Missing key bodies and running on fumes, the Rangers struggled to generate offense and came up short in a 2–1 loss to the Predators.
© Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Heading into the second half of a back-to-back fresh off the come-from-behind win Saturday afternoon, the New York Rangers were back on the road to pay a visit to the Nashville Predators. This would double as their second and final meeting of the regular season as the Rangers saw them in early November where they picked up a 6-3 win. That of course, was their first home win of the season.
It would be a mix-and-match type of night for the Rangers regarding their lineup seeing as both Gabe Perreault and Matt Rempe were ruled out with illness. This was in addition to J.T. Miller who could miss some extended time after suffering an upper-body injury in the third period against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Jonny Brodzinski, Taylor Raddysh and Urho Vaakanainen all slotted back into the lineup as the Rangers were forced to roll 11 forwards and seven defenseman with Jonathan Quick in between the pipes.
#NYR warmup rushes from Bridgestone Arena for game No. 37 vs. #Preds:
Panarin – Zibanejad – Lafrenière
Cuylle – Trocheck – Sheary
Othmann – Laba – Raddysh
Carrick – Brodzinski
Gavrikov – Schneider
Soucy – Borgen
Robertson – Morrow
Vaakanainen
Quick
Shesterkin
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) December 21, 2025
First Period
Quick pace to get things started in Nashville as there weren’t many whistles through the first half of the opening period. The Rangers got off to the more noticeable start as they were spending more time in the offensive zone. With the Rangers missing a full line of forwards, it was an opportunity for guys like Brennan Othmann and Alexis Lafrenière to see more ice time. Lafrenière—who has been sitting on 99 career goals for a while now—had a quality chance early on and for the second game in a row, found the post on a scoring attempt.
And, here’s that. ⬇️ #NYR https://t.co/IzeC4EhaHb pic.twitter.com/AfqW3jzCKU
— Snark Messier (@SnarkMessier) December 22, 2025
Nashville followed the push from the Rangers with one of their own as Jonathtan Quick was being tested early, coming up with some key saves closer to the midway point of the period. His defense was certainly helping him out as well, seeing as the Rangers had eight blocked shots with just as many minutes to go in the period.
It was at that point in the period the Rangers were called for the first penalty of the night. Will Borgen knocked over Michael Bunting away from the puck to give the Predators the two minute advantage. The Rangers penalty killers were successful and kept the puck out of harm’s way for the majority of the power play and Quick continued to come up with the necessary saves to keep things scoreless.
Sign up for Blueshirt Banter
The top destination for New York Rangers fans—news, trade rumors, stats, podcasts, and in-depth analysis from the trusted Blueshirt Banter team.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
A terrifying moment for Reid Schaefer on the Predators with about five minutes to go as Scott Morrow’s skate blade caught him in the chin as he lost balance after a collision along the boards. Morrow was initially called for a double-minor but upon review, it was clear that it was the skate that drew blood, not a stick. The Rangers avoided another penalty but more importantly, Schaefer avoided a much worse situation.
Brennan Othmann had a great chance to pick up his first NHL goal later in the period as Taylor Raddysh tried to feed him at the door step. Othmann came just short of getting a stick on the pass as the puck luck continued to work against his favor.
Raddysh and Othmann almost connect. #NYR pic.twitter.com/F0uX0XApQ6
— Snark Messier (@SnarkMessier) December 22, 2025
That would do it for the first as the Rangers and Predators were scoreless after twenty. Shots on goal were 15-6 in Nashville’s favor as they also had the significant edge in both regular and high danger scoring chances. The Rangers finished the period with a total of eleven blocked shots.
Second Period
Much of the same through the early parts of the second stanza with the Rangers picking up another puck off the post, this time from Brodzinski.
Just a minute over the midway point of the game, an incredible pass from Ryan O’Reilly found Filip Forsberg who let an absolute laser of a wrist shot go to beat Quick on the glove side, giving Nashville a 1-0 lead.
About two minutes later, Michael Bunting led the rush for the Predators and let a wrist shot go that hit off the post. Although for whatever reason, both the goal horn and light went off which resulted in the officials blowing the play dead to look things over. It was clear that the play on the ice was not a goal but the Rangers were still at quite a disadvantage being out-shot 22-9.
With just over five minutes to go, the Rangers got their first chance with the man advantage as Vincent Trocheck was cross-checked by Cole Smith. The power play unit struggled to maintain the zone from the start and soon enough, Nashville nearly extended the lead once again. This time, it was defenseman Nic Hague letting a shot go off the post. If you were keeping score based on hitting the post, the Rangers would still be down by one with a count of 3-2.
As the teams returned to even strength, the Rangers were held in their own end of the ice for a lengthy shift and as they finally were able to clear the zone, Panarin was called for a hooking infraction. With Nashville now on the power play, the puck would stay in the Rangers end of the ice for the remainder of the period as they were a bit lucky to only be down by one after forty minutes of play. Shots were now 26-10.
Third Period
The good news was the Rangers almost doubled their shot total for the night in the third period. The bad news was it wasn’t nearly enough as the third came and went rather quickly and the Rangers had just 17 shots to show for the entire night.
Steven Stamkos would convert on the empty net but the Rangers saved themselves from the shutout in the final minutes of the game as Jonny Brodzinski was able to stick with the play net front to find the back of the net.
Brodzinski puts one home here, but unfortunately for the Rangers, it’s likely too little, too late. #NYR pic.twitter.com/gsAi4dLAON
— Snark Messier (@SnarkMessier) December 22, 2025
With all said and done, it was another disappointing showing from the Rangers as they dropped an important pair of points to one of the weaker teams in the league. They were short handed and certainly appear to be under the weather but to come up lifeless was less than ideal.
They’re back at it on the road Tuesday night as they’ll visit the Washington Capitals for one last outing before the holiday.