Despite producing one of their highest shots-on-goal totals, the New York Rangers retraced a familiar pattern Thursday: getting off to a slow start.
After two days off, the Rangers look to start more quickly Sunday night when they visit the Ottawa Senators.
New York is 3-0-1 in its past four games, all played on home ice. On Thursday, New York earned a point when Mika Zibanejad scored the tying goal midway through the third period, but the Rangers wound up taking a 3-2 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
New York took the loss despite getting 39 shots on goal, its third-highest of the season and highest total since getting 40 shots on goal in a 4-1 win at Anaheim on Jan. 8.
On Thursday, the Rangers were outshot 11-8 in the opening period and fell behind 2:18 into the game. It marked the fourth straight game they were outshot in the first period. In those games, opponents outshot them 48-23 in the opening 20 minutes.
“I think we still need to work on starting games better,” New York’s Barclay Goodrow said. “Right from the beginning, we’re chasing from behind and it’s hard to play like that. If we played the first 20 like we played the last 40, we would have put ourselves in a better spot.”
K’Andre Miller also scored for the Rangers on Thursday when New York produced 31 shots in the final two periods and overtime and dropped to 12-10-3 when allowing the first goal.
Ottawa is 2-3-1 over its past six games but also a respectable 7-5-2 in its past 14 since a three-game losing streak Jan. 18-22.
The Senators are also looking to break a four-game home losing streak after taking a 3-2 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night. During its home skid, Ottawa has been outscored 12-4.
Tim Stutzle scored in the second period and Nick Holden netted the tying goal early in the third. Senators coach D.J. Smith thought his team did a lot of positive things in front of a limited-capacity crowd as restrictions were lifted to 50 percent capacity.
“There were a lot of things I was happy with. I thought we turned it over too much, but our compete level was high,” Smith said. “That was probably one of the more physical games we’ve played in the last month. There were big hits and there wasn’t a lot of room out there.”
Ottawa gained the point despite being shorthanded on the blue line as defenseman Thomas Chabot missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury that will likely sideline him again Sunday.
Anton Forsberg made 30 saves in place of Matt Murray, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, and Filip Gustavsson will likely make his first start since a 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Dec. 7.
Ottawa is 6-2-0 in its past eight home meetings with the Rangers. New York overcame a two-goal deficit in the first meeting when Chris Kreider, Ryan Lindgren and Goodrow scored in the final 5:23 of a 3-2 win on Oct. 23.
–Field Level Media