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Game 24: TB 5 NYR 0, On Martin St. Louis Night, It Truly Was |
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The Rangers saw their two-game win streak go up in flames Monday as they fell 5-0 to the Lightning. On a night where Martin St. Louis was honored, he showed just how worthy he was of it, scoring twice. In addition, Ben Bishop continued to torment the Rangers, stopping everything in sight. Coming into the game, Bishop was 3-0 with a 1.26 goals-agan isn't average and .952 save percentage, numbers that improved with the shutout last night.
Game Lowlights:
You knew the Rangers were doomed when the NHL tweeted the following just before the game:
The @NYRangers' 6-game road win streak is their longest away from MSG since putting up 6 consecutive wins in 1993-94. It didn't get much better after that, as 3:10 into the contest, New York was down 2-0 on goals 58 seconds apart. On the first, Kucherov, on his first shift and shotv, is the ultimate beneficiary of a pair of Derick Brassard turnovers, beats Lundqvist up high off his stick and into the net. On the second, the Rangers screw up an odd-man rush, Marc Staal gets caught flat-footed, granted it was a bouncing puck, enabling St. Louis to use his speed and beat Lundqvist (foreboding tip: that will be a pattern in the blog)
Coach Alain Vigneault could've call timeout to stem the bleeding, but opted against it. The Rangers righted the ship the rest of the way, but Bishop was a stalwart between the pipes. Then the true back breaker. A turnover at center ice by Derek Dorsett, St. Louis splits both Girardi and McDonagh, each of whom struggled last night, as did the whole defense, and it's 3-0. The next goal is on the officials. Brad Richards was all but hogtied at the blue line, which led to Teddy Purcell's first of the game. Richards rightfully was hot, given how egregious the lack of a call was, but that emotion did little to spur the team's offense.
Lundqvist was removed after the second period, having allowed three goals up high over the glove. It was an issue for him in the past and it will be interesting to see how he and Allaire fix it. Cam Talbot allowed a late goal by Purcell, who tried to get the puck to St. Louis for the hat trick, but it deflected off Del Zotto back to Purcell for the easy goal. Let me get this out of the way now. For all those saying how Talbot should start more, how he should go Wednesday in Florida, how maybe the Rangers should consider letting Hank go at the end of the year or trade him for offense, stop it now. Lundqvist had a bad game, no question, but as Carp wrote, even if he pitched a shutout, he would have had to win in a shoutout. Plus, did you forget how good he was last week, especially against Dallas?
Vigneault mixed up the lines late. He moved Callahan off the Nash-Richards line, placing him with Brassard and Benoit Pouliot, while moving Hagelin up. This enables Nash to move to right wing, where he likes to be even though he is a lefty shot. Hopefully, Hagelin's speed helps generate some chances. We have spoken before how Callahan is not a true top line player, and that lack of one, is why the Rangers may be searching for one (see more below on that). In addition, as Carp points out, 13 hits is not the norm for the Rangers, maybe for a period, not a full game. I thought they had a good first after the two goals and carried play a lot, though Bishop was very good. I expect a much better physical effort against the Panthers on Wednesday.
The numbers are staggering. The Rangers have been shut out in five games out of 24 contests, after only being shut out six times in 201-12. One goal scored in five games, two goals in four games, meaning that in 14 of 24 contests, the Rangers have scored two of less. The effort is there, the execution and finishing isn't. Everyone says just go out and get a finisher. Sounds easy, but it's amazingly difficult. If it was so easy, everyone would have a top-six of finishers, but how many teams have it? Let's say toy can get one, though I am unsure who that one would be, what are you giving up? Is MDZ bringing one back? Would you deal Hagelin and lose the speed he brings, enabling the forecheck to be effective? Are you willing to deal McIlrath? The options are limited, both in terms of who you deal and who you can get. Plus, the Rangers have forever been looking for finishers. That's why they got Lindros, Bure, Gaborik, Nash etc. and how many have worked out just as they wanted it?
The Rangers still have a shot at a very successful road trip, the next two games will prove if it will be. Then it's a reunion with Torts at the Garden, but that's another blog for another day, first beat Florida and then hopefully Boston.
As noted on Ek's blog and all over the media today, Negotiations in Canada for broadcasting rights focused on 10-year deals, the same length as the $2 billion agreement between the NHL and NBC Sports Group that was reached in 2011. This morning, CBC and Rogers (Sportsnet) agreed to a 12 year deal, $5.2 Billion deal with the NHL for the exclusive English language broadcast rights. The interesting part is that TSN has no part in the new deal while TVA has all the French language multi-media rights.
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