Feb. 19, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Montreal Canadiens left win Brandon Prust celebrates after left wing Rene Bourque (not pictured) scores against the New York Rangers during the third period at Madison Square Garden. Montreal won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports
The Ranger’s loss to Montreal on Tuesday was the most frustrating/boring game I have seen in a very long time. Everything that could of went wrong, went wrong in this game. It was very difficult to watch and as a fan it is a tough loss to sleep on. I did notice some things about the Rangers from Tuesday’s game. For anyone who says Rick Nash has not been effective so far clearly did not watch Tuesday’s game. Nash was out with an undisclosed injury (probably from Lucic’s elbow to his head a week ago) and boy did the Rangers miss him. Nash creates so many scoring chances and can dominate the game at times with his reach. Nash reminds me of Jagr during the 05-06 season. He was deeply missed tonight and I really hope that if he is experiencing concussion-like symptoms he won’t be out for long. Hagelin and Stepan played well without him but his absence left a big hole in the Ranger offense. Remember that saying “you don’t realize what you have until you lost it”? Well the Rangers (and everyone for that matter) had no idea how big of an impact Brandon Prust had on the team a year ago. He gave the Rangers energy when their was none which they could have used tonight. He fought, fore-checked, and scored big goals. He did everything. Earlier on this year I saw the Canadiens play the Devils where Prust scored. He was the best player on the ice that game and he was at the Garden against his former club. A plus three and assisting on the game winning goal. He is an unbelievable hockey player and the Rangers should have never let him go. Now I am a hypocrite because along with everyone else I did not want to re-sign him for 2.5 million dollars a year. But now I sure do. Once again the Ranger power play is flat out terrible. They may of had a chance or two but overall it is garbage and it is getting to the point where it is a serious issue. So serious that it is a thing like special teams that will be the bane of this team in the long run. It is time for the coaching staff to take the blame. I know the players are the ones playing the game but do the coaches realize the misery that we fans are watching and how long it has been going on for? The Rangers just look for the perfect play on the power play that surprisingly never comes. (That was sarcasm) Take Sunday’s game for example and the power play goal they scored. It was bang, bang, bang and I would say it was a beautiful play. Well the Rangers always look for that perfect play that comes once in about 50 attempts on the power play. They hold the puck for way too long, they pass the puck way too much and when they do shoot they don’t shoot to get it on net. They shoot looking for a perfect deflection. It is a joke. A flat out disgrace and the coach responsible for the power play, whoever it may be must be relieved of his duties on the man advantage immediately to give these players a different philosophy on how a power play should be run. The last thing I noticed has been old news. Well, at least for me who sees it but I’m tired of keeping it inside of me. What won this Ranger team 51 games last regular season and propelled them to the Eastern Conference Finals? What was the thing that the Ranger’s did so well? Defense and goalkeeping. But Lundqvist has always been there so it was the defense that came about last year to make this team as good as it was. Their players on defense started to develop into world class talent, they played a strong defensive game as a whole and they made very few mistakes. In fact, Montreal looked very similar to last year’s defensive minded Rangers. Well this year it has not been there. From what I have seen the only defenseman that has been incredibly solid and has made very few mistakes is Ryan Mcdonagh. He has been the best. Girardi, Staal, and Del Zotto have been just as good at times but not without making some awful mistakes along the way. It feels as if the whole defense is letting up multiple quality scoring chances every game that they did not give up a year ago. It’s not all on the defenseman though. The forwards have played terrible defense this year and are nowhere near the level they were at from a year ago. Where was Staal and the back-checking forwards on Tuesday night when Montreal scored their second goal? Montreal had a 3-1 below the slot for a good 5 seconds. That play was so bad I cannot think of an adjective to describe it. This needs to be addressed immediately and this was the ultimate key for the Ranger success last year, their defense. If they cannot solve their defense they will struggle as they have in the past and down the road as well.
Feb. 19, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Montreal Canadiens center David Desharnais (51) handles the puck as New York Rangers center Brad Richards (19) gives chase during the third period at Madison Square Garden. Montreal won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports