Rangers blanked by Montreal and it should be cause for concern
The Rangers have 1 goal in the last two games and have allowed 7. This is all happening while Henrik Lundqvist is singlehandedly trying to keep them in the game. Last night in Montreal, it was a goalie showdown against Carey Price and the Rangers couldn’t score.
Rick Nash and Chris Kreider are still scoreless on the year. When Alain Vigneault was asked about that, he basically bit his tongue and stated he would need to review the game film. Let’s be honest here, we all hear the praise from analysts of how many good things Rick Nash is doing on the ice, but he’s here to score. I could care less if my electrician knows a lot about my problem, is very prompt, and works neatly. If he fails to get my lights on, he’s not doing his job.
Same goes for Chris Kreider who spent an entire summer working on his game and went to see a sports psychologist. That’s very nice, but pretty fruitless unless you start burying chances. And Derick Brassard…don’t even get me started on his game or lack thereof.
The Rangers won the advanced stat battle for the second consecutive game and came up with the same result, further advancing my disdain for corsi. Remember, you can get a +1 for throwing a shot at a goalie’s chest from center ice. What really happened was the Rangers failed to generate a consistent threat against one of the best goalies in the league. Harmless shots do wonders for corsi stats and absolutely zilch where it matters…the scoreboard.
Futhermore, the Rangers power play is abysmal. When the Blueshirts were awarded a long 5-3 and decided to play hot potato with the puck instead of blasting away with traffic in front, I knew they were doomed. The Rangers power play is now 0-10 in the last two games.
[su_quote cite=”via SNYRANGERS” url=”https://snyrangersblog.com”]”We got schooled tonight. We didn’t create, I think 5 chances 5 on 5, our only moment was that 5 on 3 where he had a couple of saves to make. They out played us in every area of the game. Defensively, offensively they must have had 12-13 outnumber situations with Grade A Looks. If not for our goalie, tonight the score would have been a lot worse.”[/su_quote]
Emerson Etem made his debut last night and it was forgetful. He had a team low 12 shifts for 7 minutes and had me begging for Tanner Glass. He was a minus 1 and lost a puck battle to P.K. Subban that led to the first goal of the game and eventual game-winner. This was one of the biggest problems in the preseason and made Vigneault keep him out of the lineup. He did not improve the 4th line’s beloved corsi numbers either, even with everyone’s favorite corsi darling, Jesper Fast on his opposite flank. Bottom line, he needs to sit and Jarret Stoll needs to play until he figures it all out.
We are only 5 games into this season so it’s not time to panic. However, the play of some very high profile Rangers has me very concerned. It should have you concerned as well.
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