The New York Rangers finished their road trip with a stinker of a performance in Calgary as they were outplayed in every aspect of the game. The Flames dominated on offense, won the special teams battles and their goalie outplayed their goalie. The Rangers lost Filip Chytil to injury on his first shift and had a spectacular goal by Adam Fox disallowed due to an offside challenge. Yes, this one had a bad odor about it, from the second period on. Frankly, it was embarrassing.
So, the Blueshirts come home from a four game road trip with four out of eight points with the phrase “it shoulda been six” attached to it. There’s no doubt that the coach and players will rationalize the loss by citing their record, but the Rangers are on a downward trend and that’s not good going into Monday’s game with the Florida Panthers who have only won 10 of their first 11 games.
They cannot be satisfied with how this road trip turned out, no matter what they say. They were lucky to beat the Kraken in the first game and choked in the next two, blowing third period two goal leads. Then came the blowout in Calgary.
It doesn’t bode well for the Rangers when they start playing the other teams in the ultra-competitive Metropolitan Division.
About the game
We’ll deviate from our normal notes on the game and three Ranger stars format. There was nothing worth noting and no Ranger deserved a star. If you are a masochist, here is a five minute video with highlights from the game.
The irony is the Rangers played the Flames pretty even in the first period, even in every statistical category. There were two crushing blows to the Blueshirts, the loss of Chytil and the disallowed goal by Fox.
The simple fact that losing Filip Chytil was a blow that they never recovered from is a condemnation of the lack of depth on this team. That the team was unable to overcome the disallowed goal was disheartening. When the Flames took a 3-0 lead, the Rangers folded like a tent. There are some warning signs about what is wrong with this Rangers team.
What’s wrong
- The top veteran players didn’t elevate their game. We’re talking about Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, Ryan Strom and Barclay Goodrow. Their effort was not good enough.
- Considering that those are the players who see significant ice time in overtime, the fact that the team is 1-3 in extra time is not good and is an issue for their top players.
- The kids are not doing anything. Kaapo Kakko works hard, but there’s no payoff. Alexis Lafrenière’s lack of production is becoming an issue. Adam Fox had the single individual effort that stood out, but it didn’t count. The youngsters on defense were overmatched.
- There is no depth scoring, especially from the fourth line. That line may be a minute eating machine in the offensive zone, but they just cannot put the puck in the net.
- Special teams stunk. The Rangers power play went 0-3. The box score will say that the Rangers killed two of three penalties, but it was really only one as the Flames second goal came just nine seconds after a penalty expired.
- Igor Shesterkin was hung out to dry, but he was outplayed by Jacob Markstrom. Markstrom made a number of impossible stops at key points. Shesterkin was beaten at crucial points in the game. When it was a lost cause, Shesterkin leaked goals, resulting in the lopsided score. It’s a scary thought that if their goalie doesn’t stand on his head, the Rangers will lose.
- Where’s the toughness? Ryan Reaves was back in the lineup and the Rangers outhit the Flames 27-13, but it didn’t feel like it. Calgary manhandled the Blueshirts, pounded the Ranger defense and won the crease battles. If the goal this season was for the Rangers to be hard to play against, it wasn’t working in this game.
- Faceoffs are a problem. Don’t be fooled by the fact that overall the Rangers won 51% of the draws. They won two of six (33%) shorthanded and won seven of 18 (39%) defensive zone draws.
- When the opposition gets going, the Rangers are helpless to stop them. It happened in Vancouver in the third period. It happened in Edmonton. The only difference in Calgary was the Rangers never had the lead.
- The Rangers have not dominated any team in the league except the Columbus Blue Jackets. They’ve stolen wins through elite goaltending, or won tight games with timely goals, but they have had only one blowout in their favor. In meantime, they’ve lost badly to Calgary twice and to Washington and the Edmonton lose felt like a bad one.
Excuses
Okay, to be honest, it has been a very tough road-heavy schedule. It was the second game of back-to-back games on the road. They were up against a red hot goalie playing for a red hot team. In Edmonton it was a game against the two best players in hockey who decided to play like that.
Every team will have an occasional stinker. Hopefully this one will fill the Rangers’ quota for a while. Let’s all be grateful that they don’t have to play Calgary again this season.
They still have one of the better records in the NHL and have shown a lot of moxie and resilience in their early schedule. And it’s worth noting that the have been good when their best players (except Shesterkin and Fox) have not been.
It’s much too early to man the lifeboats and we will be more than willing to buy any of those excuses if the team comes out on Monday with a strong effort against Florida.