Three Takeaways after Rangers Road Trip which ended with a loss to the Oilers

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Joshua Deeds
November 24, 2024 (8:56 PM)

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The New York Rangers' loss to the Edmonton Oilers ended with a route, as the team lost 6-2. As the blueshirts exited Rogers Place, fans would be belligerent, and resort to teasing the team.

An ugly end to a road trip in the Western Conference road trip, which saw the Rangers walk away with a 2-2-0 record.

Giving them a 12-6-1 record, and the split showed that the hard times aren't over for the Rangers this season. They let in five or more goals, and let their goalies, Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick down.

The Rangers let their goalies get pelted with 89 shots on goal and neither Shesterkin nor Quick would receive the effort needed to stop from being outscored 9-4.

Shesterkin (46 saves Thursday) and Quick (34 saves Saturday) simply didn't receive the requisite effort in front of them.

The Rangers have given up 40+ shots four times this season, managing to win one of those games (2-1 against the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 1, thank you Igor).

Three Takeaways from The Rangers loss to the Oilers

1. Failure to launch

The Rangers failed to get the offense started on Saturday and would pay dearly as they were outshot 21-9, and outscored by 2 goals. Quick would try his best to keep the net clear, by would give up a goal to Darnell Nurse.

The Rangers played sloppily and were outplayed by the Oilers and Connor McDavid.

The underlying numbers don't appear so bad. The Oilers had an 11-9 advantage in scoring chances and high-danger chances were even (4-4) in the opening 20 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick.

Not good enough the last two games, first periods haven't been great,» Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey told the New York Post after the game Saturday. «Twenty shots, around, the last two first periods and overall I don't think our first periods have been great all year. It's not a recipe for success. They're getting 20 shots, I'm not saying it's 20 quality shots, but it kind of puts us into a scramble and we're playing behind the eight ball.»

Lack of Power

The Rangers have goaltending to save them in games that have the odds against them. The power-play has been a meaningful tool to help turn the tide of the game as well. But they failed to utilize the man advantage to help secure a victory Saturday night.

They went 0-3 on their powerplay chances and would surrender a short-handed goal by Darnell Nurse. This play would be emblematic of the game, as Vinnie Troecheck would have to hunt down another short-handed chance.

The Rangers dropped to 10th in the League on the PP (22.5 percent).

A brutal look for a team whose gone scoreless in five power-play chances, and has had trouble drawing penalties in addition to the drought.

Was it worth it?

With Zac Jones injured, the Rangers would recall Victor Mancini from the Hartford Wolfpack. His travel issues were well documented, as the trip for the defenseman was unexpected. Was it worth it?

Arguably, no Mancini would be on the ice for the Oilers' first goal of the night.

That's a minus-3 right there. His xGF was 36.28 percent, per Natural Stat Trick.

Only defense partner Braden Schneider was worse on the Rangers (35.66). Together they were on for five of Edmonton's 10 high-danger chances.

The duo were unable to perform up to expectations, as Schneider would've with Jones. Veteran defenseman Chad Ruhwedel was in Edmonton with the team already, so why the second-guessing?

It seems as if it was a rash decision made by Peter Laviolette.