Life without Adam Fox is going to be challenging, it seems.
Playing without their No. 1 defenseman, out until at least Christmas with an upper-body injury, the Rangers played a tough game Tuesday at Madison Square Garden against a Dallas Stars team that carried the second-best record in the league into the game.
The Rangers clearly missed Fox, especially on the power play, but they hung with the Stars all night, and kept at it, even when they fell behind in the third period.
They tied it late after pulling Igor Shesterkin for the extra skater as Will Cuylle scored to force overtime. Then Fox’s defense partner, Vladislav Gavrikov, scored 1:09 into overtime, banging in the rebound of a shot by Artemi Panarin to give the Rangers a much-deserved 3-2 win.
The Rangers, who have won four of five, outshot the Stars 43-25, including 20-3 in the third period.
The power play went 0-for-3 in the first two periods and hadn’t looked good, but it got a big chance when Dallas’ Sam Steel was given a double-minor for high-sticking Alexis Lafreniere at 4:13 of the third. Lafreniere skated directly to the locker room, dripping blood along the way.
The power play came to life with the opportunity, peppering Dallas goalie Casey DeSmith with shots, but none went in. On the shift after the penalties expired, Sam Carrick had a redirect of a Gavrikov shot that went off the underside of the crossbar, but it stayed out.
Dallas stunned the Rangers and took a 2-1 lead when Wyatt Johnston took the puck away from J.T. Miller at the Stars’ blue line and was away on a two-on-one with Mikko Rantanen steaming up the far wing. Johnston sent a cross-ice pass to Rantanen at the back post and he put it up and over the diving Shesterkin at 9:32.
On the tying goal, Cuylle corralled a rebound out to the left of the goal crease, spun and fired a shot that went off DeSmith and in to force overtime with 2:13 left in regulation.
Dallas (18-5-4) played most of the game without forward Tyler Seguin, who left the ice 1:44 into the game after taking a hit into the boards by Gavrikov. He was helped off the ice, favoring his right leg, and did not return.
After putting up one of their worst showings of the season in their last game, Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay, the Rangers’ first task was to play better against Dallas. And they did. The team defense was much tighter, and they seemed to have more offensive zone time and generate more chances than they did Saturday.
The shots on goal were even in both the first (10-10) and second (11-11) periods. And that didn’t include one backhand shot early in the second by Vincent Trocheck that hit the goalpost. According to Natural Stat Trick, the shot attempts over the first two periods were 40-39, Rangers, and the scoring chances were 23-11 in the Rangers’ favor. The Rangers held a 9-7 edge in high-danger chances.
If there was one thing that didn’t click, it was the power play, which went 0-for-3 in the first two periods. The five-forward look, which coach Mike Sullivan utilized with Fox out didn’t seem smooth, and produced just one shot on goal in three power plays.
The Rangers scored first, on a goal by defenseman Carson Soucy at 6:51, just seconds after Soucy exited the penalty box following his cross-checking penalty. As he stepped out of the box, Rangers forward Conor Sheary – back in the lineup replacing Adam Edstrom (lower-body injury) – banked a clearing pass off the boards to Soucy, setting up a two-on-one with him and Noah Laba. Soucy passed to Laba, whose shot was partially saved by DeSmith. The puck trickled through DeSmith’s pads and was headed toward the goal line, and Soucy jammed it in.
But the lead didn’t last long, as Dallas defenseman Kyle Capobianco tied it with a shot from the blue line that went through traffic and got by Shesterkin, who never seemed to see it, to tie it 1-1 at 9:04.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.