Rescinded penalties bring no comfort to frustrated Rangers

DALLAS — There is no known trophy that comes with the unwelcome distinction, but the Rangers are getting all too familiar with referees taking back calls by the time it’s too late.

“Unfortunately, we lead the league in apologies,” coach David Quinn said Wednesday after practice at American Airlines Center, the scene of the crime.

Mika Zibanejad was the latest victim Tuesday night, when he was belatedly whistled for a five-minute major boarding penalty and game misconduct during a power play with 9:53 left in the third period of a 1-0 loss to the Stars. Originally no call was made when the Rangers center hit Radek Faksa in the corner, but after Faksa dropped to the ice and stayed there, the referees got together and eventually announced the game-changing call.

By Wednesday, the NHL had rescinded the major and game misconduct. Not that it did the Rangers a lick of good after the fact.

“Listen, it’s a hard job. It is a hard job,” Quinn said before the team flew to Detroit for Thursday’s game against the Red Wings.

It was only 2 ¹/₂ weeks ago that referee Francois St. Laurent came to Quinn after two periods in Pittsburgh and apologized for making some bad calls.

Tuesday night, according to Quinn, it was one of the linesmen who felt Zibanejad had hit Faksa in the head. Chris Kreider was tied up with Faksa in the corner of the defensive zone, battling for the puck. As Zibanejad skated over to help out, Faksa leaned down and dropped his head. Zibanejad turned just before getting to the boards as his right hip appeared to make initial contact with Faksa’s left shoulder before finishing the check.

Faksa fell to the ice, with Zibanejad staying nearby to check on him.

“I was just trying to get in front of him and get the puck since it was right there,” Zibanejad said. “Just unfortunate. The way he went down, I thought he hit his head on the ice, that’s why I kind of stayed. I just wanted to make sure he was OK. I didn’t think it was from the bump.”

Stars coach Jim Montgomery said Faksa strained his neck but had passed concussion protocol.

Instead of the original no call, the Rangers lost their best player for the rest of the night. Their power play turned into a four-on-four, and then after a soft Brady Skjei slashing penalty 17 seconds later, the Stars eventually got 1:37 of five-on-three before an extended man-advantage. The Rangers killed it all off, but it severely hindered their chances of tying the game in the final 10 minutes.

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All for a penalty that was rescinded less than 16 hours later.

“Obviously not happy with it, but can’t do anything about it right now,” Zibanejad said. “We’re not going to replay those last 10 minutes, so I don’t know.”

Quinn said he did not get any further explanation on the call from the league Wednesday, other than the fact that it was overturned.

“Nothing we can do about it now,” Quinn lamented.

The blown penalty call only added to the Rangers’ exasperation, stuck in a five-game losing streak, all against playoff teams, in which they have been outscored 14-12 in regulation, not counting a late empty-netter against the Canadiens.

“It can’t take over your game, but you have to be frustrated,” Zibanejad said. “You have to show some emotions. … We’ve been playing well, we’ve been close in games, but it’s still not enough.

“We got to find a way to get a win here and hopefully that can get us going.”