‘Same thing every game’: Rangers seek answers after 6th home shutout loss
Perhaps the biggest cheer at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night came after the announcement that there was one minute remaining in what turned out to be a 3-0 loss by the New York Rangers to the Vancouver Canucks.
Before that, the Rangers spent most of the evening being booed during their sixth shutout defeat in 17 home games (4-10-3) – this one against the team that began the night last in the NHL standings. Despite allowing just 17 shots on goal and out-attempting the Canucks 60-34, the Rangers again came up empty – and were left frustrated.
“We feel good during the game, but right now it (stinks),” captain J.T. Miller said after New York dropped to 1-3-2 in its past six games overall. “This can’t be the standard we expect to play to. Go home tonight and feel we outplayed the other team. We didn’t score. To come up 0-2 this week at home, it (stinks). Same thing every game, it feels like.”
For the second straight night, the Rangers failed to turn opportunities into goals in front of their home fans. They had the better of play in a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday and did the same for much of the night against the Canucks – but have now scored one goal or fewer in 13 of their 35 games this season – including 10 of 17 at The Garden.
Coach Mike Sullivan’s concern about the Rangers’ offensive struggles continues to grow.
“If I had the solution, we would certainly bring it,” he said postgame. “We’re doing our best to control the process, because that’s really, at the end of the day, what’s within our control. I thought we defended hard tonight. They had a few looks. Their first goal was a little unfortunate. After that, they had a few looks, but not a lot.
“I thought we defended hard. I thought we controlled territory. We had a significant amount of O-zone time. The power play had a lot of good looks. So, I feel like we’re trying to solve it, for sure. But is it a little bit concerning at this point? Yeah.”
The Adam Fox-less power play continued to produce nothing but short-handed goals for the other team. Conor Garland’s empty-netter was the third short-handed goal the Rangers allowed since Sullivan opted for a five-forward first unit after Fox went down with a left arm injury on Nov. 29 and landed on long-term injured reserve soon after.
The Rangers were 0-for-4 with the extra man against Vancouver, and the five-forward group hasn’t scored on 21 power plays in the seven games since the injury to Fox.
“I thought we did a better job today,” said center Mika Zibanejad, one of the five-forward PP1 unit. “I would say it’s a good job if we score and we win. A better job of creating chances. We’ve got to find a way to get a few for us.”
Rangers look for goals, answers after shutout loss to Canucks
One challenge for Sullivan and his players continues to be keeping morale up on a team that struggles to put the puck in the net, especially at home.
“We can score goals,” said Zibanejad, who returned after being scratched Monday for missing a team meeting. “How many games have we played on the road that we’ve shown that we can score? I’d be more worried if it’s all through the season. I don’t know what else to say. I just wish we scored more goals.
“We have to find a way to add on to what we did today and maybe be a little bit more desperate and more resilient in front of their net and force that puck to go in. That’s what I see from tonight’s game.”
To Miller, the answer is just to work harder.
“Bear down,” he said. “Like myself, I had chance after chance, I feel like. It’s just not enough. It’s not enough to my standard, it’s not enough to the team’s standard to just play well, outplay the other team and not bury your chances. We deserve better a lot of these nights, but that being said we’re not bearing down and the other teams are. We’re kind of stuck. Win three, lose a couple, win three, and we are where we are. It’s very frustrating.
“I’m just (angry). You feel like you work so hard and you make a lot of plays and a lot of nights, I feel like we’re outplaying the other team, and we end up in here (angry) because we didn’t score enough goals. It’s a fine line.”
It’s a problem that the Rangers must solve soon. They continue a brutal stretch of seven games in 11 days before the Christmas break when they visit the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, followed by a home game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon and visits to the Nashville Predators on Sunday and Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
The Rangers (16-15-4) played more games than anyone else in the 16-team Eastern Conference and are 15th in points percentage (.514). They must solve their problems soon or risk missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs a second straight season.
“It’s tight in the standings, and the points really matter,” Zibanejad said. “We have to start winning games, especially at home.”
