Late-period Goals Not Enough to Lift Rangers over Red Wings

The New York Rangers scored a goal in the final 2:30 of each period Saturday afternoon but it wasn’t enough to stop the Detroit Red Wings from picking up a 4-3 victory.

The Rangers opened the game’s scoring with 1:15 remaining in the first period. From behind the net, Martin Rucinsky sent a pass out to Jaromir Jagr in the low slot. Jagr put a one-timer back on net and past Detroit goalie Manny Legace to put New York on the board.

The Red Wings responded at 7:45 of the second.

With Detroit on the power play just after a five-on-three opportunity expired, Nicklas Lidstrom fired a shot on net from the blue line. Rangers’ netminder Henrik Lundqvist knocked the puck into the left circle but Robert Lang was there to pick up the rebound and lift it over Lundqvist and into the net.

Just 52 seconds later, Detroit took the lead on Brendan Shanahan’s first goal of the night. His shot from the right circle caught the top of Lundqvist’s stick and deflected into the net.

The Rangers retied the game with 15 seconds remaining in the middle frame, when a Michael Nylander shot beat Legace as Ville Nieminen pushed past Lidstrom and crashed the net. Legace argued for an interference call to no avail.

Shanahan’s second goal of the night put Detroit back in front at 5:48 of the final period.

Chris Chelios drew most of the New York defense to him in the high slot while Henrik Zetterberg had the puck in the corner to Lundqvist’s right. Zetterberg sent a pass out to Shanahan at the top of the crease but Lundqvist stopped the attempted one-timer. The rebound bounced free and Shanahan jumped up to lift the puck over the falling Rangers goalie.

Johan Franzen scored the final Detroit goal of the night with 5:21 left in the game, deflecting a pass from Kris Draper past Lundqvist.

New York’s Jed Ortmeyer pulled the Rangers back within one on a shot that deflected off Detroit defenseman Brett Lebda with 2:26 remaining but it wouldn’t be enough to get his team back in the game.

Lundqvist stopped a flurry of Detroit chances in the game’s final minutes but the Rangers were unable to tie it up.

A shot by Shanahan in the game’s closing seconds entered the empty Ranger net after time expired.

Legace finished the game with 21 saves on 24 shots while the rookie Lundqvist stopped 32 of 36 shots, including 15 of 17 in the second period alone.

Detroit held the Rangers scoreless on three power play chances and converted one of their five opportunities.

The Red Wings will be back in action on Wednesday when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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New York was without defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, who suffered a sprained knee during pre-game warmups.