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Game 40: NYI 3 NYR 0, All Good Things Come to an End, This One Did With A Thud

January 14, 2015, 7:52 AM ET [383 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Islanders came in to Madison Square Garden and rode a dominant second period into a 3-0 win over the Rangers on Tuesday. Both team entered the contest on a roll, but it was the Islanders who were able to maintain their high level of play and earn the victory. That win extended their point advantage over the Blueshirts to seven points with the same three games in hand for the Rangers. The Metro is so tight that despite the Rangers winning 13 of 15 now, they sit fourth in the conference, two points Washington but with two games in hand.

The Rangers actually had a very good first period, carrying play for several stretches even though they were outshot 13-9. Rick Nash had several impressive plays, two of which ended up in three posts. On the first, Mats Zuccarello hit the post, then later in the frame, Nash and Brassard hit the post in the same sequence. The end result - meaning winning and losing and not just the final score - could have been decided by a goal in either case, but that's the breaks of sports.

The Islanders came out of the tunnel to start the second dominated action and continued that play all stanza. After a goal was disallowed, which looked to be the right call, it did not take the Islanders long to get a 1-0 lead. Dan Girardi, who I thought was pretty good in the loss, was outworked by Anders Lee, enabling Lee to get inside position and put in a rebound to give the Islanders the only goal they needed.

The second goal came off a horrific turnover by J.T. Miller. Nikolai Kulemin took advantage of the miscue to beat Henrik Lundqvist to make it 2-0. The Rangers were already fighting an uphill battle, as they were unable to hold off the Islanders or even break out of their own zone. The third goal was the killer. On a power play with less than a minute to go in the frame, Derek Stepan, playing his first shift in more than 11 minutes after sitting with what looked like a right hand injury, turned the puck over to Frans Nielsen, who then used his speed to create a 2-on-1 chance with Kulemin. Nielsen kept the puck and beat a Lundqvist on what a weak goal from the right circle and it was turn out the lights.

The Rangers showed a modicum of fight in the third, but nowhere near enough or with any true sense of sustainability. Stepan sat out the third and the Rangers can ill-afford to lose him while AV sat Lundqvist, who looked to be in a shooting gallery the second stanza, also in that frame but look for him in net Thursday against Boston. We knew all good things would have to come to an end, but against a division and heated rival, who was looking to make a statement, the hope was it wouldn't be Tuesday. To those up in arms, I think it's who the a Rangers lost to rather than the defeat itself, but again, road bumps are going to happen.

One area that needs major improvement and has all along are faceoffs. I wrote a while ago that I was surprised the Rangers puck-possession numbers have been so solid because they seem to always start out chasing the puck after losing a draw. If there is one area to shore up before the deadline, that's seems to be it.

Carp wrote all the numbers in their ugly glory in his blog today:
>"Hideous even when Stepan was available. The Rangers lost 32 of 59. It only seemed like they lost all of them. And so many of them, by Stepan and Brassard, were just clean losses, as if the Rangers didn’t have a center in the circle. Brassard somehow ended up winning 12 of 20. Stepan won two of seven. Dominic Moore five of 13. Kevin Hayes four of 12. Miller won four of six. No wonder they had so much trouble gaining possession"


Beyond the faceoffs, coming out of the loss, two other concerns exist. First obviously is Stepan's health. If he can't go Thursday, that would likely result in Miller moving to center and up to replace Stepan while Tanner Glass, who may have gotten back in anyway, will dress against Boston. If the injury sidelines him for any length of time, the Rangers might become even more aggressive on the trade front to find a center to replace him, which when Stepan does return, would enable Hayes to play wing. Second was the lack of sustained pressure by the top-six. The bottom-six were solid enough Tuesday, but beyond a few shifts, most of which I listed above that resulted in a pair of posts, the top-six were outplayed and didn't sustain pressure much at all.

You have give the Islanders a ton of credit as well. They stuck to and executed their game plan. It is only two points but these games always seem to be a lot more because of the rivalry. Tip your hat to that team, who as we have seen this year are on the right path and want to get where the Rangers were last year.

The Rangers have to regroup and quickly. They are in Boston on Thursday followed by a game in Columbus on Friday. Then, they have a 12:30 game in Pittsburgh on Sunday. While that may not be as daunting as the three California games, it's pretty darn close and another major test for this team, especially if Stepan is out.
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