CALGARY, Alberta — Taking a penalty in overtime for the second time in as many nights, chances are, it’s going to cost you.
Such was the case for the Rangers, who had to settle for just one point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Flames Saturday night at Scotiabank Saddledome after Mikael Backlund scored 1:28 into the extra period on the power play.
Nevertheless, the Blueshirts, whose winning streak ended at seven games, came away with seven of a possible eight points on a very successful four-game road trip that started in Carolina and swept through western Canada.
“Going into this road trip, if you were to say we get seven out of eight [points], we’re going to be happy with that,” Ryan Lindgren told The Post after the overtime loss, which extended the Rangers’ point streak to 10 straight games. “Obviously, right now, you’d like eight of eight. But we played some good teams, played some good hockey and just got to keep building off of that.”
After fending off the Oilers’ four-on-three advantage in overtime Friday night en route to a 5-4 shootout victory, the Rangers couldn’t pull it off two nights in a row when Adam Fox found himself in the box for high-sticking 50 seconds into the extra period on Saturday.
The Flames set up, worked it around the zone and Backlund got a stick on a shot from Jonathan Huberdeau.
Considering the fact the Rangers rallied from an early deficit to force overtime while skating on heavy legs in the second night of a back-to-back, it’s difficult to criticize the effort. The Rangers forced their way back into the game behind a second-period goal from Vladimir Tarasenko and a third-period power-play goal from Alexis Lafreniere.
Falling into a multi-goal hole in the opening 20 minutes, however, was the trend in the last two games.
In the first 46 seconds of the game, the Rangers were trailing 2-0 as the Flames came out flying. With the rough-and-rowdy matchup earlier this month, when the Rangers won 5-4 in overtime at the Garden, clearly on their minds, Calgary took it to the visitors right away behind goals from Andrew Mangiapane and Nazem Kadri.
Against Edmonton Friday night, the Rangers fell behind 4-1 before they stormed back and ultimately won in the skills competition.
“I don’t think tonight was the same as last night,” said Vincent Trocheck, who notched assists on both of the Rangers’ goals. “I thought we were playing well in the first period. Tonight, I don’t think we played very well and that’s why they scored two quick ones. It was just the same mentality.
“When you go down two, you have 40 minutes after the first to get back into the game and we couldn’t really dwell on what was done in the first half, just focus on the next.”
The slow starts certainly will need to be cleaned up, but the Rangers showed some heart to wrap up their road trip. It likely made missing out on that extra point Saturday night a little easier for the Rangers, who have been able to flex that ‘No Quit’ DNA that they coined last season.
They’re still rolling, and it’s coming together at the right time.