Trailing by a goal with goalie Igor Shesterkin pulled for the extra skater, the Rangers swarmed the Wild net in the final seconds and erupted in celebration as the puck crossed the goal line. 

The would-be game-tying tally, however, was immediately waived off before the play went under review and the no-goal call was officially upheld, handing the Rangers a 3-2 loss to the Wild on Friday night at the Garden. 

The Rangers desperately wanted that one to count. Not only to make up for the fact that they gave up a two-goal lead for the second night in a row, but also to put an exclamation point on a special night that was dedicated to legendary netminder Henrik Lundqvist and raising his retired No. 30 into the rafters. 

“Honestly, just sucks that we couldn’t end the night on a better note,” Mika Zibanejad said after the loss, which dropped the Rangers to 28-13-4. “Especially the way it started, the whole ceremony, seeing him, seeing his family and just listening to that crowd, really.” 

The referee said that on the final shot, Ryan Strome’s stick pushed Wild goalie Cam Talbot’s pad into the net before the puck crossed. While Zibanejad expressed his displeasure with the call, Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant could see it go both ways.

“It’s a tough call,” he said. “We’d love that goal to count, but if you look at a video, it’s a 50-50 call. You want your guys to battle for pucks like that. Did [Strome’s] stick touch the pad and push it in? Yeah. So I’m hoping for that call because your guys are battling, not trying to push the pad in. But I understand the call.” 

The Rangers’ play has been inverted lately, with their previous sluggish starts and gallant finishes now turning into fiery opening plays and a weak endgame. They emerged from the first period with a 2-0 lead, only for that edge to disappear just as quickly as it formed. 

By the halfway point of the second period, the game had gotten away from the Rangers. 

The Wild outshot the Rangers, 19-7, and scored two goals in the span of roughly 1 ¹/₂ minutes to even the score 2-2 going into the second intermission. After Wild winger Kevin Fiala cut the deficit to one, Alexis Lafreniere was called for interference to put the visiting team on the power play. 

Former Ranger Mats Zuccarello then extended his point streak to 10 games with a power-play goal at 13:47 to tie the game, fittingly scoring on his best buddy Lundqvist’s big night. 

Less than two minutes into the third period, Frederick Gaudreaeu — who earlier had been stymied by Igor Shesterkn (who made 31 saves) on a penalty shot — sniped one past the Rangers goalie to cap the scoring. 

“I thought we stopped playing,” Zibanejad said, echoing Gallant’s words after the 5-3 loss to the Blue Jackets on Thursday night. “That’s a good team we’re playing against, obviously. We came out strong in the first and they had their push back, and we didn’t really have the answer that we wanted. 

“We knew they were going to come out better and then it was hard for us to get the momentum back.” 

The Rangers’ defense, missing the injured Adam Fox, could’ve been sharper. Minnesota ultimately hung a goal on each of the Blueshirts’ three defensive pairings, with Libor Hajek and Zac Jones watching as Gaudreaeu breezed past them for the game-winner. 

Jones drew into the lineup for the first time since Jan. 6 in Las Vegas, beating out Nils Lundkvist, who was recalled from AHL Hartford earlier in the day. While the Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller tandem remained intact, Braden Schneider replaced Fox next to Ryan Lindgren. 

“We invited them right back into the game,” Zibanejad said. “I feel like that’s on us, obviously. We got to be better.”