December 14, 2011, Dallas Stars-New York Rangers game story for Metro Newspaper in NYC
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BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES
Henrik Lundqvist gave everybody a scare in the second when he was injured after being hit by a puck. He stayed in the game.
This was not how Brad Richards envisioned the first match against his former team.
For 55 minutes, neither the Rangers nor the Stars could figure out a way to slip a puck behind the opposing netminder. Then in a second, an anonymous Dallas defenseman named Trevor Daley slipped into the slot and shoved a Mike Ribeiro rebound under Henrik Lundqvist’s pads.
Daley’s goal with 4:59 left in regulation was the game-winner in the Rangers’ 1-0 loss to the Stars last night at the Garden. The loss was only the Rangers’ seventh in regulation and the second shutout loss of the season.
The first 40 minutes were an ode to the Dead Puck Era. Neither team was able generate sustained pressure in the offensive zone. The Rangers and Stars clogged the neutral and offensive zones, forcing the majority of shots to come from the periphery.
At the second intermission, the game was scoreless and the Rangers had outshot Dallas, 21-20.
The only energy in the building came after referees Ian Walsh and Don VanMassenhoven had erroneously and incredibly penalized Carl Hagelin for charging Stars goaltender Richard Bachman (34 saves) in the first period and the Brandon Prust-Jake Dowell center ice bout in the second period.
Hagelin collided with Bachman at the right faceoff dot in the Dallas zone as both simultaneously tried to gain possession of a loose puck. Hagelin, who was pushed into the goaltender by a Stars player, somersaulted onto Bachman, who lost his mask. It was in no way reminiscent of the hits Boston Bruin Milan Lucic and Nashville Predator Jordin Tootoo laid on Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller.
John Tortorella emphatically criticized the call when it happened — along with an announced 18,200 job performance analysts — and later, during a stoppage in play in the period, continued to express his disbelief with the penalty to Walsh.
“What explanation? I don’t even know what to say. I don’t even know. It should be a non-call. Sometimes I think they have to call something. It should be a non-call as far as I’m concerned,” Tortorella said evenly. “I told [Hagelin] to do it again. To skate and do it again. The goalie charged him. The goalie was out 20 feet. Hags [is] just going after the puck. That’s Hags’ job — to go after the puck. So I said, ‘Do it again.’”
The Rangers received a scare in the second period when Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves) went down on all fours after being hit between his shoulder and collarbone by a slapshot from Stars defenseman Sheldon Souray. Lundqvist, who repeatedly shook his arm in an attempt to get feeling back, was attended to by trainer Jim Ramsay.
“It’s pretty stiff. I’m sure it’s going to be stiff for a few days. I was lucky. I thought it was the collarbone. It felt like the whole shoulder was a couple feet behind me,” Lundqvist said. “I knew it was going to be a hard one. I saw that he had that much time to put power behind it. … He’s up there with [Zdeno] Chara and [Shea] Weber for hardest shot.”
Lundqvist was not under siege, but he was good when his team needed him to be. That was most obvious when he forced Stars left wing Eric Nystrom to shoot high and wide while the Dallas forward was bearing down on a shorthanded breakaway midway through the third period. Nystrom had gained control of a puck that had jumped over Dan Girardi’s stick in the offensive zone and was in on Lundqvist.
Follow NHL beat writer Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman for updates on all the local teams even when we can’t get them in the paper.
http://www.metro.us/newyork/sports/article/1049820--rangers-lose-to-stars-in-final-minutes
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 3:46 PM
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