NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The two-game, Fathers Weekend road trip had started off so perfectly for the Rangers, with a blowout win in Detroit on Thursday, and hopes were high for a sweep when the Blueshirts moved on to Music City for the trip finale.
But the Rangers could not build on the momentum from their win Thursday over Detroit. The Nashville Predators, wallowing near the bottom of the NHL’s Central Division, got the first two goals of the game and hung on to beat the Rangers, 2-1, dealing the Blueshirts their third regulation loss in five games.
The Rangers pumped 35 shots at Nashville, outshooting the Predators 35-18 in the game, but they couldn’t solve Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros, not even when they were given a golden chance to grab the equalizer when they were presented with a four-minute power play with 6:19 left in regulation. But their power play, normally their most dangerous weapon, came up empty late and finished 0 for 5 overall.
Coming off the 8-2 win Thursday in Detroit, in which they exploded for six goals in the third period, the Rangers were naturally hoping they would be able to build on that performance and start scoring some goals.
“You'd hope so,’’ forward Chris Kreider said at the morning skate. “I think we've been doing the right things now, for a few games and pucks aren't necessarily going in. Obviously, they went in in bunches in that third period (against Detroit), so hopefully that's something we can continue to do.’’
But they wouldn’t against Nashville.
With the Rangers (7-6-3) playing a back-to-back this weekend — they return home to face the Arizona Coyotes Sunday at the Garden — Halak figured to start one of the games. And given his lifetime record 15-4-6 record against Nashville, with a 1.99 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and four shutouts, it made sense for him to start against the Predators.
But the Predators (6-8-1) scored on their second shot of the game, when rookie Juuso Parssinen, called up from the AHL earlier in the day and playing in his first NHL game, drove down the right wing, cut in around Alexis Lafrenière, and then flicked a shot past Halak at 4:58. Lafrenière was the player back on defense when K’Andre Miller pinched deep in the Predators’ zone and was unable to keep the puck in, allowing Nashville to break out 2-on-2.
The Rangers actually outshot Nashville by a wide margin over the first two periods, 27-11, but they failed to capitalize on three power plays, and they found themselves trailing, 2-0, when Mark Jankowski got free all alone at the back post and tapped in a feed from Roman Josi at 8:37 of the second period. Vincent Trocheck collected the puck behind his own net and tried to flip it out of the zone, but he couldn’t get it over the glove of Josi, who caught the puck, drove to the slot, then sent a cross-slot pass to Jankowski.
But the Rangers finally got on the board when Filip Chytil scored his fourth goal of the season at 11:56. Chytil took a pass in slot from Adam Fox, who had carried the puck into the zone, and then skated behind the net to retrieve it after Kaapo Kakko’s shot deflected wide.
The goal for Chytil was his 100th point in the NHL.
