LAS VEGAS — Pavel Buchnevich and Brendan Smith were scratched, Mats Zuccarello was back in the lineup after feeling sick on Saturday and backup Ondrej Pavelec was in the net. That wasn’t the biggest surprise on Sunday night.
The Rangers, playing most of the game without injured center Kevin Hayes, went toe-to-toe with the best team in the Western Conference, but lost 2-1 on an untouched William Karlsson’s shot from the right circle off a rush at 8:58 of the third period.
On Halloween, the Blueshirts had a third-period rally in New York to down the Knights, 6-4.