Could the Rangers’ early season form be about to turn around?
After struggling at home, but tearing it up on the road through the first 20 games, the Blueshirts went winless on their three-game road trip, then returned to the Garden Monday and got only their second home win of the season, beating the St. Louis Blues 3-2 to snap their four-game losing streak.
Alexis Lafreniere tipped in a shot by Vladislav Gavrikov to break a 1-1 tie 40 seconds into the third period and Adam Edstrom banged in a pass from Gavrikov at 8:56 of the period to provide some welcome insurance. Edstrom’s goal turned out to be the game-winner when Brayden Schenn scored with 1:15 left in regulation.
That goal came after the Rangers had killed off a four-minute power play by St. Louis after Brett Berard, called up Sunday from AHL Hartford, was given a double-minor penalty for high sticking.
The victory got the Rangers back to NHL .500 (11-11-2) before heading back out on the road for two more games on either side of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Rangers played their second straight game without captain J.T. Miller, out with an upper-body injury. They were also without defenseman Will Borgen, who went on injured reserve Sunday, retroactive to last Wednesday, and missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.
Backup goaltender Jonathan Quick also missed the game, with a lower-body injury. Hartford goalie Dylan Garand was called up Sunday and served as the backup to Igor Shesterkin, who started and made 20 saves. Vincent Trocheck, who missed the morning skate for precautionary reasons and was a gametime decision as to whether he would play, did play, and he scored a big second-period goal.
Trocheck’s goal, at 10:06 of the second, tied the score, 1-1. Adam Fox sent a blue line-to-blue line pass up the middle to Jonny Brodzinski, who pulled the puck to the left, then backhanded a feed across the high slot for Trocheck, who drove to the back post, caught it, and finished for his fourth goal of the season.
The goal evened it for the Rangers after Dylan Holloway had opened the scoring with a shot from the left circle that beat Shesterkin over the catching glove at 17:36.
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.