New York Rangers Penalty Kill, Goaltending Shine in Loss to the St. Louis Blues

Sunday night the New York Rangers hosted the St. Louis Blues in their first game of a four-game home stand. The Rangers were coming off a shutout victory over the New Jersey Devils, and the Blues were coming off a 2-1 shootout win over the Boston Bruins.

The score remained close throughout the game, but in the end the Blues were on top with a 2-0 shutout win.

The first period ended scoreless, with the main story being a superb penalty kill by New York. At the start of the game the Rangers were forced to kill off two Blues power plays. The Rangers penalty kill was excellent and wiped out both power plays.

Early in the second period the Blues would take a 1-0 lead. They started down the ice on a three-on-two rush, ending with a snap-shot goal by Alex Steen.

The Rangers received two power-play chances in the second period, but failed to score. The penalty kill was once again excellent when it was forced to kill a late Derek Boogaard roughing penalty.

The third period began with another failed power-play attempt by the Rangers, as again they could not find a way to control the puck in the offensive zone.

With the score still 1-0 in favor of the Blues, the Rangers were given a huge chance to get back into the game. About eight minutes into the third period the Rangers were given a five-minute power play. Blues forward B.J. Crombeen checked Rangers rookie forward Derek Stepan from behind. Crombeen was given a five-minute major for boarding, and the Rangers a huge opportunity. But the Rangers would once again fail to take advantage of their power-play chance.

Rangers second-year forward Artem Anisimov missed a wide-open chance by the side of the net, and the score remained 1-0.

The Rangers later killed off their fourth penalty of the game, and the penalty kill was pretty much the lone bright spot in the 2-0 loss beside the goaltending of Martin Biron (20 saves).

With three seconds remaining in the game, Steen scored his second goal of the game, and give the Blues a 2-0 victory.

The Rangers totaled 27 shots on goal in the loss, with Sean Avery totaling seven of the shots and Ryan Callahan four. Alexander Frolov totaled three shots and had a goal waived off in the second period for no apparent reason. Once again the officiating was dull in the Rangers loss—and I am not only complaining because they lost; the officiating has stunk all season long.

Dan Girardi led in ice time for the Rangers with just over 25 minutes.

The Rangers' next game is Tuesday night when they host the Washington Capitals.