Rangers Topple Oilers 4-1

The Oilers can’t buy a win right now.

The Rangers defeated the Oilers by a score of 4-1. It’s an especially tough pill for the Oilers to swallow, as the Rangers were playing their second game in two nights. They were also down their leading scorer in Artemi Panarin, and Alexandar Georgiev was in between the pipes.

Didn’t really matter. The Rangers took advantage of an early miscue by Mikko Koskinen and never looked back. The Rangers were ready to play, even though they took care of the Tampa Bay Lightning the night previous. The Oilers fell behind early and were forced to play catch-up, but couldn’t cover enough ground. Edmonton made it interesting for about eight minutes of the second period, but the Rangers put up two more goals in the third to shut the door.

Things got off to a less-than-auspicious start when Mikko Koskinen cleared the puck over the glass just fifteen seconds into the game, giving the Rangers a power play. They didn’t convert, but they picked up a goal on a miscue by Mikko Koskinen just three minutes after the conclusion of the power play when Alexis Lafreniere potted one from Ryan Strome.

The Oilers would finish the first period with just six shots on goal against a Rangers club that shut out the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. End of 1: Rangers 1, Oilers 0.

Things didn’t get much better for the Oilers in the second period. Less than four minutes in, Barclay Goodrow took a pass from Alexis Lafreniere and made it 2-0 Rangers.

Sportsnet viewers got a look from the other side tonight as the usual crew was out due to Covid protocols. The Rangers’ crew over at MSG did an excellent job of breaking down this goal. Duncan Keith made an aggressive pinch in the Rangers’ zone and the puck took a wild bounce off the stick of Warren Foegele, allowing Lafreniere to speed through the neutral zone and into the Oilers’ end. Cody Ceci had Lafreniere, but Duncan Keith was two strides away from Goodrow. Goodrow scores his seventh of the season.

What else do we got?

The good guys picked up a goal late in the second. The ice tilted a bit for the Oilers, and a streaking Tyler Benson put one on the blade of Ryan McLeod with six minutes remaining in the period.

The Oilers get a badly needed goal from the bottom six. McLeod’s fourth goal of the year cuts the Rangers’ lead in half. Maybe we see a little more of Benson, he’s averaging under eight minutes a game this year. Enjoy this goal, there aren’t any more for the Oilers in this one. End of second: NYR 2, EDM 1.

The third period began with much fanfare. Ryan McLeod would go off early for a tripping penalty. On the ensuing power play, Chris Krieder tipped an Adam Fox shot from the blue that would squeeze out of Mikko Koskinen.

Even though that was a deflection by Kreider in front of Mikko, you know Koskinen would love to have that one back. Every goal that ends up in your net counts against you, and this one’s no exception. The Oilers are down 3-1 at this point, this one was a deflater.

Another deflection? Ryan Strome? This goal has a little bit of everything. Jesse Puljujärvi gets a pass off the boards to Warren Foegele, who is unable to get the puck into the Ranger zone. It’s Adam Fox who gets the puck to Ryan Strome. Strome tries to get it across the ice to Barclay Goodrow, but the puck deflects behind Mikko Koskinen off of Tyson Barrie’s skate.

It’s 4-1 Rangers in the dying minutes. It doesn’t get better, but the game finally ends. Rangers 4, Oilers 1.

AFTER SIXTY MINUTES

• Tippett is 0-8-2 in his last ten games, his last win was 32 days ago against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The club played a team that was in action last night, and they put up a whopping six shots in the first twenty minutes. Did I mention the Rangers didn’t have their leading scorer in Artemi Panarin tonight?
• This game was not a strong one for Mikko Koskinen. Taking a delay of game penalty fifteen seconds into the game wasn’t a strong start, he got caught out of position on the Rangers’ first goal. I don’t know if the Oilers plan on playing Ilya Konovalov in the next few games, but I’d be interested in seeing a bit more Stuart Skinner if you don’t mind.
• The Strome-Goodrow-Lafreniere line was a killer for the Rangers tonight. Strome finished with three points (1-2-3), Barclay Goodrow had two (1-1-2), and Lafreniere had two points (1-1-2).
• Something nice: The Oilers need to play Benson and McLeod for more than seven minutes a night. McLeod’s goal was set up by a beauty pass from Tyler Benson. I got a wild idea that won’t likely happen: maybe the OIlers call up Cooper Marody and put him on the same line as these two guys. Wild, I know.
• Rangers backup netminder Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 33 of 34 shots en route to his sixth win of the season.
• The Oilers are in trouble. They will look to cobble together a win in Toronto on Wednesday in order to save the road trip, but are 0-2-2 through the club’s first four games. The Kings are just one point behind the Oilers with the same number of games played, the Sharks are three behind. The Canucks were thought to be left for dead early in the season. Since hiring Bruce Boudreau, they’ve gone 8-0-1 to pull themselves to within three points of Edmonton.

The OIlers are 0-2-2 on their road trip, they visit Toronto on Wednesday looking to salvage something from their five game road trip.