Rangers blasted by Jackets, the Good, Bad and ugly

Through the first five games of this young 2022-23 Rangers season, you felt you could walk away from each tilt with a positive. But Sunday’s 5-1 clunker against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden was the first time you saw team discrepancies overwhelm them to the point where they were ineffective on both ends of the ice.

Over an 82-game season, everyone churns a few of them over the long haul. But this felt more like a beatdown than a blip in the road, being that it was to a divisional opponent and the defeat came at the expense of Columbus rookie goaltender Daniil Tarasov celebrating his first NHL win on New York ice.

Here are some takeaways from the tape burner using the “Good, bad, ugly” format for a change.

GOOD:

At least the Rangers weren’t shutout and slipped one into the back of the net, albeit it was a five-on-three. Down 3-0 late in the second frame, Artemi Panarin broke Tarasov’s shutout bid by snapping one home off a Jackets giveaway.

The Breadman has registered a point in the first six games and is the early leader in the Art Ross race with a dozen points on the year.

BAD:

Powerless on the power play-

The  San Jose Sharks made an impulsive showing when defending the Rangers’ power play during their 3-2 overtime victory at the Garden on Thursday, as they pushed a defender out to the top of the blue line to defend against the pass, which disrupted the flow of how the Blueshirts operate.

They could not set up Mika Zibenejad for his patented one-timer as part of an 0 for five-display by the unit. While adjustments take time in the NHL, it was disappointing to see they hadn’t yet figured out a scoring alternative.
The Jackets seized the advantage by limiting the Blueshirts to four shots on goal in three trips to the box, with the lone blemish being the two-player advantage tally by Panarin. After a torrid start to the season, New York is one for their last eight and must make the necessary tweaks to prevent other opponents from catching on.

Skill over will-

On opening night against Tampa Bay, the Rangers were near perfect in all aspects of the game, en route to a 3-1 win. It was a complete team effort with all four lines, special teams, and goaltending in sync. That grinding style of hockey loitered into their first road trip of the season, where they mostly controlled play in their 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild and 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

Undeterred, the Blueshirts returned home and zonked the Anaheim Ducks with a three-goal second period en route to a 6-4 triumph, where they once again provided the talent and grit necessary for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations this year.

However, despite the good times, there were red flags as moments of what the group called “lackadaisical defense” popped up in third periods, allowing those opponents to hang tough and, in the Jets’ case, hand the Rangers defeat.

Over the last two contests against the Sharks and Blue Jackets, the Rangers have seemingly deviated from correctly trying to out-will teams, instead going the easier route and out-skilling them. Captain Jacob Trouba explained this on Thursday when he stated, “That’s not a formula that’s going to breed success in this league,” Trouba said. “You look at successful teams. They’re good defensively, and when the offense comes, it comes. That defensive piece needs to get dialed in. We’re trying to create too much with defense jumping in when we don’t need to. It’s not an offensive free-for-all; it’s a hockey game. We’ve got to play defense too.”

Furthermore, Trouba added, “Just a little too sloppy in transition, breaking pucks out,” “You’re not going to be on every night, but you’ve got to know how to play your game and adjust it when you don’t have it. You’ve got to simplify a little bit. I don’t think we did that.”

That was Thursday, but on Sunday night, the Rangers faired no better, totaling 19 turnovers and Columbus capitalized with five even-strength goals.

“We were far from good enough, we were slow, I didn’t like the way we played,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “The speed of our game wasn’t good. The first game of the season against Tampa Bay was solid. Strong, competitive, managed the puck well; we haven’t done that since.”

The Blueshirts were outmuscled,  as the visitors didn’t need superstar Johhny Gaudreau to do much with others chipping in.
Three players(Andrew Peeke, Yegor Chinakhov, and Eric Robinson) registered the first goals of their respective seasons against a reeling New York netminder, and the defense blocked a staggering 21 shots, preserving the first NHL win for goaltender Daniil Tarasov who stopped 30 of the 31 that reached his net, earning a +1.83 “Goals saves above expected” for the game.

Halak struggles in home debut-

Jaroslav Halak had a steady Rangers debut in Winnipeg, where he made 30 saves on 33 shots and finished with a +1.29 “Goals Above Expected.”  But donning the home blue sweater for the first time, he allowed five goals on 21 shots and had a -3.23 “Goals saved above expected,” according to Clearsight Analytics.

While you shouldn’t place all the blame on your goaltender for serving up a side of five, there were a few here that the 37-year-old himself would want back. “I’m not going to talk about our play; I’m just going to talk about myself”, Halak said. ” I just got outplayed by their goalie. I need to be better next game, and hopefully, I can help the guys win some games and get some points down the road. That wasn’t my best tonight.” Halak was beaten down low three times in Sunday’s dud and seemed to have issues with shot positioning.

UGLY:

Chytil down –

Filip Chytil left Sunday’s game after sustaining an injury on an elbow to the head by Columbus forward Cole Sillinger. The team announced he would miss at least the next four games. It opens the door for Jimmy Vesey, scratched Sunday, and returnee Vitaly Kravtsov to make an impact.