Kings 6, Rangers 3: a 5-1 hole was too much to recover

The shots finished even, 26 apiece. The game did not. Los Angeles built a four-goal lead and beat the Rangers 6-3 on Monday at Madison Square Garden, leaving New York to chase a deficit that had grown too large before the midpoint of the second period.

Taylor Ward scored 1:15 into the game. Brandt Clarke followed at 4:52. J.T. Miller pulled the Rangers within one at 13:01, but Drew Doughty's goal at 17:32 restored the two-goal advantage before intermission.

James Reimer allowed those three goals on eight first-period shots. Dylan Garand played the remaining goaltending minutes and stopped 15 of 17 shots. Los Angeles' sixth goal went into an empty net, so the final score is not a six-goal charge against either Rangers goalie.

Two more before the response

Artemi Panarin's power-play goal at 1:30 of the second made it 4-1. Mikey Anderson extended the lead to 5-1 at 6:54. Adam Fox answered on a New York power play later in the period, leaving the Rangers three behind entering the third.

Tye Kartye's goal at 16:08 of the third made the closing minutes more interesting. Twenty-nine seconds later, Joel Edmundson scored into the empty net. The comeback had narrowed the margin without putting the Kings' lead within a single goal.

An even shot count is not proof of an evenly played game; it says nothing by itself about the quality or timing of those chances. The scoring sequence is more revealing here. New York spent most of the night needing several answers, and Los Angeles had already done enough damage to withstand the ones that arrived.