Rangers 2, Blues 3

The New York Rangers dropped their first game of the season to the St. Louis Blues tonight by the score of 3-2. For a box score, click here.

Ah, the ol’ backup goalie to kill the Rangers once again.

But seriously, the Rangers left their good luck charms back on the plane. They deserved a much better fate tonight. Three posts hit behind Hutton from what I remember. 

Going to completely disregard the lopsided shot total, with the Blues effectively rolling only three lines due to injuries on their third game in four nights. Even through the first two periods, if they play like that most nights, they’ll come away with wins. The Rangers were on the opposite side of this for the first two months last season.

Jimmy Vesey is going to lose sleep with a pair of great looks that should have completely changed the complexity of that game. A bit better puck luck and he probably has three points tonight. 

Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich continues to be far and away the Rangers best line going. Even a good defensive group in St. Louis had a hard time slowing them down. 

Regarding Stepan, I’m curious if the absence of Kreider and Nash up top has impacted his game at all. He hasn’t quite gelled with Zuccarello yet, but it’s still very, very early. Maybe flip-flopping Nash and Vesey?

There’s plenty of positives to pass along but a backbreaking number of negatives which cost the Rangers this game. I didn’t care much for Hayes’ game at all, who had a bad giveaway just before St. Louis made it 2-1 late in the first. I’m not going to kill Girardi too much for the Blues’ first goal off a blocked shot from the point by Miller that snuck around him at the blue line which led to a break in by Tarasenko. But later, Girardi abandoned his spot on the PK, which allowed a very easy cross ice pass to the Blues’ captain for the game winner.

AV said post-game that Girardi will be a “bit more than day-to-day” with a hip flexor injury. Is it McIlrath time? Should be. I still wouldn’t push Klein in too early if he’s not 100%.

My early returns on Holden aren’t great. He can’t move the puck from behind the net, got beat to the outside a couple of times and getting paired with Staal, who allows a ton of shot attempts against to begin with, plays to his negatives. Once Klein comes back, I’ll be curious to see where he ends up.

The Rangers next game is on Monday back at MSG against the defending Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks.

Just a friendly reminder that the NYR Blog is moving to a new domain on Monday and this will be the last post until the change-over occurs. Once that happens, the Gameday Thread will be posted so it might happen after its normal posting time at 2 PM. Remember to follow the NYR Blog team on twitter between myself, Melissa and Mike or the NY Rangers Blog Facebook page here.