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Game 60: PHI 7 NYR 4, Rangers drop fourth straight in poor MSG performance

February 18, 2018, 9:02 PM ET [248 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers completed their failed weekend games with a 7-4 loss to the Flyers. In a game where defense was a dirty word and optional and six goals were tallied in the first period alone, New York dropped their fourth straight game. Sunday was the 50th anniversary of the first game the Rangers played at the current Madison Square Garden, a 3-1 win over the Flyers. This Sunday, New York may have sent defensive play 50 years in their embarrassing performance on the ice.

Game recap:


New York's lineup was basically the same from Saturday's loss, save for Cody McLeod in for Paul Carey, likely due to the opponent. Nash-Zib-Buch, Grabner-Hayes-Zucc, Vesey-Desh-Fast and Miller-Holland-McLeod were how the 12 forwards rolled while the defense was the same as against Ottawa. In addition, after getting pulled in the third period Saturday, Henrik Lundqvist was back between the pipes.

A few thoughts:

1) Lundqvist is clearly tired. His reaction times has slowed while his puck tracking has trailed off the past few weeks. This stat below should be a pretty good indication of that. Lundqvist carried the team during their hot streak, rebounding from a poor start. Now, the weight of doing so many have gotten to him, as he is 2-9 with a 4.32 GAA and .875 save-percentage since Jan. 21. Hank has admitted he needs to be better, as several of the goals, especially the past two games, should have been stopped. But seeing how he has been left out to dry by his teammates and coaching staff, especially today, if he pulled a Patrick Roy, it wouldn't shock me.




"“I have to be better. Obviously, there are a lot of mistakes. We’re getting deflections in our own net, they’re getting deflections in our net, odd-man rushes – that’s where we are getting hurt right now. I just have to start with myself, somehow find energy and confidence to play your game. It’s hard. I talked about it yesterday where you try to convince yourself you’re doing the right things out there. But it’s hard when you give up so many goals to stay confident and make that extra save even to be solid. I’m not looking to do anything extra – just start by being solid to give the team a chance. But when you are fighting it a little bit as a group, and me as a goalie, that’s hard to even be solid at times. You try to overdo things, challenge the shooter, then they go across and I’m late to come across. Then we have the deflections, where I just have to try to be better on deflections, because it’s a big part of the game right now."


2) Rick Nash notched his 18th of the year on a pretty backhand, making sure he had possession of the puck, before putting it in the open net. He and Michael Grabner are one of the few still playing hard and smart. That latter word is the key, because so many players on this team don't play hard, and per Nash, aren't playing a system defensively.

“The way I see it is that we’re just not playing a system in our end and we’re giving up way too [many] odd-man chances because of the way we’re playing in the offensive zone. We’re not giving ourselves a chance to win games.”


3) Scary stat #1 - Tony DeAngeo was a minus-four and is now minus-17 in 22 games. Scary stat #2 - Jesper Fast was a minus-two and went minus-seven in both games. But keep running Vesey-Desharnasi (each of whom were also minus-two)-Fast out as a line. Over the two games, that trio was an unsightly minus-18, yet no alteration to that line was made.

4) It was nice to see some fight (pun intended) from the Rangers, as both teams had three fights in the first period, including Pavel Buchnevich. But then you watch what happens on the ice and either they are dumb, they stink or both, because the same mistakes happen. Here are Mats Zuccarello's quotes, tell me if they haven't been said whay too many times this season.

“We are playing dumb defensively. [We are] letting people beat us to the pucks, letting people beat us in front of the net, tips, and getting beat up the ice. They got some easy goals today. I think we didn’t play a bad game. We created a lot of chances, but it’s hard when you give them goals like that, easy goals. We work so hard to get a goal right now and we just give it back to them as easy as that. That is not good enough. It’s been going on for too long. We have to be tougher in front of our net. It’s just not good enough.”

“It’s really, really hard right now. It’s for sure frustrating. Everyone can see that. [When we are] giving up easy goals and playing dumb, like I said, and getting beat up the ice. We have to be better than that. I wish I knew what to say to you guys. I honestly don’t know what to say.”


5) The Rangers had 40 shots on goal, scoring four goals, yet it wasn't enough. Michal Neuvirth left after the first period with an injury, but Alex Lyon stopped 25 of 26 shots to notch his first career win. New York was up 1-0 and 2-1, losing each lead, then down 3-2 and 4-3 before tying the game, and allowed the final three goals. Claude Giroux had three points, including his 200th NHL goal. Andrew MacDonald, Scott Laughton, Brandon Manning, Nolan Patrick, Travis Konecny and Jori Lehtera scored for the Flyers.

6) Two teams headed in opposite directions: New York is 3-11 since beating Buffalo at home on January 18. They are 5-15 since winning the Winter Classic. The Rangers (27-28-5) sit five points from a playoff spot, but who are we fooling even looking at that number.

Philadelphia (30-19-10) is 6-0-2 in their past eight games. The Flyers are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, three behind the Washington Capitals for second and four points behind the Penguins for first. They are 22-8-3 since Dec 4., following a 10-game losing streak (0-5-5).

Brooks sums it perfectly:
These defensively deficient and delinquent performances are the common thread that not only bind this season, but the last three. They are only more garish now that Henrik Lundqvist, finally buckling following three months of brilliance, has been only equal parts solution and problem in the weeks following the Winter Classic.

Sunday's defeat marking the club’s second four-game losing streak to accompany two three-game stumbles over the last six weeks. The Blueshirts have allowed five goals or more in nine of their last 20 games. They have surrendered five goals, four times; six, three times; and seven, twice during that span.


This team is playing out the string. Motivation is gone. Accountability likely as well. The leaders can only do so much with the writing - meaning trades forthcoming - on the wall. But you are a professional and you need to have pride in your work while the fanbase deserves better, Bronx cheers - classy by the way - for Lundqvist notwithstanding. What we have seen lately is an embarrassment to those who wore the jersey before the current players. With the sword of Damocles hanging over this squad, the best event to happen will be the passing of the deadline. Then, the next likely will be the changing of the coaching staff. A coach needs to maximize the strengths of a team & mold the system to fit the personnel. Let me know when that happens, because we sure haven’t seen that at all. I like AV, but it sure appears his shelf life here is done. If not by his own doing, then by the play on the ice.

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