Panarin shut out, power play struggles, and more: 3 reasons why New York Rangers lost 5-2 to St. Louis Blues

The New York Rangers dropped a third-straight game, losing 5-2 to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Zack Bolduc scored twice for the Blues, with Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn and Pavel Buchnevich scoring the others. Meanwhile, Will Cuylle scored twice to get the New York Rangers on the board.

Monday night marked Jim Montgomery’s debut behind the Blues’ bench. They put forth a strong effort against a struggling Rangers squad, giving Montgomery a win in his debut.

So, let’s take a look at the three reasons why the New York Rangers lost to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night.

3 reasons why New York Rangers lost against St. Louis Blues

#3 The power play struggled

The New York Rangers entered Monday night’s contest with the 10th-best power play in the league at 22.4%. However, the Rangers failed to score with the man advantage against the Blues. The effort on the Blues’ part was particularly strong as they entered the night ranked 24th on the penalty kill with 75.9%.

The Rangers’ top power play unit failed to get any traction going. Blues’ backup netminder Joel Hofer did not face difficult shots while shorthanded, allowing him to keep the Rangers in check.

#2 Shesterkin was good, but not good enough

Igor Sheskterkin played a good game. He stopped 38 of 42 shots. Unfortunately, he wasn’t good enough to steal a win for the New York Rangers. Shesterkin had given up less than four goals in his last three starts. However, he surrendered four on Monday night, giving him two straight losses.

It’s also worth pointing out that the Rangers have faced more than 40 shots for the second game in a row, making it much harder for Shesterkin to keep the Rangers in the game.

#1 Panarin shut out

The Rangers’ top scorer Artemi Panarin had a quiet night. The Blues shut him out, keeping the Breadman to just two shots on goal.

Meanwhile, Mika Zibanejad had one assist, with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere failing to get on the scoresheet.

The Rangers missed Chris Kreider who did not play due to an upper-body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day. Additionally, the Rangers were without Filip Chytil, who’s out with an undisclosed injury. Missing Kreider and Chytil has been tough for the Rangers as they look to get their offense going.

The Rangers will need to catch their breath on Tuesday before taking on the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night.