The New York Rangers have a Lundqvist problem after a tough 4-3 loss to Winnipeg

The New York Rangers really had no business even coming close to winning this road game against one of the best teams in the league, but they almost did.

We’e said it before, this team has no quit.  Badly outplayed in the first period the New York Rangers came back from a 2-0 deficit to go ahead 3-2 in the third period.  The skill, speed and depth of the Jets came through and they won the game on two third period goals.

The Rangers actually outplayed the Jets over the last two periods, outshooting the home team 27-17.   They were 2-4 on the power play and killed both Jets man advantages.    Again, it was Mika Zibanejad who led the way with two goals along with a second unit power play by Pavel Buchnevich.

This was a night when the forwards and defense played a solid, responsible game.  The one element that they needed was a top notch performance by their goaltender and they didn’t get it.

It’s tough to say this after so many years when Henrik Lundqvist was the only thing that stood  between victory and defeat, but Lundqvist lost the game for the Rangers.  Three of the four Jets goals were stoppable.

The King is slumping

It’s not to say that Lundqvist did not make his share of outstanding saves.  In the first period he allowed two goals including one that he might have had on a better night, but he also faced a barrage of 19 shots.  Mark Schiefele is an elite goal scorer and he had both Winnipeg goals in the first period.

Lundqvist’s timing isn’t great with this game coming on the heels of the best performance by a Ranger goalie this season.  The volume of the calls for Alexandar Georgiev  to play more will  increase especially if he builds on that game.   Georgiev has allowed five goals in his last three games.  Lundqvist has allowed nine.

Lundqvist is two weeks shy of his 37th birthday.  He is on pace to have  his worst professional season with his lowest save percentage and highest goals against average.  Sure, you can blame the team that plays in front of him, but there is no doubt his play is slipping.

It puts David Quinn in a tough position.  Does he play his future Hall of Famer or the unflappable kid who could be the Rangers’ future?    The fact that Lundqvist has two more years left on his  contract at $8.5 million a year could become an issue.

Next year could be an even bigger issue.  If the Rangers can lure Igor Shestyorkin from the KHL and he is NHL ready, the team will have the ugly issue of having three NHL goaltenders.  It could be uglier if their highest paid veteran is the worst of the three.  Even if Shestyorkin spends his first season in the AHL, this will be an issue in 2020-21, Lundqvist’s last contract year.

How Lundqvist responds to this stretch of mediocre goaltending will be a storyline to follow the rest of this season.

Notes on the game

This game looked like it would be a blowout after the first period.  With nineteen shots on goal, it looked like a second straight 50 shot game.  The Rangers completely turned the game around in the second period when their Corsi was 74%.

In a statistical oddity, the Rangers scored in the first and last minutes of the second period. The first goal was similar to the goal Mika Zibanejad scored in the first minute of the Toronto game.

The second power play got it done for the Rangers with the tying goal as the period ended.  Pavel Buchnevich had a marvelous deflection of a Ryan Strome pass.

They did it again in the third period when Mika Zibanejad scored on the second straight Ranger power play. There was a lot of luck on that goal as it bounced off two Jets before going in.

The two minutes Henrik Lundqvist would  want back came at the 5:22 mark when the Jets picked up their play and scored twice.  Until that time the arena was dead and it looked like an upset was coming.

If this was audition for Kevin Hayes in front of the Jets management, he had an uneven performance.  His line was on for two of the Jets goals, but he was a creative playmaker the entire game.  He passed up on one shot he should have taken and he won half of his face-offs.

The Rangers went with seven defensemen again.  It resulted in Filip Chytil logging only six minutes of ice time. It also resulted in a defense pairing at times of Tony DeAngelo and Neal Pionk.  Quinn needs to make a decision about his defense corps and stick to it.

That said, it is very likely that the Rangers are showcasing some of their defensemen before the trade deadline.  It’s no mystery that they would like to move Brendan Smith and they need to keep Adam McQuaid in the lineup.

Dustin Byfuglien was a one man wrecking crew and no one stood up to him.  He elbowed Jimmy Vesey in the head and did the same to Jesper Fast.  He was credited with seven hits and he was a force offensively.   There is no one on the team who can challenge a player like Byfulgien, though Vlad Namestnikov tried to.  Would Cody McLeod have made a difference?  Probably not.  Toughness is an issue for this team and it will be going forward if they don’t find someone with skill and size.

Connor Hellerbuyck had a very good game in net for Winnipeg. He had 34 saves and allowed only one goal at even strength.

I have never seen a player as snakebit as Namestnikov.  There is no doubting his effort and he plays one of the most physical games of any forward, but he just cannot score.  Inexplicable.

The Rangers lost the season series to the Jets.    It’s hard to believe that they blew third period leads in both games and ultimately lost.  Although they salvaged a point in the first game by going to a shootout, this game felt better.

A pessimist would say that the Rangers have lost four out of their last six.  An optimist would say that they have lost only five out of their last 13 games in regulation.