The Rangers suffered their worst loss of the season in one of their worst performances of the campaign in a 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Hurricanes. Special teams were a different maker - adversely - in the loss. Carolina went 2-for-4 on the man-advantage while New York went 0-for-3 and the game got completely out of hand in the final frame. The Rangers get a chance for revenge on March 12 and try and rebound in the short-term when Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks come to town Thursday.
Game recap:
Lindgren – Fox Miller – Trouba Gustafsson – Schneider
Shesterkin Quick
Healthy scratches: Edstrom, Jones LTIR: Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko
A few thoughts: 1) Regression to the mean - while the Rangers still lead the Metro Division and sit just one point behind the Bruins for top seed in the East, concerns do exist. New York is just 7-6 in their last 13 games and their lead over Carolina shrunk to just five points with the loss yesterday. The Blueshirts do have two games in hand, but some of the potential problems we thought might exist have come to the fore lately.
Yesterday, the Artemi Panarin line was shut down by Jordan Staal. When that happens, the Mika Zibanejad line needs to pick up the slack. While they tallied a goal, the trio was far from dominant. The third line didn’t step up to pick up the slack, which has been the case a lot lately. Part of it is Nick Bonino is not a scorer while Jonny Brodzinski is a nice story but not a difference maker. Hopefully, Will Cuylle can continue his growth and take a major step forward the second half of the season.
The Jimmy Vesey-Tyler Pitlick-Barclay Goodrow line has been solid in shutting down the opponents’ top line. But offensively, only Vesey has been productive. The trio is not counted on to score but having someone other than Vesey provide some offense would be beneficial.
Erik Gustafsson was the story when Adam Fox was sidelined. Since Fox returned, not so much. We have seen snippets of growth from Braden Schneider, but way too often, defensive breakdowns and foibles in his own zone have been on display. Yesterday, Carolina’s third goal - which basically was the backbreaker - started with a misplay by Schneider in the neutral zone. Then, a lack of communication between the pair resulted in Gustafsson leaving the puck blindly for Schneider who was not in position and Carolina took advantage.
The sky is not falling and New York still is in good shape. But the discussions of lengthening the lineup and need for supplemental scoring and a possible top-six addition remain the case. Kaapo Kakko returning would help the team’s defense and speed through the neutral zone, if not the scoring directly. We haven’t hit the midway point of the season yet, so be prepared for this to be a discussion for two more months until the March 8 trading deadline. The volume of those conversations will depend on the team’s play.
2) Special teams not so special - the Rangers’ special teams have been excellent this season. Occasionally, one or both aspects will fail. Yesterday was one of those days, which was even more painful when you factor in they held the Hurricanes to 14 shots on net through the first two periods of the game.
New York entered yesterday’s game with the league’s most efficient power play. With chances to get back in the game, the Rangers went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage. Carolina did a good job of making the Blueshirts look uncomfortable, limiting them to just two shots - one of which was a high-danger chance - in six power play minutes. As Arthur Staple noted, to show how rare this was, the shutout in this aspect was just the ninth time in 36 games that the power play failed to score and second time in their last 11.
The penalty kill, also a strength of the team this season, failed as well. Carolina went 2-for-4 on their man-advantage chances with both rallies coming in the first period. Their first came just under two minutes into the game while the second was just 31 seconds left in the frame. Both were gut-punches and left the team reeling a bit heading to the locker room after the period ended.
3) Third period collapse - down 3-1, Nee York fell apart and lost their structure in the final frame. Coach Peter Laviolette and captain Jacob Trouba noted this lack of structure and for failing to play the game as they should have in their post-game comments. What we have seen all year is that this squad has rebounded following a loss with a better effort and usually a win. Thursday will be another chance to do so.
"If I'm going to go after a period, it's the third period," he said. "I hate it. They played a simple game. They flipped it out, they put it behind us, and we got caught turning pucks over and chasing down things trying to chase a game. The third period was not who we are or who we want to be,… Laviolette said."There's no reason for us to show up and play that game," Trouba said. "We know how they play. They're very opportunistic. They play a fast game and we just weren't up to up to the same speed as they were."