They called it a “heartbreaking” loss. Nope, it wasn’t heartbreaking. It was totally unnecessary and emblematic of the issues still facing this young Rangers team. Up 2-0, it all turned on an absolutely boneheaded giveaway by Brendan Smith just two minutes into the third period. Detroit owned the rest of the period as the Rangers barely hung on. With 2:02 left in the game, Andreas Athanasiou sped by every Ranger and beat Lundqvist. They made it to overtime but a Dylan Larkin goal with five seconds left sealed the win.
The Rangers should have had a big lead after the first period, but Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard was steadfast in goal, stopping Vlad Namestnikov, Chris Kreider, Pavel Buchnevich and Mika Zibanejad on grade A chances.