NEW YORK _ Unhappy with his team's defensive effort in Friday's loss in Washington to the Capitals, Rangers coach David Quinn did yet more line shuffling for Sunday's matinee against the Vancouver Canucks at the Garden, which kicked off a five-game homestand.
The tinkering wasn't enough to end the Rangers' losing streak, though. Vancouver scored three goals in the first period and held on to win, 3-2, handing the Rangers (2-4-0) their fourth straight loss.
Artemi Panarin's fourth goal of the season, at 5:31 of the third, pulled the Rangers within 3-2. Jesper Fast, who scored the Rangers' first goal, set up Panarin with a pass from behind the net. That set the stage for a furious third period by the Rangers, who had 16 shots in the final 20 minutes. But it wasn't enough to change the outcome.
The Canucks, playing the third game on a four-game trip and on the second day of a back-to-back, built a 3-0 lead in the first period on a power-play goal by Bo Horvat, an even-strength goal by Brock Boeser and a shorthanded goal by Jay Beagle. Vancouver (5-3-0) outshot the Rangers 20-13 in the period and 17-10 in the second, but the Rangers got the only goal of the second, a tip-in by Fast of a Jacob Trouba shot at 14:58.
Pavel Buchnevich was on the ice for that goal, playing on the third line, with Fast and center Ryan Strome. Buchnevich, who played the first four games of the season on the top line, with Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, had been dropped to the second line in Friday's game and started Sunday on the third line. But he was dropped to the fourth line late in the first period and for most of the second, before Quinn threw him back on the third line for that one shift. After the goal, Buchnevich was back on the third line for the rest of the game, and finished it as one of the Rangers' most energetic players.
