Rangers embarrass themselves against Caps; Ryan Lindgren ‘day-to-day’
When the final buzzer sounded after a 6-3 pounding by the Washington Capitals, fans of the New York Rangers were mercifully sparred anymore of this embarrassing effort.
In what could only be described as a calamity on ice, the Rangers defensive game was abysmal leading to wave after wave of odd man rushes against.
As the team works their way to a Patrick Kane trade, they placed forward Jake Leschyshyn on waivers and traded forward Vitali Kravtsov to the Vancouver Canucks clearing cap space.
Unfortunately, Kane isn’t going to solve the team’s lack of interest to play defense as a five-man unit. That was also made worse with the news that Ryan Lindgren’s left arm was in a sling after a dangerous hit by T.J. Oshie in the first period.
“Day to Day, we’ll have more info tomorrow,” Gerard Gallant said. “Dirty hit. [Lindgren] had no chance to protect himself. I’m disappointed it wasn’t a five-minute major. For me it’s a cheap hit and I like that hockey player.”
Rangers embarrassed in D.C.
Evegeny Kuznetsov would set up goals by T.J. Oshie and TomWilson’s goals before getting two himself in the Caps rout of the Rangers. Alex Ovehckin also picked up two assists in the matchup.
For the most part, Darcy Kuemper wasn’t tested often as he made 23 saves in the winning effort.
Meanwhile, Barclay Goodrow actually tied the game early on a nice tip to give fans a false sense of hope tying the game in the first period.
Washington then lit up the Rangers with four goals in the second as the team abandoned any semblance of defense.
The Rangers would get a power play goal from Chris Kreider and meaningless tally by Kaapo Kakko with 28 seconds left in the final frame en route to their fourth straight loss (0-3-1).
To a man, the Rangers needed to apologize to Igor Shesterkin (17 saves on 24 shots) and Jaroslav Halak (4 saves on 5 shots).
“I don’t think we had it,” captain Jacob Trouba said. “You’ve got to be consistent to win in this league no matter who you play.”
The Rangers are back at it tomorrow against the Los Angeles Kings at home.
“When you get your ass kicked the way we did today, you hope to come out better tomorrow,” Gallant said.
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