CALGARY, Alberta — The Rangers needed just 16 seconds to get back into a game that looked to be over halfway through.
That was all their efforts were good for, however, as the Flames came out on top in the third period to hand the Rangers a 3-2 loss and end their three-game win streak Thursday night at Scotiabank Saddledome.
A few minutes before the halfway point of the game, the Flames reached more than 30 shots on goal before the Rangers even made it to double digits.
The scoreboard reflected as much, with Calgary leading 2-0 at that point.
Struggling with puck retrieval, the Blueshirts were a bit nonchalant when they had possession, and the Flames torched them for it.
Whenever they broke up a Rangers breakout, Calgary was speedy in turning the puck around and sending it back the other way.
When the Flames doubled their score on their third straight power play of the night — on a bullet one-timer from Yegor Sharangovich — the Rangers challenged for a hand pass prior to the goal.
Questionably, refs deemed the play to be a deflection and not a hand pass, which sent the Rangers on their fourth consecutive penalty kill.
In a matter of 16 seconds, however, the Rangers tied it.
After Alexis Lafreniere buried the rebound of a Jacob Trouba shot to cut the Flames lead in half, Will Cuylle deflected a K’Andre Miller shot to knot the game at two-all and set up a winner-takes-all third period.
Despite the Rangers’ effective spurt of energy and scoring, it faded quickly as Calgary locked down in the final frame.
Connor Zary attacked the net with Kaapo Kakko on his hip before roofing the puck past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin for the game-winning goal.
The Rangers have had just four man-advantage opportunities in the past four games, a sign the team has not had the puck nearly enough to draw penalties.
They were awarded only one Thursday night in comparison to the Flames’ five.
For a team so heavily reliant on the power play, the fact that the Rangers entered Thursday’s game with the fewest man-advantage opportunities among all NHL teams is one of the more concerning parts of their 12-5-1 start.
The Flames had the puck more often than not in the first period, over which they outshot the Rangers, 20-5.
Just six of Calgary’s shots were considered high danger, according to Natural Stat Trick, but the statistic still reflected the home team’s vigor at the start.
It allowed Matt Coronato to open the scoring at the 7:25 mark when the Flames forward picked the far corner on Shesterkin as the Russian netminder was screened by Braden Schneider.