Photo: Getty

The Rangers couldn’t overcome a pair of early mistakes, as St. Louis topped the good guys by a score of 2-1. A gaffe in the first 15 seconds by Brady Skjei and then another by the Nick Holden/Steven Kampfer duo later in the first doomed the Rangers, as the talented and stingy St. Louis Blues put the kibosh on any scoring chance. After the first period, the game itself wasn’t all that exciting, as St. Louis clamped down and didn’t give much.

A lot of credit goes to Mike Yeo on this one, who made necessary adjustments after the first period to help fight the aggressive Rangers. The solution was more aggressiveness, as the Blues pressured the puck carriers and passing lanes. This forced the Rangers to play dump and chase, a style to which they are not suited. In the end, it was Yeo’s adjustments that helped the Blues win this game.

On to the goals:

Blues 1, Rangers 0

Brady Skjei made an ill advised pass to JT Miller while under pressure. The pass was into Miller’s skates and prompted a turnover. Jaden Schwartz then drew all three Rangers forwards to him while Skjei went to cover Shattenkirk’s man, leaving Carl Gunnarsson all alone in front. Schwartz found him, and it was an easy goal.

Rangers 1, Blues 1

Another powerplay goal. Kevin Shattenkirk put a soft wrister on net, and Pavel Buchnevich made a great little pass to Mika Zibanejad on the rebound. Zibanejad put it into the empty net.

Blues 2, Rangers 1

Steven Kampfer failed to clear the zone, resulting in a turnover. Then Nick Holden gave Paul Stastny all the room in the world to cut back to the slot for the shot, which went wide. Brayden Schenn got to the puck and banked it off Hank.

Blues 3, Rangers 1

Jaden Schwartz empty netter.

Score Adjusted Corsi

The Rangers did a good job in this game of limiting chances against St. Louis, however it’s worth nothing that St. Louis led for the entire game. They adjusted after the first and really stifled the Rangers offense, which led to more outside chances. It wasn’t until the third when the Rangers started getting more shots, but that was while the Blues were holding on to their lead. All in all, not overly terribly, but the Rangers never felt like they had any sustained flow.

Scoring Chances

The Rangers did a phenomenal job of limiting the quality chances by the Blues, however it was mistakes that cost them. There’s only so much you can do against a great team when you give up two early goals and can’t generate anything sustained. Doesn’t help that Carter Hutton played very well, either.

The odd thing here is that outside of the glaring mistakes in the first period, the team itself played a relatively even game. They didn’t give up many chances, both in quality and quantity. However both Kampfer and Holden had poor games. So it makes you wonder what’s next for the Rangers. Will they play their best lineup? Or will AV continue to rely on what worked 10 years ago?

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