Morning After: Rangers Fall Short, lose 2-1

Oct 24, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Rangers center J.T. Miller (10) kicks the puck past Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason (35) during the third period at Wells Fargo Center. The goal was overturned after replay. The Flyers won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Rangers came in looking flat, got strong as the game went on, and then fell flat again as they lost to the Flyers in Philadelphia 2-1 last night.

First off, its kind of weird to see this team struggle so much. Yes, no Nash, Callahan, Hagelin and Lundqvist do hurt the team, but you call up “offensive” threats in Miller and Kreider. Richards has been consistent for the Rangers, and the spark of offense the team, needs. But you take out the second leading goal scorer in Callahan who has three, and finding who else can score is very thin.

You can stand up for Derek Stepan all you want, but his blatant no-show last night was merely embarrassing  and I hate to say it, could it be a sign for things to come? I highly doubt it, as he does have a better work ethic and he knows that he needs to improve, but the “Stepan will be the next Dubinsky” comments on twitter last night, make many wonder. Is that statement going to become true?

Kreider looked good for his first game trying to prove something. Got an assist on the Richards goal, and did the simple stuff. Like how McDonagh got rocked by Kreider, and Kreider didn’t move an inch. Most in Ranger land were nervous, but it just shows his strength. Also, good to see him stay in front of the net, and screen Mason on the powerplay, really didn’t cause much havoc though, since the Rangers really didn’t get enough opportunities to shoot on the powerplay, but good on Kreider.

When a team is struggling like the Rangers, don’t expect them to catch a break. For those who expected the goal, they made the right call. It was hard to look at the one view to see the kicking motion, and when they showed that fourth or fifth view it was obvious.

So you were waiting for someone to stick up for the team, and it was Derek Dorsett. Your punching bag two weeks ago, stood up for the team. Now what? 

Benoit Pouliot. Should he, shouldn’t he get a hearing? That is a question. It was a questionable hit, and after viewing the different angles, we saw that he pushed off of Talbot. What happened was unfortunate  and I was happy that Talbot returned, but still. I won’t be surprised if Pouliot gets a call.

Cam Talbot, welcome to the New York Rangers, were goal scoring and helping you is very hard! Hope you enjoyed your first start. Couple posts, couple aggressive plays with the puck. Talbot really kept this team in it. No I’m not saying that the Flyers are as good as the Ducks, and Sharks. Honestly, the Flyers aren’t even close, can’t even touch those two teams. When the Flyers play the Sharks and Ducks, they’ll get torched. But, Talbot stood tall, and handled himself quite well.

So uh, Michael Del Zotto, lack of hustle anyone? Really wasn’t what I was expecting out of him. Someone who wanted to go back in the lineup to prove himself, really proved that he deserved to be out of the lineup. But, with no true option as our seventh defenseman, it makes it easy for him to stay in the lineup. If only they had the cap space to resign Eminger.

The Rangers won’t practice today in Philadelphia, but will hop on an airplane to Detroit to face the Red Wings tomorrow. Coverage starts at 6:30 on MSG.