The Rangers won their second straight, defeating Columbus 4-3 in a shootout Sunday. The game was the first of three straight at MSG. The first 21+ minutes were wonderful but the Rangers took their foot off the gas pedal and it nearly cost them. Fortunately, Martin St. Louis, who looks to be back, and Rick Nash scored in the shootout while Ryan Johansen hit the cross bar and Cam Talbot poke checked the puck off Cam Atkinson's stick to allow the Rangers to win the shootout and get the extra point.
Early on, the Rangers controlled action, and if it wasn't for the play of Curtis McElhinney, the score might have been 4-0 after one. The Rangers finally broke through thanks to a great play by Carl Hagelin, stripping Artem Anisimov of the puck at the offensive blue line and then keeping the puck in. He got to Kevin Hayes, who put a snipe of a wrist shot over the top of McElhinney’s glove. Anyone still think that Hagelin can be easily replaced? I know the Rangers are up against it cap wise and have Duclair/Buchnevich coming, but Hagelin is a perfect third line player, whose contributions on the penalty kill augment his value.
So much for that rumored demise of St. Louis, all of a sudden he is back on the beam again and red hot. MSG with Dave Maloney and Ron Duguay did a great job of baking down the first goal he scored. MSL came quickly off the bench and got the puck from Derek Stepan. He dropped it back to Stepan just inside the blue line and Stepan carried it around the net. Chris Kreider went diagonal to the near post as Stepan circled, while MSL went to the far post, which then became the near post as Stepan finished the half circle. Stepan got it to MSL, who banked it in off McElhinney's pads for a 2-0 lead.
Early in the second, MSL got his second of the game. This time, Ryan McDonagh showed great vision, getting the puck to MSL after he got it from Stepan. St. Louis had a wide open net and it was 3-0. After going goalless for 15 games, St. Louis is now 4-2-6 in his last four,. The Rangers were rolling but of course as we have seen, nothing is easy.
Columbus was cycling the puck but New York looked to be in good shape. The the puck came to the point, Hayes and Klein went to one man, JT Miller didn't come down quick enough and Marko Dano was wide open for a shot shot past Cam Talbot. Then late in the frame, a faceoff loss, Klein and D Moore got caught up on one man. Marc Staal was late getting over, which allowed Artem Anisimov to come around the front of the net and get three whacks at the puck before getting just inside the post to cut the lead to one.
In the third, the Rangers played the dump the puck out and not create offense card. It worked for a long while but a weak goal tied the game. Columbus took advantage of a poor pass and communication by the Rangers D to get the puck, then kept it in the zone for what seemed like forever, but was likely 45 seconds. Even with that, Denis Savard's shot from the top of the zone should have and has to be stopped. But Talbot was either moving or off his angle; whichever it was, it hit off his stick and into the net.
As spelled out above, the Rangers did get the win in the shootout after failing to convert on the PP in OT. The good news was that Dan Boyle was finally on the ice and Nash was robbed but they also allowed a shorthanded scoring chance. The end result was a win but that's not the whole point.
It's great they are 8-1-2 in their last 11. Plus they have gained ground with Hank out. But the propensity for blowing leads is very disconcerting. For all those complaining that we are being too negative, pointing out faults and areas to work on does not mean were negative. The goal is to be playing well in April, May and hopefully June. Mistakes being made now need to be fixed now so that it becomes ingrained in the time by the time the playoffs rolled around. I know they are just behind the Islanders and in contention for the top spot in the conference, but that doesn't mean we should all ignore issues that arise.
When the same mistakes and repeated over and over again, that's when we get frustrated. Yesterday was the fourth time in the past few weeks but the Rangers were unable to hold a lead. The third period used to be locke down central in New York. Now, it's become almost sieve like, with us waiting to see when the opponent will score. The Rangers have gone into a shell in the third and then are unable or unwilling to sustain an attack. Even when they are playing well defensively, the goaltender allows a weak goal. Part of that may be due to Henrik Lundqvist not being there, so they get a partial pass, but it's not as if we can say that the third line defensively doesn't scare us nightly.
In an update to my trade column a week ago, Steve Zipay reported yesterday that the asking prices for Andrej Sekera, Jeff Petry and Zbynek Michalek are currently too expensive for the Rangers. They’re not trading prospects Anthony Duclair, Pavel Buchnevich and Brady Skjei, and if that is the ask, I too would hang up the phone. The more likely scenario is they deal one of their second round picks with a lesser prospect or a third round, if they can find a match, but everyone is looking at the same players. The Blueshirts are eyeing Jan Hejda and Brett Bellmore, plus they have interest in Calgary’s Curtis Glencross, though he is a very long shot. “Other names being bandied about are centers Mark Letestu (Columbus), Torrey Mitchell (Buffalo), James Sheppard (San Jose) and Kyle Brodziak (Minnesota) and wingers Daniel Winnik (Toronto) and Erik Condra (Ottawa)" Some of these we have discussed. I would love Winnik but his price tag, in terms of acquisition cost, may prove to be too expensive, same too with Sekera. With NY around $2.2 mil in cap room, which includes Lundqvist landing on LTIR, the options are limited, unless a player is dealt to the other team to create room. In that case, Sheppard would be nice, same with Letestu and Mitchell.