The New York Rangers had two points in the palm of their hands against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon, but squandered the opportunity after a late-game collapse, leading to a 4-3 overtime loss.
This game comes one day after the NHL Trade Deadline as Carson Soucy made his Rangers debut after being traded from the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
While Soucy is not known for his goal-scoring abilities, he found the back of the net in the first period, starting his Blueshirts tenure on a high note.
Withstanding the loss, the 30-year-old defenseman was happy with the way he played and fit in with his new team.
“Unfortunately not the win, but I felt better as the game went on,” Soucy said. “I think some things are going to take a little bit of time to get used to, just system change, but overall first game I felt pretty well.”
The Rangers overcame some hiccups and an offensive onslaught from the Senators to take a 3-1 lead with just over 10 minutes in the third period.
That’s when the Blueshirts completely fell apart.
Ottawa began pressing hard and the Rangers simply had no answers to stop the bleeding.
All of the Senators’ high-quality chances caught up to New York. Igor Shesterkin let up two goals in the final ten minutes of the final frame, granted the Rangers were not doing their superstar goalie any favors by the way they were playing in front of him.
The Rangers’ two-goal lead evaporated just like that and Brady Tkachuk wasted no time, scoring 33 seconds into overtime to secure the victory.
Going into this matchup, the Rangers were tied with the Senators for a playoff spot, so New York’s epic downfall late in the contest could be costly for them down the road with the margin for error extremely slim.
Now, the Rangers still find themselves outside of the playoffs looking in.
“Frustrating, frustrating having that 3-1 lead in the third and giving that up and giving them the two points,” Mika Zibanejad said. “It’s a quick turnaround and we have to get ready for tomorrow…We needed two points and we didn’t get it today.”
The Rangers will be back in action on Sunday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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