3 Rangers takeaways after another lackluster loss to last-place Blackhawks
Trading their captain. Removing any angst that the star goalie could bolt at the end of the season. Neither of these things have helped the New York Rangers, who lost again Monday night, 2-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
In a game they most certainly had to win. Against an opponent that’s dead last in the NHL, had lost five straight games and recently fired their coach. The Rangers once again failed to compete for a full 60 minutes.
They were outworked, outhustled, and ultimately defeated for the eighth time in the past 10 games, and are 9-12-1 since a 5-0-1 start to the season.
“I don’t think we were at the point where we were playing the right way for an extended period of play,” veteran leader Chris Kreider said postgame. “It’s just sloppy.”
Next up is a road game against another lesser light in the NHL, the Buffalo Sabres, on Wednesday. Though keep in mind that it was the Sabres who throttled the Rangers 6-1 at MSG back on Nov. 7, the first stunning sign that the Rangers were a team in disarray.
Related: Ducks believe former Rangers captain brings ‘ number of benefits following trade
3 takeaways from Rangers 2-1 loss to Blackhawks
Here are three takeaways from the latest Rangers loss on Monday.
1. 60 minutes
NHL regular-season games are scheduled for 60 minutes, three 20-minute periods. If the game is tied, there’s a five-minute overtime. If it’s still tied, there’s a three-round (or longer) shootout to decide the winner.
Somebody needs to drill this into the collective heads of the Rangers because this team appears incapable of competing for a full 60-minute game. Go ahead. Name the last time you saw the Rangers provide a complete effort — win or lose — from first drop of the puck to the final buzzer. Go ahead. Take your time. I’ll wait.
Things were better in the 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins last Friday, but, really, the Rangers simply don’t do 60-minute efforts. It’s not in their DNA to do so this season. And it bit them again the past two games — a massive mid-game lull when they allowed five unanswered goals in a 7-5 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Sunday, and a lackluster “race” to the wire Monday after a strong start against the Blackhawks.
“After [the first 10 minutes] I thought we got outplayed. Our execution was bad,” Will Cuylle said after the latest loss.
2. Booed off the ice
New York is not an easy city to play in. The fans are demanding — certainly of effort, if not for results, as well. So, it’s not a huge surprise that the Rangers have heard their fare share of boos at Madison Square Garden recently.
Monday, the boos began early in the third period, picked up steam midway through the final period and then hit a crescendo at the final buzzer. Yes, the Rangers took notice of the angry reaction by the Blueshirts Faithful.
“You’re not feeling great about that, for sure,” Artemi Panarin told reporters. “It was better when we were like last game (against the Kraken), almost coming back and our fans supporting us. That’s a nice feeling, but we’ve got to play better, and then we won’t hear that anymore.”
3. Oh Mika
The Rangers, though, did start well in the first period. They were skating, generating chances and, you know, looked like the superior team against a last-place opponent. Then Mika Zibanejad coughed the puck up on a soft pass behind his own net. Taylor Hall intercepted, skated out from behind the goal line, whipped a pass to an open Tyler Bertuzzi in the right circle and, boom, it was 1-0 Blackhawks.
The Rangers center had that bemused look on his face afterwards. Just a soft play, bad execution, and it cost the Rangers. Then the rest of his game was meh again. His line with Chris Kreider and Reilly Smith had a woeful 5v5 xGF of 0.23, per Natural Stat Trick.
In the final minute, with a chance to atone for his egregious giveaway, Zibanejad hammered two shots from his preferred left circle wide of the net with the Rangers skating 6-on-5 and trailing by one goal. It all summed up his disappointing season, so far.
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