Sluggish start, other takeaways from 4-1 loss to Vegas
It’s the hope that kills you. Riding a five-game point streak and closing in on a playoff spot, the New York Rangers took another few steps back after putting up an absolute stinker to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Everything was trending in the right direction and the New York Rangers looked to be finally putting everything together, but they were handed a rather large glass of reality juice at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
Looking to make it five straight wins on home ice, the Blueshirts were outplayed and outclassed from the very first drop of the puck.
Alex Tuch got the Golden Knights on the board in the opening few minutes after his shot squirmed through the body of Henrik Lundqvist, before the puck was knocked into the net by the goalie.
Tuch was responsible for heaping more pain on the Rangers too after converting on the power play as Vegas outshot New York 17-12 in an ugly first period.
It only got worse for the Blueshirts, too, as Reilly Smith, who was going up against older brother Brendan, scored on the breakaway before Max Pacioretty punished New York’s penalty kill yet again.
Brendan Lemieux did get the Rangers on the board in the second period but it was too little too late on what was just a night to forget.
The Rangers also came up against a hot goalie in Malcolm Subban who stopped 29 of 30 shots, and it was a harsh reality check for this team who tend to swing from one extreme to the other.
Let’s go through some takeaways from a bad loss at MSG…
1. One step forward, two back
I feel like I’ve said this before this year and I’ll more than likely say it again, but Monday night was a case of one step forward and two steps back for the New York Rangers.
Riding a five-game point streak (4-0-1) and having won four consecutive games at MSG, the opportunity was there for the Rangers to rack up another W and take another positive step in the right direction.
However, and as has so often been the case this season, a lack of consistency reared its ugly head again as this young roster was taken to school and taught a harsh lesson.
They were completely outfought, outclassed and were just generally dominated in the first period, and the damage was done by the time the first intermission break rolled round.
And Reilly Smith’s goal with Vegas’ first shot on net in the second period was really the final nail in the coffin.
It was just an ugly effort from the Rangers who had no response to the Golden Knights, and there were many ingredients that went into this rotten pie.
A failure to execute on special teams, a lack of urgency, bad defense, you name it, the Blueshirts showed many flaws on Monday.
They refused to play a simple hockey game and they strayed away from the good habits they had developed during the four-game point streak.
It was just a stinker of a game and, although just one game, it was another stark reminder that the New York Rangers are what they are this year and for every elite performance they churn out, they are also going to have a bad one up their sleeve.
The only positive was that the Rangers didn’t give in, they didn’t cave and they showed some fight in the final two periods, but that was the only real saving grace from a night to forget.
2. Special teams letdown
After an elite effort from the penalty kill propelled them to a shutout victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, the Rangers’ special teams were also brought back to earth with an almighty crash against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Blueshirts went 0-for-6 on the power play, generating nine shots, but their biggest crime came on the penalty kill.
A far cry from Saturday when they went a perfect 8-for-8, scoring two shorthanded goals in the process, the Rangers allowed two power play goals on two attempts and that was the difference at MSG.
Alex Tuch’s second goal of the game, which came on the man advantage, broke the Rangers mentally and Max Pacioretty’s power play goal in the second period, which was created thanks to a sublime pass from Cody Glass, finished off the Blueshirts if they were not already dead and buried by that point.
It was just a complete lack of execution on special teams from the Rangers who now rank 16th on the power play (18.8) and 25th on the penalty kill (75.2).
They are 5-for-41 on the man advantage over the span of the last 11 games, and it is becoming clear that they need to shuffle their units.
Kaapo Kakko on the top power play unit, anyone?
You live and die by your special teams and the New York Rangers suffered death by a thousand cuts on Monday night.
3. No rust for Zibanejad
This was Mika Zibanejad‘s fourth game back since missing 13 contests with an upper-body injury, and the center has wasted little time in settling back in as one of the main men on this team.
He tallied a secondary helper on Brendan Lemieux’s beautiful redirection from a Jacob Trouba pass, and that was Zibanejad’s fourth point in his fourth game back (two goals, two assists).
It was also another point against the Golden Knights for Zibanejad who has now registered a point in each of his five career games against Vegas.
We’re scraping the barrel here it when it comes to extracting positives from last night’s game, but the fact that Zibanejad is playing at the level he is after missing a lengthy stretch of game time is encouraging.
The center logged a total of 22:24 minutes of ice time and was a +1 on the night, one of only a handful of Rangers to come out of the game with any credit.
He is a cornerstone piece of this franchise and it is extremely good news for the New York Rangers that Mika Zibanejad is back and is firing on all cylinders.
4. Lemieux’s offensive upside
For all of the talk about Brendan Lemieux recently, much of it has revolved around the gritty forward’s toughness and his abundance of character and heart.
However, he deserves more attention for the secondary scoring he brings to the table and that was evident again last night.
Although the game was gone by 15:15 in the second period, Lemieux battled hard along the boards before getting to the front of the net and getting a beautiful redirect on Jacob Trouba’s pass to beat the red hot Malcolm Subban.
It was Lemieux’s 11th point of the year (four goals, seven assists), and the forward’s fifth point (three goals, two assists) in his last five outings.
Lemieux has also now registered a point in each of his last two games and the 23-year-old has been coming up big for the Rangers in a number of areas.
Next. Defeat puts the Rangers back in the loss column. dark
If Brendan Lemieux could work on his hands then you can only imagine how much more damage he would cause in the offensive zone.
But, one thing is for sure and that’s the fact that the New York Rangers have struck gold with Brendan Lemieux and he should be considered a long-term part of this franchise’s future.