Returning home to Madison Square Garden after a triumphant road trip, the Rangers’ lineup got a lift Monday when second-line center Ryan Strome returned after missing the entire four-game trip while on COVID-19 protocol.
But while Strome looked energetic in his return, and was one of the Rangers’ best players, the Rangers, playing their seventh game in 12 days, saw their four-game win streak come to a halt with a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames in the opener of a short, two-game homestand.
Goals by Christopher Tanev and Andrew Mangiapane had the Flames in front, 2-0, after two periods, but the Rangers had started to come on late in the second and appeared poised for another comeback when Dryden Hunt scored his first goal as a Ranger early in the third.