Children may be fine, but the Rangers need their veterans to win.
Leaving a game in which their youthful nucleus led the team to at least one point in the penalty shootout to the Penguins, the Rangers finally saw a little life from their veteran group, but not enough, as they fell 3-2 to the same team Sunday night in Pittsburgh.
“Our veterans know they need to be better, there is no doubt about that,” said coach David Quinn after the defeat, which reduced Rangers to 1-3-1. “We talked to them in private, they admitted, they know that. The good news is that these guys are established players in this league and are good players. The good news is that our young players continue to develop and are playing good hockey against really good players. “
But the Rangers lost one of their most important youngsters in the middle of the second period, when Filip Chytil, 21, collided with Evan Rodrigues. He hit the ice hard and was slow to get up before going to the locker room with what the team said was an upper body injury. Quinn did not have an update on Chytil after the game.
The Penguins, again, recovered from a handicap by reducing the 2-1 handicap to start the third period with goals from Jared McCann and Jake Guentzel. Despite a power-play opportunity with the game tied 2-2 in the final table, Rangers failed to capitalize and ultimately gave up on the winner of Guentzel’s game with about 1:30 remaining on the clock.
“We can sit here and talk about some of the good things we did and the chances we had in the third period,” said Quinn. “But you have to win hockey games, you have to find a way to win. A guy can’t kick that area with one minute and 30 minutes to go. You have to have an urgency, you have to know who is dangerous and really disappointing.
“Coming here and playing good hockey and winning a point is really disappointing.”
For the second straight game, the 20-year-olds were the only players to keep Rangers competitive. Newcomer defender K’Andre Miller separated the plays, put his teammates on the run and put Penguins star Sidney Crosby into the corners to keep Rangers in the game.
Second-year defender Adam Fox extended his point streak to four games when his top-of-the-zone shot was redirected at 16:36 in the first period by fellow former Harvard student Colin Blackwell, who was promoted from the squad of taxis earlier in the day to make their debut at Rangers.
Blackwell’s new fourth row, Brett Howden and Kevin Rooney spawned some of Rangers’ most dangerous opportunities.
Even though Ryan Strome recorded his first point of the season by throwing a bouncy record over Penguins goalkeeper Tristan Jarry to break the tie by 1-1 at 17:17 of the second period, Rangers simply needed more than their first six to get a win.
“We know our roles, we know our responsibilities, we just can’t get there,” said Mika Zibanejad, who made two shots on goal. “I can’t just lie down and feel sorry for yourself, you just have to work with it and move on.
The only Rangers youngster who was not at the top of his game was debutant goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin, who deflected 16 of the 19 shots he faced in his first consecutive start of the season.
However, Rangers had one of their best first periods of the season, having a 1-0 lead over Blackwell’s record at 16:36. But Bryan Rust managed to tie in a split more than half of the second period with his second goal in so many games against Rangers.
“Obviously you get nothing, you feel good about it, but I just thought we were really sloppy for about 12 minutes in that second period,” said Quinn. “You could feel it, I knew they were going to get one.”