Plenty for Rangers to feel good about despite 3-1 road loss to Oilers: key takeaways

Jim CernyTue, November 10, 2026 at 5:13 AM UTC

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IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Let’s start with this: Mike Sullivan and Co. are not looking for moral victories. No, the New York Rangers instead are looking for as many real victories — you know, the kind that come with two points in the standings — as possible, trying to earn their way back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.

So, the Rangers (10-8-1) failed to achieve the main goal Monday night in Edmonton, falling 3-1 to the Oilers. But they did a whole bunch of good things at Rogers Place, and did so against a legitimate Stanley Cup contender that has the greatest player in the world who’s producing at a 200-point pace this season.

The Rangers were really good Monday. They neutralized the Oilers for long stretches, allowing only two high=danger scoring chances 5v5 the entire night, per Natural Stat Trick. They out-shot the Oilers 29-20 overall, and smothered them in the final two periods, giving up just six shots on goal in each period. They competed hard for the complete 60 minutes, played with confidence, were tenacious on the forecheck and diligent on the back-check.

But they weren’t perfect. And the Oilers capitalized on one huge gift, then a fortuitous bounce, and finished it off with an empty net goal. Leon Draisaitl scored twice and increased his League-leading goal total to 18; Connor McDavid cashed in a gift-wrapped turnover by Rangers goalie Dylan Garand for his NHL-best 48th point.

On the flipside, the Rangers star players didn’t cash in, and Jaroslav Chmelar was New York’s only skater who cracked the code of Devon Levi, the Oilers goalie who was the game’s No. 1 star.

Tye Kartye’s likely going to have nightmares about Levi, who robbed him several times, Kartye was another brightspot Monday, a buzzsaw with a team-high nine shot attempts, four on goal, and credited with four hits.

Kartye and the Rangers probably don’t want to hear this after such a hard-fought loss, but if they play like this most nights, they’re going to win quite a few games the rest of the way.

Key takeaways from Rangers’ 3-1 loss to Oilers

Perry Nelson-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectGarand regroups after gifting game-opening goal

This was New York’s second loss in nine days to Edmonton. Back on Nov. 1 at Madison Square Garden, McDavid scored a highlight-reel goal just 50 seconds into the game, and the Oilers went on to win 4-1.

In the rematch Monday, McDavid again opened the scoring, but did so in far less explosive fashion. Garand tried to pass the puck out from behind his cage, but he misfired and the puck hit the side of the net and went directly to McDavid. Needless to say, McDavid knew what to do with it once the puck landed on his stick with the a wide-open net staring at him. His 11th goal this season came 6:42 into this game and could’ve snowballed on the Rangers and their rookie goalie.

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That didn’t happen. The Rangers really shut things down defensively, and when Garand needed to make a timely save — like on an odd-man short-handed rush led by Draisaitl early in the third period — he did. The only other goal Garand and the Rangers surrendered came on a quick Draisaitl shot after the puck hopped over two sticks and landed on his.

Definitely positives to take from this one, despite the one obviously crucial gaffe.

Rangers win best-on-best special teams battle, but …

The Rangers have the top penalty kill in the NHL, with an 89.7 percent success rate. That unit trumped the Oilers tremendous power play, which is third in the League at 32. 4 percent. New York killed off all three Edmonton power plays, ending the Oilers streak of scoring at least one PPG at 11 consecutive games.

Not only that, trailing 2-0 early in the second period, the Rangers killed off 21 seconds of a 3-on-5. They capped that kill with Chmelar popping out of the penalty box, accepting a stretch pass from Mika Zibanejad, and wiring his first career short-handed goal over Levi’s glove at 5:05.

Of course, the other side of the special teams story is that the Rangers power play was 0-for-5 and failed twice in the third period, when trailing by one. With Garand pulled for the extra attacker, the 6-on-5 became a 6-on-4 when Ryan Shea tripped Alexis Lafreniere at 18:33. Draisaitl then finished the Rangers off with a long-range short-handed goal into an empty net at 18:47.

Chmelar asserts himself & gets rewarded

Chmelar did what Sullivan’s implored him to do since training camp, but very rarely has in the season’s first six weeks or so: that is to be more assertive. The 23-year-old forward is a nice blend of toughness and some skill, though not always in your face enough.

Coming off scoring his first goal of the season in a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, Chmelar saw just three shifts totaling less than two minutes TOI with the fourth line during the first period in Edmonton. Then he was sent to the box to serve a Rangers bench minor for delay of game when Sullivan lost a video replay challenge. But Chmelar’s night turned around when he pulled a jack-in-the-box goal, a beauty, andf then was rewarded with some power-play time eight minutes later. Chmelar nearly scored on that opportunity, but his rebound putback was denied by Levi.

Chmelar showed some nice vision with a pair of slick passes, finished with two shots on goal, and looked more like the player Sullivan wants him to be, even if his ice time didn’t crack seven minutes.

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Source: “AOL Sports”