Oilers slip past Rangers 4-3

Coming back home after a thrilling win in Toronto, the Rangers headed home to play Edmonton for the first half of a back-to-back before the holiday break. This game marked the return of Kris Knoblauch to Madison Square Garden, who filled in as an interim coach in 2021 while then David Quinn was out with COVID-19.

Knoblauch was hired by Edmonton after they let go of Jay Woodcroft and was the head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack before his promotion to the NHL.

Jonathan Quick manned the net for New York, sporting a 9-0-1 record going into the game, while Stuart Skinner started in net for Edmonton. The Rangers kicked off the scoring with a beautiful pass from behind the net with 8:57 remaining to Blake Wheeler who baked in the puck in front to put New York up 1-0

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would chip the puck out of his defensive zone for a delay of game penalty with 20.6 seconds remaining in the first and that penalty would carry over into the second. Leon Draisaitl missed the net on a short breakaway shorthanded but shot it wide on Quick. The first period was littered with chances by both teams but an overall strong defensive effort by the Rangers in the first.

The Rangers started the second period off on fire, as they started aggressively on the continued power play and almost scored with a Panarin shot into the empty net but was waved off as Mika Zibanejad’s initial shot hit Stuart Skinner on the mask, dislodging it and stopping play. The officials would review it but would uphold the call and Edmonton would successfully kill the penalty shortly thereafter.

Evan Bouchard would be called for slashing with 14:04 remaining in the second on Vincent Trocheck, putting the Rangers back on the power play. Both power play units would look sloppy and did not create any clean chances, as Edmonton would disrupt their flow heavily as well as generate a shorthanded chance, that was turned away by Quick. Ryan Lindgren would take a penalty with 8:45 remaining in the second and a scrum ensured with Ryan McLeod. The Rangers would attack shorthanded on a 2-on-1 chance with Kreider and Zibanejad but they failed to score.

Nick Bonino would have a key shot block late in that kill and New York would keep Edmonton off the board. The Rangers would be called for a penalty with 2:59 remaining in the second as Bonino would go to the box for holding. Jonathan Quick would make a few stellar saves in a row during the Oilers power play to keep them off the scoresheet.

The Oilers man advantage was all over the Rangers penalty kill including solid chances by McDavid, Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman but the defense and stellar goaltending by Quick kept it a goose egg for Edmonton at the end of the second.

The Oilers would finally break through the goose egg as Zach Hyman would roof a backhand in front of the net after a rush from Connor McDavid with 16:50 remaining in the 3rd. Edmonton would take the 2-1 lead after Evander Kane banked home a loose puck with 15:43 remaining in the 3rd period. It was a loose shot that was deflected and ended up on Kane’s stick and in the net past Quick. After this goal, Peter Laviolette would call a timeout to presumably calm the team down and get them back into it.

A hostile Madison Square Garden crowd looked to try and get the team back into it but Warren Foegele would score with 13:24 remaining in the third on the rush and past Jonathan Quick. Ryan McLeod would bank home a loose puck in front after the Rangers turned it over in their own offensive zone and failed to clear it out of their crease with 10:05 remaining in the third.

Warren Foegele would take a penalty late in the third period but the Rangers power play finally capitalized and Mika Zibanejad would net home the loose puck scramble in front of the net to make it a 4-2 game with 4:18 remaining. New York would pull Quick again for the 6-on-5 advantage and would pressure Stuart Skinner plenty, eventually scoring one final goal from Will Cuylle, with 0.1 seconds remaining but it would be too little, too late as Edmonton takes the first game of the back-t0-back 4-3.

Jonathan Quick got his first regulation loss but played very well in net, saving 24 of the 28 shots he faced, while Stuart Skinner saved 31 of the 34 shots he took on, leading Edmonton to a win. The Oilers would have the advantage in the faceoff dot with a 58.9 percentage, while New York had a 41.1 percentage in the circle.

The Rangers had all the momentum their way entering the third period but their defensive effort fell apart and their offense fell asleep after the initial goal by Blake Wheeler. A total and complete defensive breakdown and 180 in effort and execution.