3 Rangers takeaways from low point early in season, 6-1 loss to Sabres
When a really good team loses badly, especially at home against a younger flawed opponent, oftentimes the theme is to “turn the page” or “burn the tape.” Simply, just move on from a poor one-off performance.
But the New York Rangers’ 6-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday at Madison Square Garden appeared to be a new low in an already shaky stretch.
It was also a painful reminder about what happens when Igor Shesterkin is not at his best, and the Rangers fail to bail out their star goalie as he so often does for them. The 28-year-old — rumored by Kevin Weekes to be close to an eight-year, $92 million contract extension to become the highest-paid goalie in NHL history — allowed a soft goal on the game’s first shift, just 26 seconds in. A second-period barrage of four goals, including three in a 2:11 span, landed Shesterkin a seat on the bench.
It was 5-0 at that point. No chance for Jonathan Quick to steal a rousing comeback. Game over.
It wasn’t a good night for Shesterkin at all. But for all the times he’s saved the Rangers, helped them earn points in the standings when largely undeserved, where were his teammates rushing to the rescue on Thursday?
“There’s no excuses for what happened today,” Mika Zibanejad said postgame.
Nope. No excuses for a top contender that’s in a rough 3-3-0 patch right now, with five of those past six games troubling for multitudes of reasons.
Related: ‘Somebody’s got to sit’: Peter Laviolette explains why Victor Mancini scratched again
3 takeaways from Rangers 6-1 loss to Sabres
Here are three takeaways from the game Thursday.
1. Similar but different issues
Thursday night at MSG, the Rangers outshot (26-22), out-attempted (66-39) and out-chanced (35-23) the Sabres. Though it’s an arbitrary stat, they also doubled the Sabres up 34-17 in hits. So, it’d be easy to explain this one away by blaming the goalie as the reason the Rangers lost.
No so fast.
Much of that uptick came in the third period when the game was already out of hand and after the Rangers had been embarrassed in a second-period blitz by the visitors. But numbers and stats aside, trust your eyes. If you watched this game, you saw that the Sabres were the hungrier, faster team. And that’s alarming because that’s been a recurring issue recently for the Rangers in games against the Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators. in particular.
Once again, the Rangers did not dictate how the game was played. They played on the Sabres terms, not their own. They continue to chase games, showing little pushback, counting on Shesterkin to be brilliant, and quick-strike goals (often on special teams) to bail them out because they simply don’t have sustained attacks in the offensive end.
To that end, this loss was very similar to other recent games. The difference is that Buffalo didn’t dominate the stats nor did Shesterkin play to his typical high standard.
2. Take a seat
Shesterkin was pulled in favor of Quick at 13:51 of the second period. He allowed five goals on 12 shots, beaten badly through the 5-hole on the first shot he faced by Rasmus Dahlin, twice off the rush, once high-glove. Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.
But Shesterkin didn’t find himself alone on the bench as the game wore on. Rangers coach Peter Laviolette sat Alexis Lafreniere, Kappo Kakko and Filip Chytil for an extended stretch in the third period. Laviolette noted afterwards that these three younger players didn’t have “pop” in their respective games.
The K’Andre Miller – Jacob Trouba defense pair didn’t play their typical heavy minutes. In fact, Miller’s 17:54 TOI was the first time he was under 20 minutes this season. His season average was 22:43 entering the game.
Each was minus-three, on for the second, third and fifth Buffalo goals. Neither was good, and Miller stood out when he chose to retrieve his lost stick, allowing his man — Sabres forward Dylan Cozens — to take a pass, skate into the left circle unchecked and wire a shot past Shesterkin’s glove at 2:45 of the second period.
3. Where there’s a Will …
New York’s best skater all night was Will Cuylle, and that’s not just because he scored their only goal. The 22-year-old forward played nasty and physical, with a slew of good scoring chances, whether he was on a line with Vincent Trocheck and Reilly Smith, or later with Artemi Panarin.
Cuylle led the Rangers with four shots on goal, and had two excellent scoring chances in the first period — one early, the other late — that were denied by sharp Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen. He also wreaked some havoc in the second period, when he charged to the net looking for a rebound of Panarin’s shot that was juggled by Lukkonen. He didn’t get to the puck, but Cuylle did send some Sabres flying in the process, including after the whistle.
In the third period he — what else — went to the net and was rewarded when a Zac Jones shot bounced off him and over the goal line for his fourth goal of the season.
Side note: Panarin made some pretty slick feeds that weren’t converted into goals in this game. And Panarin did pick up his 800th NHL point, a secondary assist on Cuylle’s goal.
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