NEW YORK _ If the visiting Nashville Predators represented a good measuring stick for how competitive the rebuilding Rangers will be this season, then consider this a test the Blueshirts passed, more or less.
They didn't ace it _ they would have needed to win to do that _ but David Quinn's young Blueshirts played hard, played smart, and hung with one of the elite teams in the NHL for 60 minutes in a season-opening, 3-2 loss Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
P.K. Subban's goal early in the third period broke a 1-1 tie and the Rangers failed to convert on their only power play of the game late in the period. Considering that this was Quinn's first game behind the bench, and that no one is projecting the Rangers to be a contender anyway, this wasn't a bad beginning.
For 40-plus minutes, the Rangers played the Predators even, until a lost faceoff in their own end led to the goal by Subban. The faceoff occurred after Rangers defenseman Adam McQuaid took a high stick to the face and went down in front of his own net. After the officials conferred, no penalty was called, and there was a faceoff in the circle to Henrik Lundqvist's left. Nashville's Colton Sissons won it cleanly back to Mattias Ekholm, who passed it Subban, who blasted a one-timer through traffic and past Lundqvist at 3:28 of the third period.
The Rangers had a chance on a close-in shot by Mats Zuccarello with 2:49 remaining, but Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne made the save. Then, with 1:30 remaining and Lundqvist (30 saves) having skated to the bench for the extra skater on a delayed penalty against Subban, the Rangers were called for a too-many-men penalty. After a Rangers timeout, the Predators won the faceoff and Sissons fired the puck into the empty net with 1:24 left.
But the Rangers kept plugging away, and Pavel Buchnevich scored on a deflection to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 34.1 seconds left. That was where the comeback ended, however.
Quinn, who admitted he was excited to be coaching his first game as Rangers coach in the Garden, was asked before the game what message he would deliver to his young players, such as 20-year-old rookie Brett Howden, playing his first professional game.
"It's managing your emotions, the butterflies, all that," Quinn said. "We've talked to all these guys about that, especially the younger guys, try to make it as much of another hockey game as you can. But once the juices get flowing and you take your first hit, I think they'll realize it's hockey and something they've been doing for a long time."
Against the team that won the Presidents' Trophy last season for the best record in the regular season, the Rangers got off to a fine start. With just one penalty in the opening period, Quinn was able to roll his four lines and three defense pairs, for the most part. Both Lundqvist and Rinne were tested in the period, though Lundqvist made perhaps the best save of the opening 20 minutes when he gloved a short shot by Craig Smith out of the air with 2:30 left in the period and Chris Kreider in the penalty box.
Left wing Jimmy Vesey, who started slowly in the preseason but came on strong in the last two games, was one of the Rangers' best players in the opening period, creating chances throughout and setting up linemate Zuccarello for a wicked one-timer just before the buzzer sounded to end the period. But Rinne foiled that.
The Predators opened the scoring when Filip Forsberg beat Lundqvist at 3:54 of the second period, but Jesper Fast tied the score when he banged in a nifty feed from Filip Chytil at 7:37. The score remained tied after the second period, with each side having taken 24 shots on goal. But both goaltenders were sharp.
