Rangers’ glaring power-play issues are their undoing in loss to OilersMollie Walker Tue, November 10, 2026 at 7:01 AM UTC
Connor McDavid (97) of the Edmonton Oilers celebrates his first-period goal against the New York Rangers at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026.
EDMONTON, Alberta — The Rangers hung with an Oilers team that has three of the top five producing skaters in the NHL on Monday night.
Despite two of them landing on the scoresheet — who else but Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (twice)? — the Blueshirts kept this 3-1 loss relatively low-event and generated spurts of offensive pressure to make this second meeting in nine days a much more evenly matched affair than the first at Madison Square Garden.
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As disjointed as their power play has been for a majority of the season, however, the lack of production had never so glaringly cost the Rangers like it did Monday night.
“I think we can just bear down around the net a little more because we’re getting the looks and the tips and the secondary chances,” captain J.T. Miller said. “Tonight wasn’t our night. I thought we played a great hockey game.”
The visitors went 0-for-5 with the man advantage, including two in the third period and one with 1:27 left in regulation. The Rangers went without a single shot on goal during the first power play before giving up an empty-net goal to Draisaitl on the second.
Coincidentally, it was after the 4-1 loss to the Oilers on Nov. 1 that the Rangers coaching staff decided to break up the two power-play units the team had ridden for most of the season.
In addition to personnel changes, the Rangers leaned on double-shifting Adam Fox as well.
Connor Murphy #5 of the Edmonton Oilers battles for position with Gabe Perreault #94 of the New York Rangers on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Edmonton, Alberta. NHLI via Getty Images
Plugging players in different positions hasn’t had the desired effect. Neither has double-shifting Fox.
The Rangers carried a 20.8 power-play percentage into Monday’s contest, which ranked 19th in the NHL.
A second-ranked penalty kill has offset their power-play struggles in the special teams game. Fending off all three of the Oilers power plays in the loss, the Rangers registered a perfect PK for the 13th time this season, tying for the league lead.
But the Blueshirts are built for the power play to be a separating factor, and it simply has not been.
“Well, [a power-play goal] would have been nice,” Sullivan said. “At the end of the day, we had some looks. We had our opportunities. I thought there were moments when we were executing. I thought the biggest challenge for our power play tonight were the entries. I thought we lacked some speed. They did a pretty good job at making the stand at the line, but I think we’ve got to be willing to put pucks behind them when there’s no room on the entry and we don’t have speed.
Connor McDavid (97) of the Edmonton Oilers celebrates his first-period goal against the New York Rangers at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. NHLI via Getty Images
“We could’ve done a better job generating more speed through the neutral zone that could have helped us on the entries, but we had three or four Grade-A looks. We don’t score. It was one of those nights.”
For the second time in two games in the span of nine days, McDavid opened the scoring against the Rangers to extend his point streak to a staggering 19 consecutive games — or every single Oilers game this season.
While McDavid’s goal off the rush in their Nov. 1 meeting was an individual effort on Dylan Garand, Monday night saw an accidental assist from the Rangers rookie goalie.
Inadvertently hitting the side of the net on an attempted pass from the trapezoid, Garand lost the puck with McDavid lurking and couldn’t get to the crease in time to stop the three-time Hart Trophy winner from scoring what may have been the easiest of his 11 goals so far this season.
Edmonton Oilers goaltender Devon Levi (27) stops a shot by New York Rangers’ Tye Kartye (24) on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Edmonton, Alberta. Codie McLachlan/The Canadian Press via AP
Garand and the Rangers recovered from the gaffe fairly well for the remainder of the game, but the visitors found themselves down by two early in the second period.
Draisaitl chipped the puck in from the high slot with McDavid battling Braden Schneider in front of Garand. The Rangers challenged for goaltender interference, but were unsuccessful.
With the Rangers already down a man due to the failed challenge, Schneider then got called for a delay of game for flipping the puck out of play. As a result, the Oilers had a 5-on-3 advantage for 21 seconds.
Not only did the visitors fend off both power plays, but Jaroslav Chmelar scored the first short-handed goal of his career to make it a one-goal game and keep the Rangers competitive.
“I think we outplayed them today,” Miller said. “Thought we deserved a better fate. Their goalie [Devon Levi] played outstanding. … I thought we did a good job against their star players. Just wasn’t our night.”
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