The Rangers fell 5-3 to the Stars on Monday. After back-to-back wins over Detroit, New York, who played without Chris Kreider, likely for precautionary reasons, allowed two power play goals to Joe Pavelski in the first period - Dallas'' first successful man-advantage after missing on 12 straight opportunities. Defensive lapses helped contribute to the other three goals, two allowed by Henrik Lundqvist, who was relieved after the second period by Alexandar Georgiev. The Blueshirts welcome in Toronto on Wednesday.

Game recap:


David Quinn Post-Game:

Coach Quinn: “It really was a tale of two games for us. I really liked what we were doing up to that third goal, and then we really got away from all the things we had been doing, and need to do, if we’re going to have a chance.” pic.twitter.com/C8CdObJ2aE

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 4, 2020

Lines with no Kreider:

The lineup pic.twitter.com/qAUByMdVmr

— Colin Stephenson (@ColinSNewsday) February 3, 2020

A few thoughts:
1) Kreider potentially could have played, even though that might have been a bit of stretch, but the team was smart in sitting him. Philip Di Giuseppe started the game at left wing in Kreider’s place and had four shots in his 12 minutes of action. Actually liked Di Giuseppe’s game last night. He was somewhat aggressive, which isn’t a trait this team has.

2) Quinn: “ They’ve got men, they’re hard, they’ve got structure, they don’t beat themselves,” Quinn said of the Stars. “For the last 30 minutes, we just weren’t up for the challenge.”

So much to unpack in that quote. Men - New York does get pushed around a bit and coming into the game, one concern was Dallas’ size and willingness to play physical. Without Kreider, the Rangers lacked that quotient, save for Brendan Lemieux, who is more agitator than physical.

They’ve got structure - the other key coming into the game was how would New York handle Dallas’ strong defensive and solid offensive structure. In two words, not well. If you look back at how the Rangers beat the Islanders, they played a smart, sound game and counter attacked without getting impatient. Last night, not so much, as defensive breakdowns resulted in several goals and offensively, the attack was kind of light at best.

They don’t beat themselves - as noted above, New York did help Dallas get the win. The Rangers, once they got down 3-2, lost confidence and got deflated. That manifested itself in the lack of pressure until the game was already 5-2.

3) As the NY Post noted: the Rangers have just three even-strength goals in the past four games to go along with seven on the power play. That’s a hard way to win, and hard way to keep the postseason dream alive. Lack of balance and a weak 5x5 attack. Part of that is impacted by no Kreider yesterday or the last two periods Saturday. It’s good that the PP has woken up again but the lack of even strength production is concerning and could result in a line switch again if this continues.

4) Henrik Lundqvist, who shutout the Red Wings in Saturday earning the start, allowed four goals on 15 shots before being replaced by Alexandar Georgiev (five saves) for the third period. Hard to really blame Hank and his benching was more so to try and light a spark under the team. Have to believe Georgiev starts Wednesday against Toronto.

After jumping to a 1-0 lead on a PPG by Pavel Buchnevich, who ended up in Quinn’s doghouse, dropped down to the fourth line and then was benched later in the contest. I didn’t think his game was that bad but Quinn clearly didn’t agree. Buchnevich might have been Quinn’s whipping boy again, which seems to be his place a lot this year.

The first goal against was a great deflection by Joe Pavelski on the power play. The Rangers challenged the goal, believing that just before the goal when the puck hit the crossbar, it then hit the netting and not the glass. A rare miss by New York on the challenge gave the Stars a second power play for delay of game, on which they capitalized. That did change some of the momentum but Brett Howden tied the game late in the period on the power play.

Lundqvist never saw Stephen Johns shot due to the double-screen in front of the net on a play where Dallas manhandled New York in their own zone, retailing possession of the puck. A questionable pinch led to a 2-on-1 goal by Blake Comeau, who has Hank’s number, scoring 14 of his 135 career goals against Lundqvist. That pretty much was all she wrote, as the last two goals in the third we’re window dressing, but I did like Brendan Lemiuex’s game.

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