Postgame: Rangers Drop Second Straight, Fall to Thrashers 5-3

Ignited by a Thrashers tally just nineteen seconds into the contest, the Rangers played in one of the most wide-open entertaining games of the season. However, that is not always a good thing, as this team's defense was exposed greatly against an Atlanta team that was relentless in the offensive zone. While they were able to record three goals on the night, the Rangers also had difficulties on offense when they were unable to convert on golden opportunities.

Starting with the defense, they looked lost out there tonight, specifically early on. First off, Ilya Kovalchuk was left wide open with the puck at least seven times, and two of those chances led to goals; one for himself on a laser of a wrist shot and one for Rich Peverly which Kovy assisted on. If there is one player on this team that should be covered at all teams, it should be Kovalchuk, yet we still see him on breakaways, odd-man rushes, and what not.

Anyway, the defense was caught pinching many times, because there were numerous odd-man rushes against the Blueshirts which led to great chances for Atlanta. Thankfully, Lundqvist was on his game, for the most part anyway, and did not allow the Thrashers to capitalize on those chances. Withing their own zone, the Thrashers were picking apart the Ranger D with passes, and eventually working the puck to the net, much like we saw on the Evander Kane goal.

The Rangers were falling apart at the end of the second period, and then Henrik Lundqvist turned the puck over and it ended up in his own net. Rich Peverly made a marvelous pass to first round draft pick Evander Kane for a tap-in, so I fault Lundqvist on that one---I think he would agree.

On offense, the chances were there, but the forwards were simply unable to find the back of the net behind Johan Hedberg, who played a magnificent game for Atlanta. There were two chances in the first period where Prospal and Callahan were both robbed of goals, and then the same occurred when Hedberg stood on his head to shutdown the Rangers powerplay late in the third period. The only three shots New York did bury were rebounds and a lightning quick release by Gaborik.

Speaking of that powerplay, I totally disagree with the call on Del Zotto for diving, which eventually hurt the Rangers in two ways. The first being that they would not be rewarded a 5 on 3 which would have been a major opportunity with under five minutes to go, in addition to the fact that the Blueshirts would be without their powerplay quarterback in Del Zotto for the remainder of the 5 on 4.

On the flip side, the Rangers ran into penalty trouble in this one, as they were sent to the box six times for minors, leaving them shorthanded five of those six times. The penalty kill was not itself tonight to boot, efficient only three out of five opportunities. I think a lot of the penalties were taken out of laziness, as he Western Canada road trip lag definitely had an affect on this team, and they were very slow and hesitant, as stated by head coach John Tortorella in his postgame conference with the media.

On the bright side, Marian Gaborik played very well in the tilt, registering a goal and an assist to continue his statistical climb. On his goal, Gaborik caught a rocket of a pass from Del Zotto and then was able to release the shot despite pressure from a Thrasher's defenseman to put up his 13th in 19 games. The Slovakian star had a chance to bury a second goal in the game on the breakaway, but a sliding Hedberg surprised him and forced him to shoot right into the pads of Johan. That right there was a part of the climax in the contest, because at that point the score was tied at two and could have swung the momentum dramatically.

The rookies Artem Anisimov, playing on the second line tonight, and Mike Del Zotto also displayed two of their better performances of the season. Both skated very well and created multiple scoring opportunities. I am still amazed at the abilities of Del Zotto when it comes to making passes, especially to Gaborik which has become a math made in Heaven. Anisimov had a goal on the night (4 on the season) and Del Zotto had two assists for his 14th and 15th points of the season.

Unfortunately, the Rangers did not start playing hockey until the third period, and not to make excuses, but I believe that there was bit of left over lag from last week's road trip to Western Canada, and that played a big part in the Blueshirt's slow start. John Tortorella also stressed this in his postgame remarks, and also added that he is still unsure whether or not he will call-up a true center from the Hartford Wolf Pack. I thought that Torts tactic of rotating three centers among four lines actually worked quite well, but guess calling someone up would potentially preserve some energy all throughout the lineup.

The Rangers will have a chance to get out of the 3-7-1 slump they are currently in Saturday afternoon at 2 pm, when they will be visiting the Ottawa Senators for a matinee match-up. New York defeated the Sens 5-2 earlier in the season in the home opener at Madison Square Garden.

(Images courtesy of AP Photo)