One night after an emotional win against a dirty opponent, the Rangers traveled to St. Louis and were unable to find that next level against an inferior –yet still talented– St. Louis Blues team with not much to play for. If not for the powerplay, the Rangers would have walked away with a regulation loss. But the man advantage saved them, scoring on both of their chances to salvage a point.
The Rangers kind of sleepwalked through most of the game. After the dominating win on Wednesday night plus travel, the game in St. Louis felt like a schedule loss. The Rangers weren’t necessarily listless, but they were clearly not themselves and fighting it after a tough emotional game and a flight to a different time zone.
The other factor is the Rangers are in the playoffs. There’s no need to really risk more injury, and it showed. On the bright side, there was no real reason to panic. The Rangers are headed to the postseason, and even with the loss, they aren’t backing into the playoffs.
Blues 1, Rangers 0
Artemi Panarin held on to the puck too long, a rare mistake in the offensive zone. Alexey Torobchenko stole the puck and broke in alone.
Rangers 1, Blues 1
A broken passing play benefited Vladimir Tarasenko, who was uncovered cutting to the net to take advantage of the loose puck after Mika Zibanejad’s pass to Chris Kreider in front got deflected.
Blues 2, Rangers 1
It’s clear the Rangers didn’t have much in this one. The Blue got several whacks at the loose puck in front before Tyler Pitlick was able to bury the rebound.
Rangers 2, Blues 2
The powerplay saved the Rangers in St. Louis. They ran a set tic-tac-toe play with Vincent Trocheck in the bumper finishing. Trocheck has hit so many posts, it makes you wonder if he’s about to unload in the playoffs.
Blues 3, Rangers 2
As soon as you saw two Rangers on the puck on a 2-on-1, you knew it was going to be the game winner. Such is hockey.
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