The New York Rangers lost badly to the Philadelphia Flyers, losing 3-2 in a game that could well be the final nail in the coffin. Now, with only nine games left in season and all of their playoff competitors winning, the Rangers’ tragic number is now 10 points. Any combination of 10 points gained by Boston or lost by the Rangers and the playoff hopes are officially gone.
The Rangers were the victims of missing those opportunistic goals that they have scored in the past, taking too many penalties and being outplayed when it mattered. Maybe the moral of the story is, don’t beat a team by 9-0 and 8-3 scores because they will never forget.
After the game, David Quinn tried to pin the loss on a hangover from the last game with the Islanders. “When we’ve had games like we did against the Islanders we’ve responded. This is the first time all year that this hasn’t happened. Maybe the realization of the situation we’re in kind of took the wind out of our sails…we’ve been a resilient group all year and we certainly weren’t tonight.”
He also pointed out that they took too many penalties in the second period and a double minor in the third that was absolutely devastating.
With another game against the Flyers Friday night, it would probably make sense for that game to be the swan song for the current lineup. Even if they win, the next two games against Buffalo would be the perfect time too insert some prospects from Hartford into the lineup and to also shake up the lineup to see what the future holds.
It wouldn’t be wise to thrust young players like Morgan Barron, Zac Jones and Tarmo Reunanen into the following two games with an Islanders team fighting for first place.
If Quinn’s theory that the team’s “realization of the situation we’re in” was the reason for the inferior play of the veterans, then they shouldn’t be playing. Give the ice time to players with something to prove.
Here are full video highlights from the game: