Rangers waste Igor Shesterkin's fine play in 2-1 loss to Flames

The Rangers, in a scrap for a final spot in the playoffs, failed to show much of a fight at all in a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Igor Shesterkin, again, was tasked with keeping the game close and, unfortunately, was the lone Ranger who showed any bit of interest in continuing the season past the regular season. The goaltender made a series of big saves, including several on Jonathan Huberdeau, after errors by Blueshirts in front of him. He finished with 33 saves on the night, but a pair of first-period goals were enough to sink the Rangers (72 points, 33-30-6) to a second straight defeat.

The Rangers had no forecheck to speak of (generating just one takeaway), committed a multitude of giveaways (20), and managed just 13 shots on goal, one off their season low. And it proved doubly costly as the Canadiens (73 points, 33-27-7) beat the Ottawa Senators to jump ahead of New York for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. Montreal also has a game in hand.

Here are the takeaways…

- J.T. Miller, always looking to force the action since he arrived for his second stint with the Rangers, forced a save from Flames goaltender Dan Vladar just 24 seconds into the game. Artemi Panarin did him one better scoring on a snap shot from the left side 1:13 into the contest for his 30th of the season.

Calgary, playing on the second night of road back-to-back that meant they didn’t arrive in New York until the early hours of Tuesday morning, became the aggressors and penned in the home team, who constantly gave away the puck and looked stuck in neutral. The Flames had all the intensity of a team on the bubble of a playoff spot that Rangers lacked.

Over the ensuing 38:47, the Blueshirts managed just six shots on the Flames net. The visitors – coming off a 6-3 drubbing in Toronto and the lowest-scoring team in the NHL – fired 24 shots on Shersterken in net, beating him twice in the first and holding on for a 2-1 lead entering the third period.

Nazem Kadri leveled the score, slipping it through Shersterken’s legs, after New York failed to clear the puck on two rebounds in front of the net just past the midway point of the first. With just over two minutes to play, Matt Rempe’s left elbow caught Jake Beam's head in front of the Rangers bench. The Flames needed just 17 seconds of the man advantage to find an open Matt Coronato in the center of the ice for the go-ahead score.

- Rangers forwards didn’t manage a single shot on goal in the goalless second period and had not put one in on Vladar since the Panarin score.

The drought continued deep into the third, until Chris Kreider was fed the puck in the center of the ice and had a golden chance but despite the lack of action, Vladar was up to the task. The Kreider slapshot was the Blueshirts’ third of the period and first by a forward in 46:33 of action.

The Blueshirts generated a few chances as their intensity increased, but failed to generate any high-quality opportunities, even in the game's final two minutes when the net was left empty.

Only Kreider (2), Panarin (2), Miller (1), and Mika Zibanejad (1) tallied shots among the 12 forwards in blue. The defenseman generated seven.

- The Flames – who kill just 71 percent of penalties on the road, the lowest rate in hockey – allowed the Maple Leafs to score on all three of their attempts on Monday. Less than 24 hours later, they killed the only Rangers power-play of the night with ease.

The Rangers entered the game stuffing through a 1-for-21 stretch when up a man in their last eight games. They heard boos from the crowd at MSG sixty seconds into their first chance on the power play in the second period. The second half of the penalty was equally as uneventful as the Blueshirts couldn’t even gain the zone to set up the opportunity to create a chance.

It was Calgary who got a golden chance to make it 3-1 as Martin Pospisil hoped out of the box and had a chance on a breakaway against Igor Shesterkin, but the netminder was able to put off the attacker who put the puck over the crossbar.

- Panarin extended his season-high point streak to 10 games with his first-period marker giving him seven goals and seven assists during his hot run of form. He now has 23 points in his last 30 games.

Highlight

Artemi Panarin opens the scoring early with his 30th of the season! pic.twitter.com/2WteJMX7Fu
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) March 18, 2025

What's next

The Rangers, after dropping the first two games of a four-game homestand, host the Maple Leafs on Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.

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Rangers waste Igor Shesterkin's fine play in 2-1 loss to Flames

Here are the takeaways…

Highlight

What's next

Topics

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