Perception vs reality about two losses

It’s always interesting to see the spin after a New York Rangers game, especially losses.  Sometimes it’s not even spin, it’s perception.  Usually, the post game comments from coaches and players are totally predictable.  Not after the last two games.

The Nashville game

Sunday, the Rangers lost a tight 1-0 game to the Nashville Predators at home.  As a fan, it was a game that the team could have won except for the stellar goaltending of Juuse Saros.  Sure, they were outhit 39-22, but they had the edge in shots (32-24) and shot attempts (54-42) and they won the possession battle handily.  The teams were even in scoring chances, but the Rangers had more high danger chances 13-8.

On our Blue Line Station live chat, the sense was that it was a close game that could have gone either way and it wasn’t a bad game for the Blueshirts.   Whoa.  The postgame comments from Gerard Gallant were completely opposite as he lambasted the team as badly as he has after any game this season.

Gallant questioned the manhood of his players, saying “I didn’t like any of the game, to be honest with you. We played too soft, we didn’t play a hard enough game. It was a man’s game and we didn’t play it.”

He was particularly disturbed by the first period.  “They (Nashville) came in here and played a good road game. They played a hard game and we didn’t match the intensity they had especially in the first period. After that I thought it was better. First period they outbumped us and won all the one-on-one battles.”

Chris Kreider echoed his coach, pointing to the start. “We didn’t get enough battles, win enough battles. They were finishing all of their checks, winning all their battles. It took us 20 minutes to figure that out…just can’t happen.”

Jacob Trouba wasn’t as critical, saying “Not our best start, I thought we got better as the game went on.  I don’t know if the first period was the difference…there are a lot of different factors, especially in a 1-0 game.” He complimented the Nashville style, saying it was something they are not used to and have to deal with better in the future.

The takeaway was that the coach was bitterly disappointed with the effort and the Rangers were badly outplayed and outhustled.  As an observer, that was true of the first period, but not the whole game.

The Colorado game

Fast forward to Tuesday’s night’s 4-2 loss to the Avalanche.  The Rangers fell behind early and never seemed in the game until the last three minutes.  They took way too many penalties, a factor that turned the game around after a decent start.   Taking six minors was fatal, not because the Avalanche scored on the power play (which they did once), but because it took away any momentum, disrupted the Rangers’ flow and kept them on their heels for extended periods.  Let’s not even mention the two minors taken in the third period when the team was desperate to score.

The expectation after the game was that the coach and players would be disappointed in the loss. It was a benchmark game against a top opponent and they didn’t respond as hoped, especially after last week’s loss.

Lo and behold, Gallant and his players shrugged off the loss saying that they played hard and lost and that happens. After the game, this was his take.  “I thought we played a good, hard game against a real good hockey team that played really fast. I liked our effort. We made a couple mistakes, but overall we played a good game.” He continued, “I thought we had a gutsy effort. We played 60 minutes…they’re a good team, they made some good plays. We battled back and we never quit.”

He seems nonplussed by the six penalties.  “They (Colorado) play quick and they play faster. They may be the fastest team in the league so we took a couple penalties we didn’t want to, but again, we did a good job with our PK the most part of it, just fell a little bit short.”

A “couple” penalties is not six and to not acknowledge that the penalties affected the Rangers flow is odd.  After the game Ryan Strome and Adam Fox stayed with Gallant’s take on the game.  Fox said, “They’re a good team, they have a lot of good players.  We had some good looks, some good chances,  they made some big saves, especially at the end.”

Strome acknowledged that they took too many penalties. “It’s gonna happen against a fast team like that. They’re a good team for a reason. That was probably contributing to some of those penalties tonight.”

But like Gallant, his focus was on how well the penalty killers played and not on the impact taking all of those penalties had on the Rangers’ game. At even strength the Rangers outshot Colorado 25-21, had more shot attempts (48-42) and had more high dangers chances (14-11).  The fact that the Rangers spent one-sixth of the game shorthanded took its toll and cost them the game.

Perception vs reality

It’s odd.  The Rangers lose a 1-0 game to a goalie playing out of his mind and get called out by their coach for not playing hard in the first period.   Then, they’re not really competitive in a 4-2 decision to a team they had reason to play hard against and the post-game sentiment was that it was a “good, hard game.”

Did anyone watching the Colorado game really believe that the team was going to come back from  3-1 deficit going into the third period?  Did anyone watching really think that taking all of those penalties was anywhere near acceptable?

Perhaps, the fact that the Rangers finally showed some life and poured on the offense when they pulled their goalie was fresh in their minds when assessing the game.  The simple fact is that it was too little too late.  The Rangers have gone into the third period trailing eight times and have won just once.  It wasn’t going to happen against Colorado.

Coaches have their reasons when they talk about their players and games.  After 27 games, it’s evident that Gallant is an optimist and goes to great lengths to protect his players.  He didn’t do it after Sunday’s game which made it so strange.  He then followed it up by reverting to form on Tuesday, when there were clearly issues that the Rangers need to address.

I guess it’s best to say that we are still trying to figure him out.  Let’s see what he says after the Arizona game.