Postgame takeaways: Rangers third-period fortunes reversed in Dallas

The third period has been very kind to the New York Rangers through the early portion of the 2023-24 season, but not on Monday night.

They entered with a one-goal lead over the host Dallas Stars, then exited as victims of a lopsided 6-3 loss.

That snapped an 11-game point streak for the Blueshirts, who hadn't lost in regulation in over a month, dating back to Oct. 19 against the Nashville Predators.

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It was heading in a different direction for well over 30 minutes, but the Stars rallied for six straight goals to take a commanding lead. Five of those came in the final period, which is where the Rangers had done some of their best work lately. They entered Monday outscoring opponents by a combined margin of 18-10 in those situations.

One loss to a quality opponent is no reason to panic, with New York still sitting comfortably atop the Metro Division standings at 12-3-1. But there are certainly areas for improvement.

A strong start

Despite winning 10 of 11 leading into this road trip, many of those games featured significant ebbs and flows. Monday was no different.

The first period belonged to the Rangers, who outshot the Stars, 16-7, and earned a power-play goal for the 13th time in 16 games. (They've scored 17 in total while converting at a 32.7% clip that ranks second in the NHL.)

This one came from Vincent Trocheck, who has arguably been their best forward not named Artemi Panarin this season. He gathered a missed shot attempt from Chris Kreider and caught Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood by surprise with a wraparound to give a New York a 1-0 lead with 3:35 remaining in the period.

With that, the 30-year-old center extended his point streak to six games, a span in which he's collected 11 of his 15 points.

The next Rangers' goal came from a source who was in need of confidence boost.

Kaapo Kakko traveled to Dallas amid a 10-game point drought. It had been nearly a month since he last scored Oct. 21 in Seattle, but that unwanted streak was snapped Monday.

Granted, it likely won't make his career highlight reel. Kakko received a pass from Nick Bonino on side of the net and attempted to make a move, with Stars defenseman Ryan Suter reaching out and accidentally deflecting the puck into his own net. That made it 2-0 at the 13:38 mark in the second period.

Kakko has been victimized by some bad luck this season, so he'll surely take that bit of good fortune.

Stars dominate the final period

At that point, it looked like the Rangers were on their way to their 13th win in 16 games. But the first-place Stars turned up the heat and put a definitive end to those hopes.

It started innocently enough, with Jamie Benn capitalizing on a missed connection between Jimmy Vesey and K'Andre Miller. Vesey's pass came in behind Miller, with the turnover springing an odd-man rush that cut Dallas' deficit to 2-1 heading into the third period.

The complexion of the game could have turned if Kreider converted a breakaway opportunity off a quick feed from Mika Zibanejad on the first shift of the third, but a key save from Wedgewood prevented the Rangers from pushing their lead back to two goals.

From there, it was all Stars (12-4-1).

Joe Pavelski crashed the net and cashed in on a rebound from Miro Heiskanen to tie the score at 2-2 just 42 seconds after Kreider's missed opportunity. Then, a power-play goal from Mason Marchment put Dallas ahead for good, with Igor Shesterkin failing to cover up another rebound − this one from Wyatt Johnston − that was sitting right in front of him.

Tyler Seguin increased the lead to 4-2 on a chaotic sequence in front of the Rangers' net at the 8:24 mark, with a failed coach's challenge sending New York directly to the penalty kill. That cost them two minutes of playing down a man, which was followed by a pair of empty-net goals for the Stars from Sam Steel and Roope Hintz.

Barclay Goodrow finally answered with 16 seconds remaining, but the result was well in hand.

Dallas finished with 19 shots on goal in those final 20 minutes, including six high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.

The good and the bad

There were some early bright spots for the Rangers, particularly the Panarin-Trocheck-Alexis Lafrenière line that's been so effective this season.

Lafrenière was especially noticeable, as he was flying into the offensive zone and aggressively seeking his shot. He finished tied for the team lead with eight shot attempts, including a couple quality looks that were stopped by Wedgewood.

That trio couldn't quite find the back of the net at five-on-five, though, and were ultimately on ice for three of the Stars' third-period goals. (To be fair, two of them came on empty-netters with the Rangers making a desperate push to score.) As a result, Panarin's franchise-record 15-game point streak to start the new season came to an end. He fell two games short of tying Brian Leetch for the overall team record.

It was also a strong effort from captain Jacob Trouba, who notched a pair of assists and was the only member of the Rangers to finish with a positive rating (plus-two). He nearly put them back on top when the score was tied at 2-2 on a close-range look off a feed from Kreider, but the shot was gloved by Wedgewood.

There were others who struggled. It was an especially tough night for the bottom defensive pair of Zac Jones and Braden Schneider, who had steadied in recent games after a few rough ones earlier in the month. Jones finished with a minus-three rating and struggled to protect the net at times, with the SOG battle 13-4 in favor of the Stars while he was on the ice.

Shesterkin surely won't be pleased with allowing four goals on 34 shots faced, either, particularly the ones where he was late securing loose pucks in the crease.

Puck management (the Rangers were charged with 15 turnovers), poor breakouts and poor net-front clearance were other issues that crept in and will surely be discussed leading into Wednesday's 7 p.m. game in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.

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 third-period fortunes reversed in Dallas