The New York Rangers came out flat, fell behind early and were never in this game. It was a disappointing effort on a night when they should have had the motivation to play well.
All of the ingredients were there for the New York Rangers. Their spiritual leader, Mika Zibanejad, was honored with the Steven McDonald Award. Henrik Lundqvist was going for his 450th win. They were playing a team that is statistically inferior. So what did they do? They played one of their worst games of the year with a disturbing lack of effort or emotion.
If these last few games are an opportunity for players to show what they are made of in the hopes of a job next season, the play tonight was inexplicable. Where was Vinni Lettieri, Boo Nieves, John Gilmour or Jimmy Vesey? Pavel Buchnevich had some marvelous scoring chances, but totally gave up on his man on the Senators’ shorthanded goal. Chris Kreider pulled another disappearing act until he started throwing the body in the third period. Even a fireplug like Brendan Lemieux was almost absent.
There were a few players who worked hard. Mika Zibanejad never stops working on offense or shirks responsibility on defense. Vlad Namestnikov continues to work hard, but as usual, with few results. Lias Andersson played one of his best games of the year and had a marvelous goal.
The team didn’t take shots, didn’t hit, didn’t work the boards or the corners and of course, they lost.
As usual, the officials didn’t help as the Rangers were victims of some soft calls, but they were all lazy penalties. Namestnikov for interference. Kreider for tripping. Lemieux and Gilmour for hooking. It really didn’t matter that Brady Tkachuk drew a roughing penalty on John Gilmour with an Oscar-worthy performance. The Rangers never draw penalties.
It was hard to believe, but after Bobby Ryan scored a first period power play goal that was followed a minute and a half later by a shorthanded goal by Zack Smith, the game was as good as over.
Other indications that the Rangers weren’t in the game? They were outshot 13-12 in the third period and had no late push. In fact, they mustered only 17 shots over the last two periods. The Senators won 63% of the faceoffs, It was the second straight game the Blueshirts have lost over 60% of the draws.
So much for this being a must-win game for the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist will have to wait until next season to get his 450th and it looks like the Blueshirts have seen their last victory of the season, facing two desperate teams in their last two games.