The New York Rangers enjoyed an early lead but wound up getting stunned by the struggling Los Angeles Kings on Sunday afternoon.
- New York Rangers: 3 (3-7-1, 7 points)
- Los Angeles Kings: 4 ( 3-7-1, 7 points)
- NYR Goals: Vladislav Namestnikov (1), Tony DeAngelo (1), Ryan Spooner (1)
- LAK Goals: Dustin Brown (1), Ilya Kovalchuk (3), Trevor Lewis (2), Alec Martinez (1)
- NHL, Final, Boxscore
- Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
It was a rough one for the Blueshirts on Sunday. Despite owning a 2-0 lead and scoring late to tie the game at three apiece, David Quinn’s group fell by the final of 4-3 to the Los Angeles Kings thanks to a late Alec Martinez goal (reminiscent of 2014).
The New York Rangers opened the scoring in today’s contest. Vladislav Namestnikov took the puck hard to the net and after a lengthy review, he was rewarded with his first goal of the 2018-2019 campaign.
Namestnikov scores, but collides with Kings' goaltender Campbell… play is under review pic.twitter.com/GORT6x3C6s
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) October 28, 2018
In the second period, the Blueshirts extended their lead to two. Tony DeAngelo, who was replacing Adam McQuaid and playing in only his third game of the season, fired a sharp-angle shot past Jack Campbell to make 2-0 in favor of the Rangers.
DeAngelo scores in his first game back in the lineup, Namestnikov assists and gets his second point of the day pic.twitter.com/9WbMgYr3GE
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) October 28, 2018
The Kings quickly countered, scoring two power-play goals in less than 3 minutes. A Cody McLeod slashing penalty led to Dustin Brown’s first tally of the season on a juicy rebound.
Minutes later, the Rangers took their sixth too many men on the ice penalty of the season, and Ilya Kovalchuk capitalized on the man-advantage to tie the game at two.
Kovalchuk's power play goal ties the game 2-2. As of yesterday, the Kings' power play was operating at just 8.8 percent. They have two power play goals today. pic.twitter.com/INmD3vesFy
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) October 28, 2018
Halfway through the final frame, Trevor Lewis scored his second goal of the season, marking Los Angeles’ third unanswered goal. However, the Rangers refused to surrender and eventually tied the game with about five minutes remaining.
Tony DeAngelo threaded the needle, finding Ryan Spooner on a cross-ice pass, who then snapped a shot past Campbell for his first goal of the campaign. The scored was knotted at three.
Spooner ties the game 3-3, DeAngelo with a nice pass to set him up. pic.twitter.com/A9ti9dmg7K
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) October 28, 2018
It looked like today’s tilt was heading to overtime, but in a sudden turn of events, the Rangers experienced some Deja Vu.
Alec Martinez led a harmless-looking rush up the ice and as he crossed the blue-line he fired an innocent shot towards Henrik Lundqvist. Martinez shot flew through Brendan Smith’s legs and fluttered past Lundqvist with 55 seconds remaining.
Lundqvist never even saw this one, but it is probably a goal he would like to have back. Sunday’s ending certainly resembled the ending of the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals.
Martinez. 4-3 Kings. pic.twitter.com/zL8ClJV88b
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) October 28, 2018
Today marks another agonizing defeat that the Rangers would like to forget about and move on from. The Blueshirts will continue their California road trip with a battle against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. ET.
