The Rangers stayed with the Bruins for a period but collapsed over the last two frames and lost 6-1 on Wednesday. That defeat was the Blueshirts (25-24-5) fourth straight in regulation for the first time since Feb. 3-11, 2011. If for some reason a question existed as to the direction New York should take, their performance the past week provides the clear path to follow, as the squad has now dropped 10 of their last 13 contests.
Game recap:
The game last Thursday against Toronto was bad. Nashville on Saturday was for the most part the same. Dallas this past Monday was a shooting gallery the first periods for the Stars. Last night looked like the Maple Leafs game. Close after one and then the team fell apart. After leading 1-0 on Rick Nash’s goal -way to bump up that trade value Rick - Boston notched six unanswered goals, including three in the second period, to cruise to the easy win.
New York is not the same team with five starters (Chris Kreider, Kevin Shattenkirk, Pavel Buchnevich Marc Staal and Jimmy Vesey) out. But to play as they have recently is a flat out embarrassment. Change the system to play a more defensive style and limit the chances against. What we have seen lately are all the errors from earlier in the system magnified and raised exponentially to the nightmare on display each game.
If you look at most of the goals last night, they were a result of an odd-man rush or defensive breakdown. I get that most goals are scored that way. But to see the same mistakes repeated at such a rate is staggering and an indication that this team just won’t or is incapable of learning and adjusting.
Down 1-0, Boston evened the score at 7:54 of the first period. A turnover at the blueline by Brendan Smith, his name will be mentioned a lot, created a three-on-one rush against Tony DeAngelo. Lundqvist made the first save but was unable to control the rebound. David Backes collected the puck behind the net and, with Lundqvist caught out of the crease, slid a pass to Riley Nash, all alone in front as J.T. Miller and David Desharnais were spectators on the play.
The second goal was a good play from Jake DeBrusk, who stole the puck from Steven Kampfer and found Zdeno Chara at the point, and big Z beat Lundqvist with a wrist shot at 16:09. New York almost evened the score in the last two minutes of the period as Kampfer’s deflected shot beat Anton Khodobin and hit the post but stayed out. A pretty even period with a solid effort by the Rangers, who had 11 shots in the first stanza. But then the wheels fell off, further evidenced by New York posting just 11 shots the last 40 minutes of the game.
Patrice Bergeron made it 3-1 at 3:47 of the second when his shot deflected off Nick Holden's stick and between Lundqvist's legs. It was a shot that Hank should have stopped. The deflection didn’t help and he was cheating expecting Bergeron to go high. But Lundqvist appeared to have enough time to get the goal stick down and prevent getting beaten five-hole.
Tim Schaller's eighth goal, after he went outside-in through. undressing DeAngelo and past Smith, made it 4-1 at 7:25 and chased Lundqvist, who was replaced by Ondrej Pavelec. It was the third time in five starts and second straight at home Lundqvist has been pulled. I wish that’s where the bloodbath ended, yet it only got worse.
With the Rangers on the power play midway through the period, Brad Marchand beat Ryan McDonagh to a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated to the net before pulling back to set up Bergeron, who was wide open in front as JT Miller cruised back into the defensive zone, for the shorthanded one-timer. Watch the video above. I am unsure Miller could have been any more of a spectator on the ice or if McD could have been beaten any worse.
In the third, Smith pinched again and got beat again, see the pattern? Another odd man rush against DeAngelo, who made the right play, taking the pass, but Pavelec was beaten by Sean Kuraly. New York stopped playing after it was 3-1 and especially when it was 4-1. You could see the players collectively sag on the ice, expecting something bad to happen. That’s where the team is and that’s why a change is required.
A few of the post-game quotes below. The McD one is in line with what we have heard before, so I don’t take much from it. A lot was made on what AV said. But the focus was on the first half and the italicized piece was ignored. You need to read the whole quote, because for the first period, the first half was accurate.
"It's probably one of the worst games of my career and one of the worst games I've ever been a part of in my Rangers career," captain Ryan McDonagh said. "So that pretty much sums it up."
“I think tonight there’s no doubt that our guys were prepared to play and we knew what we had to do. We came out and we were doing it. That third and fourth line I believe should be able to respond after that, but we didn’t respond. We stopped doing our jobs on the ice and there’s no doubt that they made us look very bad tonight.”
“We started off the game well. We had good energy. We were following the game plan. We were doing our jobs on the ice. Cody [McLeod] went out and showed some aggressiveness. I thought we deserved better than being down by a goal but there’s no doubt that in the 2nd period that after that third and fourth goal, we fell hard after that. We stopped doing our jobs on the ice.”
What I also found interesting is that before the game, DeAngelo talked about what he needed to do on the ice and also how coach Alain Vigneault wants him to play to his offensive strengths. Then, ADA goes out and does little of what he said and Smith is the one pinching, forcing DeAngelo to try and stop several odd-man rushes. Smith has been an abject failure in his first full year in NY and a buyout could most certainly be in the cards after the season.
"I need to get involved more, try and jump up in the play," DeAngelo said. "But I've got to be smart, too. I'm not looking to be giving up 2-on-1s or anything, but if I can, I'll be looking to jump."
Vigneault said he, too, wants to see utilize his assets with the puck more, namely in breakout situations and supporting his teammates with the puck.
"You can see it that way, but at the end of the day, if you want to make a statement in the NHL and stay in the NHL, you've got to perform on the ice," AV said. "He's always been considered an offensive type defenseman, a power play type of defenseman. We're trying to make sure that he gets those opportunities, and when he gets those opportunities, he performs. He's working hard and we like that part, but we've got to make sure we keep steering him in the right direction."
The last week has been ugly. I am almost afraid to see what the next two months and final-third of the season brings. Because it’s unlikely to get any better and could very well get worse once the sell-off actually occurs.
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