The New York Rangers haven’t lost very much this season, but when they have, they’ve really lost. Tonight’s effort that ended New York’s winning streak was no different, as the team was embarrassed when getting shutout by the Ottawa Senators, 3-0, in front of their home crowd. It’s a game like this that sort of makes you look back on the club’s recent wins and realize that they haven’t played acceptable hockey in quite some time now. So at this point the best thing this game can serve as is a wake-up call for the Rangers, because the display they put on tonight was unacceptable.
The Rangers actually got off to a solid start, outshooting the Senators, 13-8, in the opening stanza, but they were unable to find the back of the net, even despite two powerplay opportunities. Sound familiar? The reason I ask is because we saw the same pattern on Tuesday against the Coyotes, as the Blueshirts outplayed Phoenix in every aspect, but still came up empty-handed at the first intermission. As much as players and coaches try to deny it, that’s a deflating feeling and one that can get frustrating if the team continues to miss chance after chance later in the tilt.
Ottawa tightened up defensively in the second period, which was not good news for the Rangers since they weren’t forechecking to the best of their ability to begin with. Actually, the reason they dominated during the first period was due to the fact that Ottawa simply hadn’t awoken yet. They did in the middle frame, however, and at 8:54 Jason Spezza put them ahead on the scoreboard, 1-0. The play formed on a turnover by Artem Anisimov, which eventually ended up on Spezza’s stick, and he walked into the offensive zone and ripped a wrist shot past Henrik Lundqvist.
Chris Neil took a penalty late in the second period, so the Rangers had a carry-over powerplay heading into the third period, and a great chance to tie the game along with it. As they did on the previous two, though, the Blueshirts failed to convert with the man advantage and remained down a goal.
At 13:58, with the Rangers in the midst of building up some momentum, a missed opportunity at one end resulted in a converted opportunity at the other. Brian Boyle had a prime scoring opportunity on an odd-man rush, but shot into the legs of a Sens defenseman, which sent the puck out of the zone and Milan Michalek then beat Lundqvist down the other end to put Ottawa up, 2-0.
Finally, Jason Spezza found his own rebound 1:35 later to give the Senators a 3-0 lead and put an end to the game as well as the Rangers’ five-game winning streak.
You can choose to look at this loss one of two ways. The first being that the Rangers did produce opportunities and had a chance to win the game. Or you can say that the Rangers struggled offensively and didn’t play to their max. I’m choosing to go with the latter, only because this is getting repetitive. The Rangers struggled to produce offense in the Winter Classic. They struggled again against Phoenix, and now there’s tonight. The team has hit a bit of an offensive rut here.
Looking at this game specifically, I don’t think the Rangers got what they needed out of their top players, and that’s something the coach acknowledged after the game. Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik and Ryan Callahan were all kept relatively quiet. Artem Anisimov found himself benched for a stretch in the second period, Derek Stepan continued to look lost and, even though he may not be considered a “top” player, Brian Boyle was also a mess. After the season Boyle had last year, it’s amazing to see how much his game has sank this season. He’s not the same player anymore.
Defensively I didn’t think that the Rangers were all that bad. It was offense that was the problem tonight, and between even strength and the powerplay, the Blueshirts need to make improvements, or at least return to their old ways. With all due respect to the MSG Network crew, they were wrong on pinning this game on Craig Anderson’s performance in goal. The Rangers shot into his gut the entire night and to be honest, he didn’t have to make too many outstanding saves, despite facing 34 total shots.
The loss cannot be blamed on the absence of Brandon Dubinsky (shoulder) in the lineup tonight, either. Trust me, he wouldn’t have singlehandedly done anything that would’ve changed the outcome of this game. In Dubi’s place, I didn’t think Wojtek Wolski was too bad in his first game back since November. He actually had some chemistry going with Cally and Richie early in the game, but saw a decrease in minutes by the time the third period rolled around.
Carl Hagelin and his linemates saw an increase in minutes, as they were again the team’s biggest threat offensively. That’s great, but not necessarily something for the team to be proud of. They need more from their top two lines.
Things don’t get any easier from here, either, as the Rangers will be facing another hot team in the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, followed by a very frustrated club in the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
It’s time to turn things up a notch.
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