CALGARY, Alberta \u2014 Another desperate opponent, another disappointing defeat.<\/p>\n
For the second straight game, the Rangers handed over a victory their challengers badly needed. After falling in overtime to the previously winless Sharks earlier this week, the Blueshirts lost 5-1 to a Flames team that hadn\u2019t won since their first game of the season entering Sunday night\u2019s contest at Scotiabank Saddledome.<\/p>\n
With the win, the Flames snapped an eight-game losing streak.<\/p>\n
The Rangers, on the other hand, dropped their third contest in a row for the second time this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not at our best right now, and we\u2019ve got to find a way to dig our way out of it,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said after the loss. \u201cI just think it starts with effort and just attention to detail on the defensive side. I thought for a lot of this year, we had done a real good job at controlling the defensive side of the puck and limiting not only quality of chances but quantity of chances. I thought tonight, the types of mistakes we made, they\u2019re egregious, they\u2019re really hard to recover from, and we gave them some pretty good looks as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) during the second period against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
The worst reputation an NHL team can have is an easy game on the schedule. Twice now, the Rangers have allowed teams struggling even more than they were to get what they need against them.<\/p>\n
San Jose and the Flames \u2014 both ranked 32nd in the NHL at one point this week \u2014 looked confident coming into a matchup with the Rangers. Each game played out accordingly.<\/p>\n
Calgary carried a league-worst average of 1.67 goals per game into Sunday\u2019s meeting, but within the first 10 minutes, they had posted two goals on the Rangers. The Flames eventually set a new season high of five goals in regulation.<\/p>\n
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, left, deflects a shot by Calgary Flames\u2019 Yegor Sharangovich, right, during first-period. AP<\/p>\n
The defensive discipline the Rangers played with the first handful of games has all but evaporated.<\/p>\n
The offensive struggles have only continued, with the team registering one or zero goals for the sixth time through the first 10 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting away from us because we\u2019re getting away from a team game,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cFor the majority of the year, I think we\u2019ve \u2014 from a defensive standpoint \u2014 done a pretty good job, as far as being hard to play against. The last couple of outings, not so much. And it\u2019s the same group of guys with the same concept. So we\u2019ve got to do a better job, all of us as a group, and just making sure we get back to understanding what that game looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noah Laba #42 of the New York Rangers scores on Dustin Wolf #32 of the Calgary Flames during the first period at the Scotiabank Saddledome on October 26, 2025, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Rangers gave up the first goal of the game inside the two-minute mark for the second time in as many games, when Nazem Kadri sniped one past Blueshirts goalie Igor Shesterkin from the slot for the early 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Controlling the puck for a good portion of the opening frame, the Flames made it a 2-0 game after Kevin Bahl connected on a shot from the top of the zone.<\/p>\n
Despite outshooting the home team 13-11 in the middle frame, the Rangers couldn\u2019t break through. Yegor Sharangovich gave the Flames a 3-1 lead with a goal off the rush, which Shesterkin got just a piece of before it found twine.<\/p>\n
A short-handed Flames goal in the third period only twisted the knife into an already suffering Rangers team.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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After Mika Zibanejad whiffed on a shot on the power play, Calgary jumped out on a two-on-one rush that ended with a Blake Coleman goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t seen it again,\u201d Zibanejad said when asked about the play. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it bounces over my stick or if I missed. I don\u2019t know. But, obviously, I need to be able to make a play on it. And then, obviously, they go the other way and they make a good play. It\u2019s frustrating. That\u2019s a great look.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY, Alberta \u2014 Another desperate opponent, another disappointing defeat. For the second straight game, the Rangers handed over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12389,9,24,55,54,541,539,56,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-17936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-calgary-flames","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-city-news","13":"tag-new-york-rangers","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}