3 Rangers takeaways after sloppy 7-4 loss to 1st-place Capitals
So much for Jonathan Quick’s 400th win and consecutive victories for the New York Rangers.
Neither occurred Saturday, when the Rangers wasted an early gift goal, another freebie courtesy of Alex Ovechkin and their best offensive performance in nearly a month during a 7-4 loss to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Quick was trying to become the first U.S.-born goalie to win 400 games in the NHL. The Rangers were trying to build on a 2-1 home win against the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
It wasn’t like the Caps didn’t try to help.
Capitals goalie Logan Thompson misfired on a breakout pass seven minutes into the game and Chris Kreider converted for an early 1-0 lead. Ovechkin flubbed a pass in the second period, setting up Sam Carrick’s first goal since opening night.
And even with two gimmes, the Rangers came up short for the 16th time in 21 games since a three-game winning streak from Nov. 14-19 – the last time they posted consecutive victories.
Center Mika Zibanejad, whose third-period tally gave him goals in back-to-back games, said afterward that it’s hard to stay confident as a team as the losses keep piling up.
“What’s our option? Just say, ‘We’re done with the season?’ No, we can’t,” he said. “I think we have a lot of faith in the guys that are here. We have a lot of faith in the room. From the top down, we have to work. We have to keep working. I think we have to take the little things that we do well — we’ve done a lot of good things 5 on 5 — we have to take that and build on it. That’s the only way we’re going to get forward.
“Yes, it’s not easy. Yes, it’s not going to happen overnight. But if it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. We have a challenge, and we just got to accept it and keep working. We have no other option. We have no other option than try to stay positive, try to work.”
Seven Capitals scored goals – including Ovechkin, whose third-period backhander past Quick off a broken play on a face-off turned out to be the game-winner. It was the 872nd goal of his career, leaving him 23 shy of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record, and his 45th in 75 regular-season games against the Rangers.
Perhaps the best thing for the Rangers is that they don’t have time to feel sorry for themselves. They hopped a flight to Chicago for a Sunday afternoon game against the Blackhawks. With the 38-year-old Quick having played Thursday and Saturday and Igor Shesterkin injured, expect Louis Domingue to make his season debut on Sunday. Domingue won his lone start for the Rangers last season, but this will be just his fifth regular-season start since the beginning of the 2020-21 season.
Related: Rangers rookie plays ‘100 miles an hour, brings Garden to life with goal against Bruins
3 takeaways from Rangers 7-4 loss to Capitals
1. No defensive help for Quick means no milestone win
Quick wasn’t as bad as his numbers would suggest (six goals on 27 shots). But he wasn’t nearly as good as he was against the Bruins at Madison Square Garden, so win No. 400 will have to wait for another day.
Given his age, don’t expect Quick to play until the Dallas Stars come to MSG on Tuesday night.
However, Quick got little help from his defensemen. New York’s team defense has been awful during the past 21 games, but on Saturday the lion’s share of the blame had to go to the defensemen. The No. 1 pair of Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren was a combined minus-5 – and Lindgren took a careless puck-into-the-crowd delay of game penalty late in the second period after the Rangers had closed within 3-2. K’Andre Miller’s inability to find the puck after Vincent Trocheck won a third-period face-off turned into the eventual game-winning goal by Alex Ovechkin.
Coach Peter Laviolette might have to take another look at Zac Jones, who’s been a healthy scratch for the past few games.
2. Another special-teams nightmare
The Rangers’ special teams had another game where they did more harm than good to the team’s chances of winning.
The power play, one of the cornerstones of New York’s success during the previous three seasons, has completely lost its way. An 0-for-4 performance on Saturday dropped the Rangers to 1-for-30 in their past 10 games.
The penalty kill was leading the NHL until just before Christmas, but it’s been springing huge leaks during the past couple of weeks. The Capitals scored twice in four opportunities on Saturday, and the Rangers have allowed seven goals in 18 opportunities during their past five games.
For a team that hadn’t scored more than three goals in a game for nearly four weeks, success on special teams is a must.
“It’s frustrating,” Fox said of the special-teams problems. “A lot of games, that’s the difference, I think. Down one and you get a power play, if you’re able to score it’s a different game. I think everyone would love to have an answer for not getting it going. You look at the score and the special teams and obviously a big difference.”
3. No comebacks this season
The Rangers had 10 comeback wins when trailing after two periods (10-18-1) last season and led the NHL by winning 28 times when trailing at some point in the game. This season is a whole different story.
New York has yet to win a game when trailing after two periods. The loss on Saturday dropped the Rangers to 0-17-1 when they’re trailing through 40 minutes. No team has lost as many games when trailing after two periods without winning one than the Rangers. During their 5-16-0 collapse, the Rangers have trailed after two periods 13 times and lost all 13 in regulation.
The inability to mount comebacks is one of the biggest reasons the Rangers have lost 20 of their 38 games in regulation – far faster than in any of the past three seasons. They didn’t lose in regulation for the 20th time until their 69th game last season and in 2021-22. In 2022-23, regulation loss No. 20 didn’t take place until Game No. 71.
Zibanejad said the Rangers can’t get down on themselves.
“We have no other option than try to stay positive, try to work,” he said. “And just think about it: Tomorrow is a new day, a new opportunity to get two points, a new opportunity to get a win — and that’s what we have to do.”
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