The Rangers showed some bite and fortitude for the second game in a row, rallying from two goals down in each, this time falling 4-3 in a shoutout to the Penguins on Wednesday. The loss dropped the Blueshirts to 1-3-2 on their franchise-record, nine-game homestand. They host the Islanders Friday night, followed by Minnesota on Sunday, and then close out the homestand with Toronto on Monday. The defeat now made New York a woeful 6-9-2 at the Garden this season.
Game Lowlights:
It would easy to focus on the comeback and be relatively happy with earning a point against the division leader. However, if you do that you miss the bigger picture. Yes, it was nice that that they came back again, earning a point. However, they failed to take advantage of a depleted Penguins squad missing 10 plays, including their top-four defenseman, Evgeni Malkin and James Neal. If you weren't aware that Pittsburgh was playing shorthanded, NBC Sports sure as heck made sure to mention it as often as they could. Of course, nothing that the Rangers were without Callahan and Staal would be removing the Penguins blinders, and while I am not equating the absences of those two to what Pittsburgh is going through, they still have an impact on the Rangers on the ice.
Mike Milbury and Keith Jones were rightfully taking the Rangers to task last night for not pressuring the Scranton-Wilkes Barre d-crew (but Olli Maatta is clearly a keeper and getting better nightly) enough to take advantage of their inexperience. The Blueshirts didn't up the compete quotient until they were down two goals. That's not to say they weren't competing but they ratcheted it up a major notch after they trailed by two. The inability to consistently forecheck, to put the puck soft in the opposing zone and battle in the corners to generate turnovers was lacking. Too often they either iced the puck for no reason or enabled Pittsburgh to just gather the puck, make a simple pass up the boards or up the middle and boom they were out of the zone.
I thought Mats Zuccarello - goal and assist - and Carl Hagelin -goal due to his speed - wee the best Rangers on the ice last night. You all know how I felt about Zucc coming in the year, and lately, he has validated my view. Hagelin has now scored in back to back games, and when he is able to let the jets loose, as he did yesterday, he is a major handful. Unfortunately, there are still a few who are passengers, though it felt a good portion of the squad, including Richards, Stepan, Brassard, who had the PPG on a sharp angle to tie it, and John Moore showed up last night. The PPG by Brassard beyond just tying the game helped break another bad streak, as coming into the game, the Rangers’ power play was 0-for-11 over the four previous games while averaging 4.3 shots per game with the man advantage.
The biggest culprit as Carp and others pointed out was Rick Nash. Unfortunately, once again, Nash who should be one of the team' stop players, failed to step and show up. I wish I could seay it was a one-time aberration, but recently, he hasn't been good enough. Whether it's a fear of getting hit due to his concussions or not being in the right place, he has not gone into the dirty areas and also taken himself out of plays with poor positioning. The team needs the Nash who uses his physical skills and speed to create and convert chances. Right now, he is just not doing it and if the team has any chance, Nash has to be a lot better. In addition, a bit surprised that Chris Kreider didn't get on at all during the OT, especially on the PP, where his size and skill could've made a difference.
I got into a bit of a twitter battle about Henrik Lundqvist last night. I believe he has been better positioning the past two games and had a good contest versus Pittsburgh. The only really questionable goal was the backhander by Brandon Sutter, and even that one came on a great shot t shelf off the backhand. Hank stopped the first four shots in the shoutout until Sutter beat him five-hole, which is where the Rangers should have gone on Fleury (who was good in the shootout after struggling in the third and living up to the home/road save perentage splits).
Carp was the only person to point this out and it was a point I made on twitter. Dan Girardi was very nearly the goat, as he failed on a clearing attempt just over five minutes into the third period which turned into a goal for Pascal Dupuis to make it 2-1 Pittsburgh. Dupuis converted a great cross-ice feed from Sidney Crosby, who had two more assists last night. NBC etc focused on Ryan McDonagh, who was strong again, breaking his stick, which led to the 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 down low and the goal. But the bigger play and reason for the puck getting deep was Girardi's misplay, a statement we have made way too often about him this season.
Michael Del Zotto has received a lot of flack, but he also had a pretty strong game yesterday. The extra ice time he has been afforded with Marc Staal had helped him work out some of the issues he had previously. He did overcommit on the Sutter goal, as he should have pushed him wide rather than allowing him to cut back in, but beyond that, he had a solid game. Given the upcoming trade deadline, you wonder if this will be his last game in the red, white and blue.
The aforementioned trade deadline and holiday roster freeze begins at midnight Thursday night and ends Dec. 27, and it is certainly possible that the Rangers will make some moves before the deadline. As pointed out by many, both Taylor Pyatt, who has been scratched for three of the last four games, including Wednesday, and Arron Asham, who has cleared waivers twice this season and has played only six games, are candidates for a transaction along with MDZ.
Coach Alain Vigneault, who coached Pyatt in Vancouver and probably gave him more chances that he deserved, said: "After a strong training camp, he was given a lot of opportunities, whether it be on the top two lines, third, fourth. He never really, after training camp, got his game going. Right now, he’s on the outside looking in, and I’m not sure where all that is going to go.… Of course, it's not as Pyatt is making a ton of money and he could be a decent third liner, but if you can something for him on make another deal, you will need a roster spot and he is the most likely to go.
Much was much of Kunitz "running" over Lundqvist and the lack of response. I actually thought Kunitz did try and avoid Hank at the last minute, seen in him trying to go around him with his left leg but Lundqvist was out of the crease and Kunitz had Stepan on him. Girardi did push and shove him a bit but would've like to see a bit more, like MDZ earlier when he took offense to show shower he was given. Lundqvist said after the game his neck was sore, so look for Cam Talbot to make his ninth start of the season Friday against the Islanders.
Another opportunity to win back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 23 was lost Wednesday. The effort was better but not nearly where it should be while the execution, a season-long issue, was lacking again. Trade freeze tonight, a deal is clearly necessary, will it come now or in a week?
(Post-script. As Ryan Wilson pointed out in his blog, Jaromir Jagr scored his first power play goal of the season and 693rd of his career agains the Senators yesterday. The goal moves him past Steve Yzerman on the all time list for sole possession of 8th. Also notable was that it is also his 122nd game winning goal. He moves past Gordie Howe and is now has sole possession of the most game winning goals in the NHL. Congratulations to Jaromir Jagr. Boy do I wish Sather had offered him more than a year and kept him in NY rather than letting him go to the KHL)