Stars team. The Rangers were able to steal a point with a late third period goal by Chris Kreider, but Ales Hemsky ended it early in overtime to make the finish anti-climactic for Rangers fans.

Cam Talbot wasn’t as sharp as he was in Nashville, but still made good saves to keep the Rangers in the game, when the Stars had the SOG advantage 23-16. It wasn’t until the third period that the Rangers peppered Kari Lehtonen with 20 shots, finally breaking through on the Kreider goal to steal a point from a game in which they did not deserve one. But you take the point, even if you wanted more.

On to the goals:

Stars 1, Rangers 0

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The Stars on a 5-on-3 dangerous, and the Rangers paid the price here. Jason Spezza moved the puck from the point to Tyler Seguin low, then cut to the slot. Seguin had his head up, watching the play, and hit Spezza with a perfect pass in front. Spezza didn’t even have to move his stick to deflect it past Talbot.

Rangers 1, Stars 1

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Kevin Klein started the play with a hard dump in that Lehtonen couldn’t handle behind the net. J.T. Miller was first in on the forecheck, trapping Jordie Benn and allowing the puck to get through to Kevin Hayes. Carl Hagelin settled in at the back door, behind Jason Demers. Hayes hit him with a perfect pass, and it was an easy deflection into the empty net.

Stars 2, Rangers 1

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Hayes turned the puck over to Hemsky at the Stars blue line, and Dallas quickly turned it into a 3-on-2 the other way. Hemsky got the puck to Seguin, who hit Erik Cole trailing the play. The defense on the rush was solid, but Talbot didn’t get all of Cole’s shot. This was the first of the Stars goals that illustrated Steve Valliquette’s Royal Road.

Rangers 2, Stars 2

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After a questionable delay of game call on John Klingberg, the Rangers were gifted both a powerplay and a powerplay goal. The gift of the goal was provided by Lehtonen, who tried to swat a dump in out of the zone, but it went right to Mats Zuccarello. Lehtonen stopped Zucc’s attempt while scrambling back into the net (pictured abvoe), but Trevor Daley didn’t put a body on Kreider, who put home the rebound to steal a point.

Stars 3, Rangers 2

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There’s no real defense issue here. The Rangers kept Hemsky to the outside, but Hemsky had Talbot moving the whole time, and crossed over the Royal Road, shooting back in the other direction. No chance for Talbot. It was a pure snipe by a skilled player in front of a screen. It happens.

Fenwick Chart:

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The teams were pretty even throughout the contest, but score effects started taking its toll in the third period as Dallas sat on their lead. The Rangers dominated the third as the Stars turtled, and it eventually cost them.

Scoring Chances:

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Much like what we see above in the Fenwick Chart, the Rangers and Stars were pretty even in quality attempts until the third period as well. The same score effects took over, and the Rangers dominated the quality chances as well.

Individual Corsi:

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This chart is skewed a bit for score effects, but it’s worth noting that the fourth line was still a negative Corsi (as was Marc Staal).

Shot Locations:

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The Rangers did a good job limiting quality shot attempts by the Stars, but couldn’t muster anything offensively to capitalize. Such is life sometimes.

Shift Chart:

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Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh got the Seguin line, as expected. That line has two of the top-20 scorers in the league, so it was natural that Alain Vigneault’s top pairing got that matchup. Aside from that, AV mostly matched up according to zone start.

The Rangers didn’t really deserve to win this game, but they managed a point, so you take what you can get. It would have been nice to get a point against a bottom feeder, but Dallas is a skilled team that is usually undone by goaltending. The Rangers simply did not challenge Lehtonen enough this game, and it cost them a second point. That’s hockey sometimes.

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