Postgame takeaways: Rangers fall 'flat' against Western Conference power Jets

NEW YORK − From the moment Mark Scheifele stole the puck off Chris Kreider's stick, the result seemed imminent.

Scheifele raced ahead to score a breakaway goal − the second of three he would net Tuesday at Madison Square Garden − as Kreider faded well behind the play, casting the dye for a 4-2 Rangers' loss to the visiting Winnipeg Jets.

"We were just a little bit flat through that (second) period," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said.

Perhaps it was a sign of the schedule finally catching up with the rundown Rangers (45-20-4), who had won five of their previous six. Or, maybe, the Central Division-leading Jets are just that good.

It's probably a combination of the two.

The Blueshirts were playing their seventh game in a span of 11 days, which may explain why Kreider's backchecking effort looked uncharacteristically drowsy. But Winnipeg is also the kind of well-balanced team New York will have to go through if it intends to bring home the first Stanley Cup in 30 years.

"The schedule is what it is," said forward Alex Wennberg, who shot down any excuse-making. "There's not much you can do about it. We had the dudes today to actually play well. Maybe a little (bad) decision-making, but we still had the chances to win the game."

The Jets (44-19-5) are speedy, skilled and deep, particularly following trades for Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli. And they have the Vezina Trophy front-runner in Connor Hellebuyck, who finished with 38 saves and made a handful of difficult stops to stymie the Rangers' best chances.

"That’s one of the better goalies in the league," Mika Zibanejad said. "We just couldn’t find our way through enough today."

The final result, coupled with four straight wins from the Carolina Hurricanes, reduced the Blueshirts' lead for first place in the Metro Division to two points with 13 games to play.

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Letting it slip away

New York started with a solid first period and went toe-to-toe with the Western Conference foe for the first 30 minutes.

Will Cuylle had a couple good looks off the rush that were saved by Hellebuyck, who also turned away a combined 11 of 12 shots from the buzzing duo of Alexis Lafrenière (team-high seven shots) and Vincent Trocheck (five). But despite the Rangers out-shooting the Jets, 40-27, including 16 during a furious push in the third period, Laviolette thought too many of them came from low-danger areas.

"There were (40) shots," he said. "But we were mid-20s in (scoring) chances."

Wennberg eventually earned his first goal as a Ranger by burying a Lafrenière rebound to tie the score at 1-1 near the halfway point, but the game began to slip away after that.

"Instead of getting pucks down deep and working, like we did at the beginning, we started trying to make plays and gave them the momentum," said Wennberg, who was playing in his 700th career game. "That’s not the way we want to play and that’s how the game got away from us."

A Braden Schneider penalty setup a Jets' power play that ended with Kyle Connor scoring after a puck deflected off defenseman K'Andre Miller's ankle, giving Winnipeg a 2-1 lead that it wouldn't relinquish.

That was followed by the real back-breaker with 2:05 to go in the second period.

Kreider's lackadaisical turnover sprung the breakaway for Scheifele, who tucked a forehanded wrist shot past Igor Shesterkin on the blocker side to make it 3-1 and suck the air out of MSG.

"It’s tough," Laviolette said. "You’re trying to make plays at the offensive blue line. We need to be a little bit crisper there for what we're doing. But you’re in the offensive zone, you're trying to generate and it goes against you."

Lineup shuffling

That shaky end of the period led Laviolette to start juggling his lineup.

Kreider's ice time was temporarily cut down, with only two shifts in the first nine minutes of the period. He was dropped to the third line with Cuylle and Wennberg, but the coach said the changes weren't aimed at any one individual.

"We just moved the lines. It wasn’t about a top six or bottom six," he said. "We were a little bit flat. Just wanted to change and try something different."

The line Laviolette leaned on the most in that final period featured Lafrenière, Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, which tilted the ice back in the Rangers' favor.

Lafrenière eventually scored his career-high 20th goal of the season to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 1:54 to play. Kreider followed with a prime chance in front that went wide, but an empty-netter from Scheifele completed his hat trick and ultimately ended the comeback effort.

"They’re a big, strong defensive team, and they want to create off those turnovers and use their speed and go," Adam Fox said. "We kind of fueled that in the second and gave them some chances. But I think the first and third, we played a better style of getting in there and not really forcing it – just getting in behind and creating chances off of that."

The defensive pairs were also altered, with Fox and Miller joining forces while Schneider and Erik Gustafsson were reunited.

"Whoever he tells anyone to go with, I think you're going to try and go out there and play (well) and play the right way," Fox said. "When maybe you get a little stalled like we did in the second, sometimes it's a good thing to throw change in there and see if it sparks something. I thought we played hard in the third and almost got that tying goal."

Asked if he might stick with any of those combinations moving forward, Laviolette replied, “We’ll talk about it (Wednesday) and make some decisions.”

The only duo that wasn't touched featured Zac Jones and Chad Ruhwedel, with the latter logging 13:31 time on ice in his Ranger debut after being scratched for the first six games following a Mar. 8 trade from Pittsburgh.

New York's depth on D is being tested while Ryan Lindgren and Jacob Trouba are out with lower-body injuries. Lindgren is expected to miss "two or three weeks," according to Laviolette, who noted the relief of hearing that timeline given how scary the initial injury looked during Sunday's 5-2 win over the Islanders.

As for Trouba, it sounds like the captain is inching closer after missing the last seven games.

"He’s skating on his own," Laviolette said prior to Tuesday's game. "We’re not going to rush him. ... I don’t have a time frame on it, but there will be a time when you see him returned to us."

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Postgame takeaways: Rangers fall flat against western power Jets