New York came into Thursday's game against Minnesota aiming to build off their solid performance in a 4-2 over Edmonton on Tuesday. So much for good intentions. Other than the first minute of play, the Rangers failed in that endeavor and fell 5-2 to the Wild in a game where the score easily could have been much worse.
I feel like a broken record. As I wrote and tweeted last night: "Another game where the Rangers were flat, especially early, and their defensive structure was non-existent. Embarrassing. Should be ashamed....Game was 5-2, but w/ the posts, could have been 8-2 easily, Horrific performance by the NYR. Minnesota is good, but Rangers were invisible." New York wasn't even close to good enough in this one.
I don't know if it's a lack of trust, as Mats Zuccarello intimated when he said the team "doesn't help each other out" Saturday. Maybe it's a failed chemistry between the lines and individual players or the squad is too soft as Zucc also said. Perhaps New York lacks the ability to learn from their mistakes, but whatever it is, it's gone bad quickly.
A team is never as good as they look when they win or as bad as they look when they lose. If that truly is the case, then maybe NY isn't that far away from rebounding. But for now - and I don't throw this term out lightly - the Blueshirts are a tire fire.
The line with Dominic Moore has been the team's best trio for a while. No offense to Moore and his line mates but when this happens, you aren't going to win many games. The other nine players have been way too invisible and passengers on the bus rather than driving it.
Minnesota plays the defensive structure NY used to have. Yesterday, the Rangers played right into the Wild's hands, failing to make the simple play and unwilling to take the punishment to create something offensively. Defensively, gap and gap resulted in their own zone, leading to easy scoring chances. When they were okay defensively, the goaltending, as has been the case way too often lately with Henrik Lundqvist, let them down.
The Rangers' erstwhile top line failed to make an appearance Thursday. Rick Nash had three shot attempts, one on goal; Derick Brassard one shot attempt, none on goal; and, Zuccarello zero shot attempts. That is flat out unacceptable. Where was the effort? That last sentence is one we have asked way too often lately.
Defensively, as noted above, the inability to play well in their own and neutral zone came back to bite them again. As Carp wrote, 'you look at that Minnesota defense, and it’s a little more mobile overall, but it’s smaller and softer than the Rangers defense. But they don’t panic with the puck, they don’t run around chasing the puck, they defend – boy, do they defend – in front of their net.' What happened to that structure? Is it the lack of gray or chemistry? Did we overrate the blue line? Whatever the answer is, unless it gets fixed and quickly, what started out as another possible magical year will end in great disappointment.
I have seen some believe that the absences of Derek Stepan and Kevin Klein are the main reasons for the 3-7-2 mark New York has posted lately. That's a convenient excuse. On the one hand, you could easily argue that the loss of the team's most complete center, who is their 1a, and a top-four, d-man played a major role in the Rangers' slump. You can point to how New York struggled with absences the past few years. The corollary is that this calls out the poor depth in the system and the team's failure to deal well with adversity. In addition, if you have players of that ilk out, then you need to circle the wagons and gather the ranks and really focus on playing within your defensive structure. That has been far from the case, and I think it's that reason more than the absences of Stepan and Klein that has caused the tire fire we have seen lately.
Now maybe things would have been different if Keith Yandle scores on his penalty shot less than a minute in, but I believe that's wishful thinking. On almost every goal allowed you can point to a defensive breakdown. Victor Stalberg's giveaway and Oscar Lindberg's/Kevin Hayes' failure to cover the front of the net resulted in Mikko Koivu's first goal. Marc Staal did the Ice Capades routine and no one cover Matt Dumba in front on the second. On the third by Jason Pominville on the PP, Ryan McDonagh and Dylan McIlrath looked to have a miscommunication and McDonagh was late getting over and it 3-1. Lundqvist did his part with a major league softie on a Chris Porter shot to make it 4-1. The fifth one was an amalgamation of errors by almost all five on the ice. I wish I could say this was the exception not the rule but that has not been the case, especially lately.
Now for the injury to the insult. Antti Raanta took a Marco Scandella slap shot off his head, sidelining him with 6:31 left in the first. The likelihood is that Raanta suffered a concussion but even if not, at a minimum, he is probably out a few games. As a result, New York will have to call up a back up goalie. On paper, that sounds simple. Just promote either Magnus Hellberg 8-8-0, 2.62, .908 or Mackenzie Skapski, 2-5-0, 3.20, .898, from Hartford and be done with it. Not the fast as there is this little thing called the salary cap that creates a bit of an impediment.
With the release of Jarret Stoll and promotion of Brady Skjei, who struggled mightily last night, the Rangers are right up against the cap. This will necessitate a demotion. The choices are: 1) demote Tanner Glass, who wont have to clear waivers because he has through already. But Glass has been solid since his call up and one of the few recently giving a solid effort nightly. 2) try and pass Stalberg, who really has regressed after a hot start, through waivers. Given his poor play lately, he might make it, but 1 and 2 are only options if Stepan can play tonight. 3) send down Skjei but with Klein not yet ready, you will be going with five defenseman against a physical Jets squad. 4) don't have a back up goalie, but we know that's not really an option.
The Rangers' cap situation is a nightmare. Most of the focus will be and has rightfully been on what Dan Girardi and Marc Staal are making. However, as I have written before, this is another situation where the amount they decided to pay Lundqvist - $8.5 mil annually - was about $750k-$1mil more than they should have and evidence that he did not take any type of home town discount to help the team. Looking at the Rangers' cap situation, how big of a help would that possible savings make now.
New York better figure it out. Washington has been the class of the division lately while the Islanders have been much better lately. The good news is that there still is a long way to go and the rest of the division, save for New Jersey, has had its issues. What that means is there is a decent shot no one behind New York kicks them out of the third spot in the division, but that doesn't mask the problems that exist. In addition, the Atlantic isn't setting the world on fire, though much of the division is within a few points of one another. The problem is that none of us know what this team will bring nightly, other than expecting lots of mistakes.
The top six is a joke. New York's first line is going through its issues. While the second line really hasn't shown any capacity to produce consistently. With Stepan out, Lindberg has stepped out but he is a third line player. The problem is Chris Kreider has not only failed to take the next step but regressed tremendously. When you add in the issues Hayes has had along with JT Miller's inability to secure a top six role, New York is a mish-mash of players with no true top-six. That second line winger must be addressed by the trade deadline, because even if Pavel Buchnevich comes over, to expect him to immediate fill and excel in that role is unfair.
I am not yet advocating a huge change. But when Stepan and Klein come back and after they have settled in a bit, if the same issues still exist, one might me necessary. The holiday roster freeze will prevent NY from doing anything anyway, but if the same problems remain, expect something big to occur after the New Year.