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Rangers put on another embarrassing performance at home, falling 5-2 to Chi

December 4, 2022, 5:38 AM ET [84 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers continued their stretch of subpar play, losing 5-2 to the Blackhawks on Saturday. Without Filip Chytil, New York struggled again to generate any form of consistent attack while the defense was brutal to say the least. With the loss, the Blueshirts have dropped two straight contests to last place teams, have now only won five times in their last 15 games and blown leads in six of those 10 contests. It's nearly impossible to put any kind of positive spin on the above.

Game recap:


Lines:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Vesey
Panarin-Trocheck-Kravtsov
Lafrenière-Goodrow-Kakko
Blais-Carpenter-Gauthier

Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Schneider
Hájek-Trouba

Halák
Shesterkin

Scratches: Chytil (lower-body injury, day-to-day), Brodzinski, Harpur

A few thoughts:

1) With Chytil out, Vincent Trocheck moved back up to the second line, Barclay Goodrow slid up to the third unit and Ryan Carpenter got back in the lineup. Why Jonny Brodzinski was brought up if he wasn't going to play makes no sense. With cap space at a premium and the need to accrue as much as possible - presuming they actually find a way to win games and need late-season reinforcements - why waste additional room, The only possible explanation better be that someone else is banged up that we don't know about and Brodzinski was up in case that forward couldn't go.

2) The game started poorly and got worse. Libor Hajek's turnover a little over two minutes into the game led to a goal against. That was just scratching the surface as the Rangers were down 3-0 midway through the second and either getting booed or putting the fanbase to sleep. New York got a late goal in that period to cut the deficit to 3-1 and had some momentum. But another post hit - this one by Trocheck - was followed by a power-play goal against and it was all she wrote.

As Vince Mercogliano noted, the Rangers (11-10-5) are averaging only 1.88 goals per game at five-on-five, including a doughnut on Saturday. And while Mika Zibanejad did notch a power-play goal late in the second period, the PP has otherwise been inept, converting just twice in their last 25 opportunities. If there was any question why the team has struggled, those two sentences tell a good portion of the story.

I wish that was the whole story. The apathy and lack of emotion is evident up and down the lineup. The continued failures to generate a consistent attack, but more important, the failure to shut down teams, especially late in games are even bigger concerns. Add in the continued slow development of the kids, the coaching staff's inability to motivate the players and what looks to be the non-existent system and you have a recipe for disaster.

Say what you want about Trouba's performance in his own end - which has been uneven at best - but at least he cares. His fight with Matthew Tkachuk yesterday was an attempt to wake the team out of its collective slumber. Trouba delivered another big hit, this time to Andreas Athanasiou, while also fighting twice, though those events did not have the desired effect. If you listen to his post-game interview, he was on the verge of exploding and calling out several teammates. Contrast that reaction to the one of coach Gerard Gallant and you know what Gallant was watching.





3) I guess if there is a positive - as small as that might be - the Rangers did out-shoot the Blackhawks, 28-21, while generating 43 scoring chances compared to only 16 for their opponent, according to Natural Stat Trick. They also fell victim to at least four shots that hit the post, which has been a frequent occurrence in recent weeks and even become a point of discussion on the bench.

Confidence begets confidence. Failure begets doubt and more failure. It's a results league. If some of the posts and crossbars hit went in the net, maybe things would have been different. But they didn't and that still might be wishful thinking. New York better find a way to right the ship and soon. But if they can't beat Anaheim, Ottawa and Chicago lately, what makes you think they will defeat St. Louis, Vegas, Colorado, New Jersey and Toronto, who happen to be the next five opponents?

4) The team is at a major crossroads. Will they pick themselves up by the bootstraps and wind a way to save the season or will they continue to play subpar hockey and watch the year go down the drain? More performances like Saturday at home - where they are 4-7-3 overall and 1-5-2 since 11/3 - and a radical change might end up taking place. What that is remains to be seen, which scares the tar out of us, but do we see James Dlan being happy with what has been on display at MSG?

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