NEW YORK — The Blues spent much of February beating up on the NHL’s weak sisters. On Wednesday they took on one of its big brothers. Different challenge, different result.
The talented and touted New York Rangers entered the night seventh in the overall league standings. They left with two more points, just ahead of St. Louis in those standings.
A 5-3 loss by the Blues at Madison Square Garden ended the team’s point streak to seven games — they had been 6-0-1 — and dropped their overall record to 32-15-6, for 70 points, or three points behind the Rangers (34-15-5).
Pavel Buchnevich’s return to the Garden was a sour one. He said beforehand he wanted to get a goal and a win against his old team.
The “Blueshirts,” not the Blues, struck first. Just under nine minutes into the contest, Ville Husso left a rebound of an Adam Fox shot that basically ended up right on the stick of Alex Lafreniere, who was jostling with Torey Krug in front of the net.
Lafreniere, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, quickly sent it past Husso for his 13th goal of the season.
But as the period wound down, the Blues took control of possession time. Coach Craig Berube wanted a cycling, possession game from his team — and not a track meet with the swift and skilled Rangers. And that’s how the Blues played over the second half of the period.
At first, they got cycle time but not shots on goal. But then, they got some shots and chances. Ryan O’Reilly, Torey Krug and Robert Bortuzzo all got shots from relatively close over the final five minutes of the period, but couldn’t solve Igor Shesterkin, who was the 12th goalie this season that the Blues have faced for the first time.
Earlier in the period, Jordan Kyrou came up with a loose puck in the neutral zone and then maneuvered himself into a mini-breakaway but missed the net.
The Rangers also helped their cause by blocking 11 shots.
The Rangers entered the game with a 20-3-2 record when scoring first. The Blues entered the game sharing the league lead with 15 wins after the opposition scores first. So something had to give.
The Blues had a couple of chances early in the second period, just missing a couple of goals. A minute in, Brandon Saad got the puck through the legs of Shesterkin, it was heading in the net, but in came Mika Zibanejad to the rescue, swooping in to clear the puck away.
Later in the period, Buchnevich had a chance for that goal he wanted on a breakaway. His backhand trickled through the legs of Shesterkin and sailed maybe a foot wide of the net.
Things were going the Rangers way, especially when Ryan Strome — camped net front to Husso’s right — sent one through the goalie’s legs to make it 2-0 New Yorkers. Just 3:24 remained in the second. The Blues entered the game ranked fifth in the NHL in scoring, averaging 3.58 goals per game. They had scored four or more goals in seven of their last eight contests.
Would they be shut out for the first time all season by Shesterkin and the pesky Rangers defense?
Uh, no. Lightning struck three times in the final 2½ minutes of the second period, and we don’t mean the Tampa Bay variety. First, O’Reilly scored back door on a quickly-developing odd-man situation on a pass from Saad. It was O’Reilly’s 12th goal of the season — and it was a 2-1 game.
Just 67 seconds later, Ivan Barbashev took a stretch pass from Kyrou, skated down left wing, and lifted a roof shot — far side — past Shesterkin. Barbashev’s 17th goal made it a 2-2 game with 1:23 left.
The Blues were feeling it now, keeping the pressure on and buzzing around the New York net. Behind the Rangers’ net, O’Reilly sent a pass out front to David Perron who whipped a quick shot past Shesterkin — again far side, high side — to give St. Louis a 3-2 lead with 15.8 seconds left in the period.
It was Perron’s 12th goal of the season, and his third in two games.
Patrick Nemeth’s first goal of the season tied it for the Rangers 3-3 at the 7:27 mark of the third period. Husso was down on the ice as Nemeth shot from distance and couldn’t get back in position in time. There was some contact by a Rangers player and Husso wanted goalie interference.
But there was no such call and the game was tied.
It became untied when New York’s red-hot power play got going after Colton Parayko sent the puck over the glass behind the St. Louis net and was sent off for a delay of game. Chris Kreider’s 35th goal and his league leading 18th power-play score came on a net-front deflection and gave New York a -3 lead with 8:20 remaining.
Just 17 seconds later, Brayden Schenn didn’t like a hit that Rangers defenseman Jacob Troube put on Kyrou and dropped gloves. It was a pretty even fight.
Just as Husso was leaving the ice, Artemi Panarin sealed the deal with an empty-net goal to make it a 5-3 game.
