The Rangers had possibly their worst performance as a team, falling 4-1 to the Blackhawks on Thursday. Despite a poor first two periods, New York was down just 2-1 heading to the third stanza thanks to excellent play between the pipes by Henrik Lundqvist. With the game still there for the taking, the Blueshirts managed just one shot on net in the final frame resulting in the defeat, The Rangers have Friday off in California, where they will practice on Saturday before a 3PM contest Sunday at the Kings.
Game recap:
David Quinn Post-Game:
“We’ve got to get back to work here.…
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 26, 2018
- #NYR Coach Quinn pic.twitter.com/eWYdY6TMik
The quotes from the press conference and from both Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad should tell you all you need to know about the game:
Quinn: “That was, really, probably as poor as we played all year. One of the things I think we’ve done a good job of is skating and competing, and that wasn’t the case tonight. We have to get back to work on Saturday. That was just not acceptable.… #NYR
— Brett Cyrgalis (@BrettCyrgalis) October 26, 2018
“We just didn’t have enough people competing, shift in and shift out,… Quinn said. “We certainly didn’t take away time and space on them. We just weren’t good enough in any area.…“Most games this year, we’ve given ourselves a chance to win, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win tonight,’’ Chris Kreider said. “We weren’t doing the right things. We played right into what they were trying to do, and we didn’t do the things we do well.’’
"It's just having the willingness to shoot," Kreider added. "I know I passed up a couple of shots, and that's not something I usually do, I shouldn't be doing. Has to be consistent up and down. They stick to what they do well, but we need to get pucks in behind them, get on those pucks, move east to west, and hit pucks when they go north. Move pucks north-south to our D, bang pucks and get to the net."
“They’re (speaking about Chicago) a different team, they play different than any other team we play against,… said Zibanejad, whose top line with Kreider and Mats Zuccarello was practically invisible. “They really like just having the puck. I feel like it looks prettier than it actually is. It doesn’t result in anything, but it’s this chasing game all the time. When we do get it, either we spend an awful lot of time in our zone, just trying to get it out and change and we give it right back to them. Or we want to make something out of it and try plays that aren’t there, or not executing on our plays.…
Here is a visual display of just how little New York and how much Chicago controlled the action 5v5:
#NYR vs #Blackhawks at 5-on-5 pic.twitter.com/q6sWuS5I4R
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) October 26, 2018
A few thoughts: 1) A whole lotta woof, and when woof, ugly. Not much more to say. This may be the first game where they were that grossly outplayed and didn't do much to flip the switch.
2) Brendan Smith - up and down game. Stick breaks and he fails to get inside position on Alexandre Fortin for the easy tap in goal on feed from Nick Schmaltz, though nice uncalled pick on Jan Rutta that gave Schmaltz the whole right side to create the play. Tied up Artem Anisimov in front on sequence of saves by Lundqvist that kept the game at 2-1. On Patrick Kane's clinching goal, Smith allowed Kane to get deep, resulting in the tally.
3) Brady Skjei - see point 1 on woof and ugly. I really thought Skjei would take off under Quinn. To date, that has been far from the case. He has struggled defensively and offensively and you have to wonder, as pointed out on twitter, if AV's decision to shield him against certain matchups was more than just wise but prudent and an indication of his ceiling. I was all for the long-term extension this offseason, but so far, he is not coming close to earning that deal. Brutal falling down and also taking out Adam McQuaid on Jonathan Toews goal early in the first.
4) Kevin Hayes - one of the few forwards, maybe along with Vladislav Namestnikov and some shifts from Pavel Buchnevich, to have a decent game. Nearly tied the score at 2-2 when he took a cross-ice feed from Nam and ripped a shot off the crossbar with about 6:30 to go in the game.
5) McQuaid - left game in first with a lower-body injury and didn't return. Blocked a shot against Florida and seemed to be hobbled then, so it's possible that relates to this issue. You would have to figure Tony DeAngelo gets a shot against LA and with Fredrik Claesson also out and New York heading west, either Chris Bigras, who has played well, Ryan Lindgren or Libor Hajek get called up for depth.
6) Lundqvist - brilliant again. Hard to fault him on really any of the three goals scored with him in net. Gave New York a chance to win. If Hayes had scored, you wonder if the game would have ended up in overtime at a minimum seeing how well he was playing.