NASHVILLE – With two major holes still there in the Rangers lineup because of the absence of Ryan Strome and Kaapo Kakko, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant had to do some tinkering to try and find some way of filling them.
Gallant’s idea Thursday against Nashville was to put his top two forwards, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, together on the same line. But it was the domino effect from that change that proved the winning move at Bridgestone Arena.
Alexis Lafreniere, dropped to the second line to make way for Panarin, scored the go-ahead goal off a nifty feed from Sammy Blais at 10:53 of the third period and Barclay Goodrow added an empty-netter to give the Rangers a 3-1 win over the Predators.
It was Goodrow's first goal with the Rangers, who have won three straight. All three wins have come on the current four-game road trip, which ends Saturday afternoon in Ottawa. Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin made 28 saves.
Before Lafreniere’s goal, the Rangers (3-1-1) appeared to have taken the lead on a goal by Ryan Lindgren at 5:31 of the third period, when his shot from the wing deflected off a Predators defenseman and popped up over the shoulder of goalie Juuse Saros. But the Predators challenged the play, alleging the Rangers had been offside entering the offensive zone and the goal was disallowed.
But then Adam Fox carried the puck into the Nashville zone and centered a pass to Blais, who backhanded a feed to Lafreniere, wide open at the backdoor for what amounted to a tap-in for his second goal of the season. Goodrow sealed it with the empty-netter at 19:54.
The Rangers got on the board first at 2:12 of the first period when Filip Chytil took a pass from Blais (two assists) in the neutral zone, crossed the blue line with speed, and backhanded a shot past Saros (27 saves). It was Chytil’s first goal of the season, and was assisted by Blais and Lafreniere.
Chytil had started the last two games on a line with Panarin, but Gallant decided to move Panarin up with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, and put Lafreniere on the second line with Chytil and Blais.
Shesterkin, who had made 40 saves in Monday’s 2-1 overtime win in Toronto, started his fourth straight game and was sharp again in the first period, stopping all 12 Predators shots.
The Rangers got a chance to expand the lead in the second period, but their power play failed them, coming up empty on four tries. Nashville’s Mattias Ekholm was sent off for slashing with 53 seconds left in the first period, and when the Rangers failed to score before the horn sounded, they carried over 1:07 of power play time into the start of the second period.
Seven seconds after that penalty expired, Nashville’s Tanner Jeannot was called for hooking Lafreniere, and then, at 1:52, Matt Benning elbowed Blais into the boards, which prompted Dryden Hunt to try to fight him. Hunt and Benning got roughing penalties, but Benning also got an elbowing penalty, which gave the Rangers a five-on-three advantage for a minute and 22 seconds. But Panarin and Zibanejad each gave the puck away during the two-man advantage and the Rangers ended up with just one shot on goal while they were two men up, plus one more shot on goal after the first penalty was released.
Then, after the penalties expired, rookie Philip Tomasino, playing in his second NHL game, scored his first goal, when he went behind the goal line and sent the puck towards the crease. It banked in off Shesterkin to tie the score at 7:01 of the second period. It was the third time this season that the Rangers had allowed the first NHL goal to an opposing rookie. They did so in the season opener against Washington (Hendrix Lapierre) and in the home opener against Dallas (Jacob Peterson).
