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Photo by John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images

The Rangers were said to be refreshed after the week-long break for Christmas. They said they were a bit rejuvenated because of the returns of Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein. But that didn’t stop them falling on their faces in Nashville last night, losing 5-3. The Rangers just looked horrible int he first period, unable to generate any offense or play steady defense. Henrik Lundqvist kept them in it though.

The Blueshirts played better in the second, but still trailed by one heading into the third, when the rest of the wheels came off the wagon. The Rangers, after tying the game in the second, allowed four straight, three in the third, and two in 55 seconds. That’s just poor hockey all around. The Rangers made it interesting late, getting two goals late to get back to a respectable score, but this wasn’t a game for a while.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.comfiltered under the date of the game. On to the goals:

Preds 1, Rangers 0

forsberg goal

After Derick Brassard took a pretty bad roughing penalty, the Preds quickly capitalized on the powerplay. Roman Josi held the puck along the boards, and it looked like he was just wondering if one of Dan Girardi or Dominic Moore was going to put a stick in the passing lane across to Filip Forsberg. Neither did, and it was in the back of the net pretty quickly.

Rangers 1, Preds 1

Jesper Fast made two solid plays to keep the zone on this shift, which contributed to some sustained zone time for the second line. Eventually the puck got to Girardi at the point with Fast in front, and Fast deflected the shot through Rinne’s wickets.

Preds 2, Rangers 1

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Kevin Hayes had his shot blocked at the blue line, which led to a 4-on-2 the other way. J.T. Miller got back, but both Hayes and Chris Kreider coasted back, leaving James Neal wide open to take the pass and rip one past Lundqvist.

Preds 3, Rangers 1

smith goal

Ribeiro forced Fast into a turnover behind the net, then got the puck to Roman Josi at the point. Josi’s shot was deflected by Craig Smith for the goal.

Preds 4, Rangers 1

ellis goal

The Preds converted again on the powerplay. This time they just moved the puck along the perimeter before a rocket from Ryan Ellis.

Preds 5, Rangers 1

5th goal

This was started by a bad turnover from Dominic Moore. The Preds turned that bad play into a goal six seconds later, for their second goal in 55 seconds. This goal chased Lundqvist from the game.

Rangers 2, Preds 5

This is just a gift from Rinne.

Rangers 3, Preds 5

Stepan got support from Kreider on the faceoff as Miller circled to the high slot. Kreider found him, and Miller beat Rinne.

Shot Attempts

cf

Ugly.

Scoring Chances

scf

A little better, then the third period happened. So….uglier.

Individual Corsi

icorsi copy

Even uglier.

Shot Locations

locations copy

Ugliest.

Shift Chart

shifts

Alain Vigneault switched up his defense pairings a bunch this game, but managed to keep McDonagh and Girardi together.

This was just ugly all around. Maybe the last five minutes are a wake up call? I hope so. This team has been terrible for a while. They aren’t this bad, that we know, but something needs to change.

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