The Rangers fell 7-2 to the Penguins on Wednesday. New York has a solid first period, but were unable to beat Matt Murray, After that, all Pittsburgh, including four goals in the second and three in the third. The win was Pittsburgh’s seventh straight, during which they have outscored their opponents 28-9, Murray made 28 saves and is 6-0-0 with a .955 save percentage in his past six starts since returning from a lower-body injury on Dec. 14. The Rangers (17-15-7) have lost seven of their past nine home games (2-2-5).
The ugly game recap:
David Quinn Post-Game:
"We can't make those kind of mistakes against a team like that." - #NYR Coach Quinn reacts to tonight's game pic.twitter.com/GQR7G1g1my
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 3, 2019
Very few thoughts after that debacle: 1) Take a look at this and let me know your thoughts. It’s a little shot across the bow at Quinn. The comments after the tweet seem to agree with Nick’s view, but part of that may be due to the post coming right after the loss. In my view, you can certainly question his roster decisions, including scratching Tony DeAngelo and playing Filip Chytil on the fourth line yesterday. I don’t think it’s a system issue, maybe a talent or cohesiveness one due to the changes. But let me know your view.
The Rangers can’t get through a simple neutral ice transition. They look completely confused on basic infrastructure stuff resulting in soft turnovers that I chalk up to poor coaching and video instruction, not individual talent.
— Nick Mercadante (@NMercad) January 3, 2019
2) I saw this interesting stat prior to the game on Lundqvist against the Penguins since March 2, 2016 (referred to by the tweeter as the net flip game)
Just a casual reminder Henrik Lundqvist has a seven-game losing streak vs. the Penguins since the net-flip game on March 2, 2016.
— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) January 2, 2019
His basic numbers during the streak: pic.twitter.com/GXzGT4GvLZ
Lundqvist took the blame for the loss in his post game comments as did Quinn, who said he never should have played Lundqvist after back to back taxing games. As you will see below from the goals and if you watch the replay above, unsure why Hank is taking all the blame, the defense didn’t help much.
Post-Game comments:
Henrik reflects after tonight's #NYR loss to the Penguins. pic.twitter.com/2iafk2q31O
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 3, 2019
Goals listing: (tell me which ones of the first six should have been stopped, to me, maybe two, and which ones are on the goalie) ZAR, a Staten Island native, wide open in slot as two Rangers go behind net Shot from point by Guentzel, deflected by Staal, not a great career game #800, while screen Lundqvist Letang picks the pocket of Buchnevich, who despite his goal later, had a weak game and could be in the press box Friday, and beats Lundqvist top shelf wide (this one should have been stopped) Simon beats Hayes to spot and scores Malkin fights off Hayes and McQuiad and puts puck past Hank Pearson PPG from left dot up over Lundqvist's left shoulder, bad goal (six goals, 18 shots) Crosby extended the lead to 7-2 at 13:56. He has at least two points in each of his past five games (three goals, nine assists).
World Juniors: Nico Gross and Switzerland beat Nils Lundkvist and Switzerland 2-0 to advance to the semi-finals tomorrow against Finland, who upset Canada.
K'Andre Miller was back in the lineup as the seventh defenseman in Team USA's 3-1 win over the Czech Republic
Vitali Kravtsov added an assist in Team Russia’s 8-3 win over Slovakia. Russia faces USA in the semis.
Another 🎠for @Kravtsov! Great work along the boards to work the puck to the point and @russiahockey_en scores to take a 1-0 lead! #NYR #LGR pic.twitter.com/4GQrfCBDMV
— Zak (@Zak4B) January 3, 2019