New York Rangers Host the Sabres and Look to Rebound
By Frank Pickel
The New York Rangers look to rebound after the pathetic shutout loss they suffered in Ottawa yesterday. The Boys in Blue will host the Buffalo Sabres tonight in MSG, where they will need to at least attempt to resemble a winning team if they would like Alain Vigneault to calm down.
It is safe to say AV was pretty peeved by the performance the Rangers put on during their 0-3 lose to the Senators. Vigneault spoke to the media during yesterdays postgame press conference for a whopping 90 seconds. It was clear that the Rangers head coach did not want to answer questions. Cutting off media members before they could complete their questions and finally storming away from everyone following his last comment,
"“We played a real strong game in Carolina on the road. Thought we were getting somewhere. Then we come up with this tonight. So, thanks, I’m outta here.”"
The only positive Alain Vigneault had was centered around Jasper Fast and Henrik Lundqvist, who seems to be the only New York Ranger that consistently shows up ready to play for each and every game.
"“Other than Hank and Quickie, we had so many guys that were off their game it was unbelievable,” said Vigneault"
The Rangers head coach was asked if he thought that a lack of preparation could have been the reason for the ugly showing. After all, the Blue Shirts were stuck in Raleigh for an extra day and they were without Rick Nash, due to a leg injury, but AV was not convinced these factors impacted his players enough to credit the loss.
"“Before the game, if you were to ask me if this group was ready to come out and execute and play hard, I would have said without a doubt,” Vigneault said."
The New York Rangers simply did not show up ready to play professional hockey in Ottawa. They turned the puck over three times in the middle and essentially teed up the Senators for a win.
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Tonight, the Blue Shirts look to hop back on the wagon. It is their last game before the All-Star break and they host a Sabres team that also is coming off a 3-0 shutout loss. The Rangers will need to come out of the gate like a winning thoroughbred on race day if they want to please their coach. A coach that has not seen a sizable winning streak since the Rangers nine game winning streak ended in November.
The Sabres (19-25-4) are not a great team and look to be a favorable matchup for the New York Rangers. The game will start at 7:30 tonight and although the line-ups still are not available and no one knows if Nash will play, the Rangers must win this game. They simply cannot afford losing two straight before heading into the break and especially cannot lose to a team they should beat nine out of ten times.
I would not go so far as to say that winning this game will give the Rangers momentum heading into the break, but it will lead them into the break with something positive that they can build off of. Win or lose, AV’s press conference after the game should be a good one.