Coming off a nightmarish performance Saturday night against Columbus, New York had a chance to flip the switch Sunday. Facing a struggling Toronto team, who was coming to MSG for the Rangers' home opener where the Eastern Conference Championship banner was to be raised, you might have expected better than the "B" performance seen in the first three games. How wrong we all were. The Maple Leafs took advantage of several defensive lapses and subpar play from Henrik Lundqvist to hang six goals on the Rangers in a 6-3 win for the visitors.
It's hard to find many positives in the loss. The introductions were nice. Rick Nash looks like the Nash of old, scoring his fourth goal in three games before leaving for the birth of his son (congratulations to Rick and his wife Jennifer). Lee Stempniak had a solid game again. Anthony Duclair showed again he can play at this level but other than that, the rest of the team was C-level at best.
We all know that New York is already without Derek Stepan (non-displaced fracture left fibula) until November 3. In addition, Dan Boyle will be sidelined at least a month with his broken hand. To add injury to insult, Mats Zuccarello may have injured his shoulder in the first game of the season but clearly exacerbated the injury Saturday, keeping him out of Sunday's lineup. All of those are true and all of those are just excuses. Yes, the #1 center, #2 left/right winger and #1/2 PP point man are out, but hockey is a game of attrition and you get used to being without players or using ones who are injured. So, while the above is true and we said before the year started that 10 points in 10 games would be acceptable, that doesn’t mean we should tolerate or accept poor performance.
Let me clear though. I am not panicking, nor jumping off any bridges. After last season's horrific start, you have to be a bit more measured and patient. Of course, I want this year to start better. Given the balance within the division, let alone the East, starting off poorly, even though the Rangers, Blue Jackets and Flyers all made the playoffs last year despite sub-optimal starts, is not the way to go. The problem is the lack of continuity once again.
There are several new pieces. Players are being used in positions or lines that are not the norm for them. However, that does not excuse the defensive breakdowns in front and behind the net, as five of the six blueliners are the same as last year. Part of the struggles could be due to the forwards not knowing where they are supposed to be in their own zone, but that only slightly absolves McDonagh, Girardi, Staal, Klein and Moore. Those five know the system and know where they - and the forwards - should be. Communication up and down the roster, but especially in their own blue line, is lacking for New York right now. When that happens and both Lundqvist and Talbot play poorly, it's a recipe for disaster, as we saw Saturday and Sunday.
Midnight Marauder put it well: " The team has played very undisciplined and disorganized. The sloppiness I can understand, to an extent, but the careless penalties they are taking is unacceptable." I can say Matt Hunwick has played poorly, same with Jesper Fast, but they are support pieces. You can argue that Michael Kostka or Dylan McIlrath or Conor Allen should be the seventh defenseman. Same with sitting Fast or Tanner Glass and playing Ryan Malone. But unless the Rangers are better in their own zone especially, win battles on the boards, play a lot more physically and tougher rather than just relying on speed and/or have their bigger name players show up, arguing about the back end of the lineup is placing a picture in front of a hole in the wall. It's looks great on the surface but does little to remediate the problem.
All the above said: IT'S ONLY THREE GAMES. Way too early to panic, especially what we saw last year. My tune may change if the Isles wax the Rangers on Tuesday, but the key for the next month or so is survival. Survive until the pieces that are here coalesce. Survive until Stepan and Boyle come back. If at the end of 10 or 15 or 20 games, we are still having the same conversation, then it's time to panic, not now.