Rangers Enter Outdoor Series on Down Note
The Rangers are headed to Yankee Stadium to play their next two games, but Thursday's match did not end well, a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Madison Square Garden.
Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, playing at the Garden for the first time as a professional, scored the tiebreaking power-play goal at 3 minutes 9 seconds of the third period.
Shattenkirk, from New Rochelle, grew up rooting for the Rangers and will represent the United States at the Sochi Olympics.
With about 60 friends and family watching in the stands, Shattenkirk drew the slashing penalty from Rick Nash that led to the power play. Nine seconds later, he ripped the decisive slap shot. It was the 15th time this season that the Blues' coolly efficient power-play unit scored a goal within 10 seconds of an opposition penalty.
The Blues took the lead 8:38 into the game, when Jaden Schwartz's centering pass bounced off Alexander Steen's skate and through the pads of Henrik Lundqvist. It was Steen's 26th goal.
Steen scored the only goal in the Blues' previous game, a 7-1 drubbing of the Devils on Tuesday.
The Blues nursed their lead, counting on their goalie, Jaroslav Halak, but the Rangers, who have lost two straight games, kept attacking. They finally tied the score late in the second period, thanks to defenseman Ryan McDonagh's bold gamble and Nash's marksmanship.
McDonagh stepped up in the neutral zone to intercept a pass, then led a Rangers counterattack into the St. Louis zone. He stayed deep behind the Blues' net, feeding Derek Stepan the puck, and then watched Stepan center it to Nash, who buried it past Halak for his 17th goal.
It was the fourth straight game in which Nash has scored. He has 10 goals in his last 10 games.
The game marked the Rangers debut of defenseman Kevin Klein, who was acquired Wednesday in a trade for defenseman Michael Del Zotto. Klein played a solid stay-at-home game, logging 15:46 of ice time.
After practice Thursday morning, Klein talked about the odd way he found out he was dealt by Nashville. He was 20 minutes from leaving his house for the airport to join his teammates for a flight to Vancouver when David Poile, the Predators' general manager, left a message to tell him he had been traded - but Poile did not say to whom.
'That was a little interesting,' Klein said. 'I honestly had no clue. My wife and I were kind of guessing. She was a bit distraught, because we have two young boys and we were a little up in the air - where are we going?'
When Klein sent a goodbye text to Shea Weber, his teammate since their rookie year in 2005-6, he finally got an inkling about where he was going.
'I was texting with Webby, saying goodbye and wishing him good luck, and then he told me I was traded for Del Zotto - so I said, 'O.K., so I guess it's the Rangers,' ' Klein said. 'David called me back a bit later,' and then, he said, 'all of a sudden my phone started blowing up once it got on social media.'
Klein said he was surprised and somewhat disappointed at first.
'I was there for 10 years in that organization, where I got drafted and everything,' he said. 'That's all I've known, so it's a sad day, but at the same time it's going to be nice to see another organization and play in a big hockey market. What can you say? New York Rangers, Original Six - it's pretty exciting.'
Klein said his sons, who are 4 and 1, are too young to grasp what their father being traded actually means, but the 4-year-old is excited about the idea of a new mascot.
'I didn't really know what to tell him,' Klein said. 'Rangers? Maybe I can make up something, like a knight or something.'
SLAP SHOTS
Alexander Steen left Thursday's game after two periods with a lower body injury after Dan Girardi checked him into the boards. ... The Rangers will play the Devils on Sunday and the Islanders on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.
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