Rangers fail to keep pace in Metro, lose in OT to Blues

ST. LOUIS --The New York Rangers failed to keep pace in the Metropolitan Division with a 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

The Rangers fell four points behind the New Jersey Devils, who defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 8-1 on Thursday, for second place. They are five points behind the Carolina Hurricanes, who lost 3-0 to the Nashville Predators on Thursday, for first.
New York and New Jersey each has three games remaining; Carolina has four.
"A little bit of a funky game, probably," Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. "I don't think it was our best game all around. We gave ourselves a chance there at the end, [and] got a point. Overtime could go either way."
Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist in his return to St. Louis, and Jaroslav Halak made 19 saves for New York (46-21-12), which is 2-0-2 in its past four games, including a 6-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.
"It wasn't a great game, obviously," Rangers coach Gerald Gallant said. "It was one of those games where there wasn't a lot of energy with our group. Obviously, back to backs and the long flight last night. Hate making excuses, but we got to it."

Tyler Pitlick and Alexey Toropchenko scored, and Jordan Binnington made 22 saves for St. Louis (37-35-7), which is 8-2-2 in its past 12 games.
"We're going into games trying to win, play our game and kind of build on that for next year," Blues forward Kasperi Kapanen said. "Obviously, you don't know about next year and what the team's going to look like and whatnot. I think you want to end on a high note, you want to play well until the end and that's what we're trying to do right now."
Kapanen scored the game-winner 1:16 into overtime with a one-timer from the left face-off circle off a pass by Brayden Schenn.
"Of course, whenever you score in overtime, it feels good," Kapanen said. "'Schenner' made a great play, and I was able to put it in. ... I think we go against a forward (Vincent Trocheck) there, so I think he realized he could make a good play there and he did. Lucky it went in."
Toropchenko gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 8:00 of the second period when he swept the puck away from Artemi Panarin with his leg in the defensive zone, skated down the left side and scored off the right post.
Tarasenko tied it 1-1 at 1:55 of the third period on a power play. He scored on a loose puck in the slot after a centering pass by Mika Zibanejad, which was intended for Chris Kreider, deflected off the skate of Colton Parayko.
"He does score a lot of goals," said Parayko, who played eight seasons with Tarasenko. "Unfortunate, but I guess cool for him to score back here at Enterprise. Obviously, you don't want him to score. It's over, I guess that's what we could say about it. Cool, I guess."

Pitlick restored St. Louis' lead to 2-1 at 10:13. After Halak made the initial save on Pitlick, his rebound attempt went wide but caromed off Ryan Lindgren at the left post back into the crease where he knocked the loose puck in.
Trocheck tied it 2-2 at 17:57 during a 6-on-4, scoring from the slot after he kicked a pass from Tarasenko to his stick.
"The power play was good," Gallant said. "What, 2-for-2, I think it was? It was good."
Tarasenko was traded from the Blues to the Rangers with defenseman Niko Mikkola for Sammy Blais,
Hunter Skinner
and draft picks Feb. 9. Tarasenko, who had 553 points (262 goals, 291 assists) in 644 NHL games with St. Louis and was a part of the 2019 Stanley Cup championship team, received a standing ovation during a video tribute in the first period.
"It was [a] very emotional moment for me," Tarasenko said. "Thank you very much to the whole community. I don't really talk since the trade, but all the support they gave us for those 11 years was unreal.
"Always love the fans; the fans were very nice to me and my family. So, it was very, very emotional for us. Thank you very much for doing that. I don't really have words to describe how I felt but thank you."
NOTES:Rangers forward Patrick Kane missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. Gallant said pregame it was precautionary. ... Blais played 14:47 in his first game against New York. ... Mikkola had two blocked shots in 18:52 and also had a video tribute. ... Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich played 19:25 after missing four games with an upper-body injury. ... Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey played his 500th NHL game. ... Blues defenseman Dmitri Samorukov played 15:48 in his season debut after being recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League under emergency conditions earlier Thursday.