NEW YORK _ Three-goal leads should be safe, especially when you are playing against a team that had lost four straight and had played the night before.
But the Rangers have been experts at blowing leads this season, and they coughed up a big one Friday night when they threw away a three-goal lead and lost 4-3 in overtime to the Arizona Coyotes on a goal by former teammate Derek Stepan, who beat Henrik Lundqvist with a screened wrist shot with 31.1 seconds to go.
The Rangers, who had led 3-0 midway through the second and 3-1 after two periods, fell to 14-14-3 on the season (31 points). Arizona improved to 14-15-2.
The Rangers got a boost from the return of injured forwards Mats Zuccarello and Pavel Buchnevich, who both returned to the Rangers lineup after long injury absences. Coach David Quinn did what he could to tamp down expectations of the pair.
"When two guys of this stature get into your lineup, I think it just makes everybody play with a little bit more swagger, and puff their chest out a little bit further, and it gives your team a little bit more confidence," Quinn said. "But I also think everybody has to be realistic about what these guys are going to be able to do right off the bat. They both missed a lot of hockey, so it's great to have them back, but I think everybody has to be patient, too."
Well, Buchnevich, out since Nov. 10 with a broken thumb, scored a power play goal at 4:01 of the first period, and Zuccarello, who'd missed the last seven games and 13 of the last 15 with a groin strain, added an assist on Kevin Hayes' power play goal to make it 2-0. Mika Zibanejad made it 3-0 with a power-play goal of his own against Arizona goalie Adin Hill at 5:48 of the second before the Rangers started taking a slew of penalties that loosened their stranglehold on the game.
First it was Chris Kreider, who took a needless interference penalty in the offensive zone at 8:13 of the period, with the Rangers leading, 1-0. The Coyotes didn't cash in, but Quinn benched Kreider the rest of the period. Then, in the second period, with the Rangers leading 3-0, Neal Pionk started a fight with the Coyotes' Christian Fischer and was given an extra two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Coyotes scored on the power play when Jordan Oesterle snuck a long-range shot past Henrik Lundqvist at 10:12 of the second.
Stepan set up Josh Archibald's goal that pulled Arizona to within 3-2 at 13:11 of the third, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson beat Lundqvist with a wicked slapper from the left wing at 16:59 to tie it 3-3 and force overtime.
With Zuccarello and Buchnevich back, Lias Andersson, the 20-year-old forward who was one of two Rangers first-round draft picks in 2017, was scratched from the lineup.
"I think Lias needs to take a step back, and we're going to help him become a better player," Quinn said when asked why Andersson, and not rugged veteran Matt Beleskey, was left out.
Still, the team has made the decision to keep Andersson with the big club for now, rather than send him back to AHL Hartford. It's all part of his development, according to Quinn.
"(He's been) inconsistent _ which isn't abnormal for a 20-year-old," Quinn said of Andersson. "He's done some good things; he's done some things he needs to be better at. So, probably normal challenges for a 20-year-old. Sometimes, we've all talked about, 'Is it better for him to be here or Hartford?' And we think it's best for him to be here, whether he's playing every single game, or in and out, or doing extra stuff after practice. We just feel this is a big piece of his development."
