About Last Night, New York Rangers…10/25/14

Well, the New York Rangers got outplayed by the Montreal Canadiens last night. Surprisingly, it was not as chippy as expected. Chris Kreider did get boo-ed by the Montreal faithful. However, the Habs were all over the Rangers last night. The play of Kreider was not a factor as the Canadiens controlled most of the game. It was a hard fact to take away from the game, but it’s true. The Rangers did not look strong. Unable to capitalize on opportunities, too much pass-happy players, and ill-advised decisions were just some of the faults that led to the Rangers loss. It wasn’t their night and the better team won. Despite having plenty of rest in between games, fatigue was no excuse for the team to hide behind. It was an all-around bad game for a team that seemed to have found their footing over their three game winning streak coming into Montreal. However, it looks like Alain Vigneault and his staff will be back at the drawing board for the next game. Is there anything to salvage from the game?

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A couple of bright spots caught my eye in the forms of Henrik Lundqvist and the play of the third period. Despite losing, the blame cannot rest on his shoulders. Lundqvist did all he could to keep this game from getting out of hand. He gave up three goals on 30 shots. The Canadiens were coming and swarmed the net. The defense in front of him played poorly. Too many times were the Rangers scrambling and looked desperate to get the puck out of their end. The first Canadiens goal was something Lundqvist could not prevent, in which a two-on-none scoring opportunity was capitalized on. But with Lundqvist, there is always that chance he will pull a rabbit out of his hat and stop it.

Just not tonight. The other two were results of constant pressure and not giving up on the puck by the Canadiens. Of course, the Rangers did not help themselves either by getting to loose pucks around the net, clearing the man in front of Lundqvist, and poor execution.

Perhaps the one bright spot on defense was the play of Dan Girardi. He ended the night the +1 with one assist from Carl Hagelin’s goal in the first period. His defensive play made him stand out to me. Despite two giveaways, he made it up for them by creating two takeaways with his stick checks.

A few negatives I saw in this game were the overall play of the Rangers. Right from the first missed power play opportunity, the team looked flat and I had a sneaky feeling this may not be their night. It was as if they were playing their third game in four nights, as opposed to playing their first game in three nights. The Rangers were seen careless with the puck giving it away twelve times, making cross-ice passes in traffic, making too many passes instead of being selfish and putting it on Price, shots that missed the net completely, bad decision making. And the list goes on and on.

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Another negative, I will say, was the play of Anthony Duclair.  I am not sure  he  is ready for the NHL yet. The 19 year old has so much promise, but this year may not be the year for him. Despite having an assist and being a +1 tonight, I don’t see a lot right now. He has been seen giving up pucks too many times. Then again, the whole team played like that. Tonight, he got a shot to show his hometown crowd what the hype was. Even though, he may have generated opportunities, his mistakes have been overshadowing his performance on the ice. I hope Vigneault sits down with the kid and tells him what he needs of him and what it is going to take to stay in the NHL. Or else it’s back to the QMJHL for Duclair.

But I digress, the team is at .500 right now. This is the time in the schedule where the Rangers play the next two games with several days apart. I’ll take the loss with a grain of salt cause we all know how the Rangers are capable of playing.