NEW YORK — Returning home to Madison Square Garden after a triumphant road trip, the Rangers’ lineup got a lift Monday when second-line center Ryan Strome returned after missing the entire four-game trip while on COVID-19 protocol.
But while Strome looked energetic in his return, and was one of the Rangers’ best players, the Rangers, playing their seventh game in 12 days, saw their four-game win streak come to a halt with a 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames in the opener of a short, two-game homestand.
Goals by Christopher Tanev and Andrew Mangiapane had the Flames in front, 2-0, after two periods, but the Rangers had started to come on late in the second and appeared poised for another comeback when Dryden Hunt scored his first goal as a Ranger early in the third.
But the Flames shut down any thought of a comeback when they got goals by Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund to settle the matter.
When he spoke to reporters in Nashville last week, Rangers forward Artemi Panarin made it a point, a couple times, to mention that he missed playing with Strome, his usual centerman, while he was away.
As the Rangers returned home to Madison Square Garden Monday for their second home game of the season, against the Calgary Flames, Strome was back in the Blueshirts’ lineup, and back on a line with his pal Panarin.
"They love playing together,’’ he said. "They're good friends, and good linemates. So you know it definitely helps (Panarin), but for me, he played fine on the road trip. (But) Strome is his regular centerman, and he's used to him. He's comfortable with him. So it's good to get them back (together).’’
Strome looked good in his return to action, and Panarin, who had been off to a slow start, seemed more dynamic than he has all season, creating all sorts of dangerous chances in the second period against the Flames. But the Flames led 2-0 lead after two periods, after Tanev scored at 18:50 of the first period, and Mangiapane scored at 2:09 of the second.
The Rangers, in fact, were fortunate not to be further behind than two goals. They would certainly have been, had goaltender Igor Shesterkin not been his usual magnificent self. Shesterkin made at least two stops on Flames players all alone in the low slot in the first period, when the Rangers were outshot 15-7, and the Flames got the first five shots on goal of the second, too, taking a 20-7 advantage.
Panarin seemed to wake up in the middle of the period and started generating chances, and slowly, the Rangers got back in it. Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom, though, was up to the task. He made a nice stop on a shot by Panarin in the middle of the period that was deflected on the way in, and made a save-rebound-save sequence on Jacob Trouba late in the period and then a left pad save on Filip Chytil’s low slot backhander in the closing minutes.
Gallant changed up his forward lines in the second period, rewarding big winger Julien Gauthier for a strong night with a promotion to the top line, with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. And he shortened his bench, rolling three lines for most of the second period.
It was a rare shift from the fourth line, though, where the Rangers got on the board. Hunt was credited with the Blueshirts’ goal, his first as a Ranger, when he and Kevin Rooey both swatted at the rebound of a Trouba shot, and Hunt apparently got the touch on the puck to pull them within 2-1 at 5:25 of the third.
But the Flames stopped all the Rangers’ momentum when Coleman lifted a loose puck over Shesterkin to make it 3-1 at 8:13. Backlund beat Shesterkin with a wrister from the right wing to make it 4-1 at 11:32.
