So not only did the Rangers lose their second straight game to the Pittsburgh Penguins, but they were also outscored by a career fourth liner in Mike Rupp, who recorded a hat-trick on the night. Anyway, with this defeat the Blueshirts have now dropped three straight, continue to fall in the standings and still do not have secondary scoring to support Marian Gaborik. No, they did not play as horrible of a game as they did on Saturday or on Friday, but right now they need points and they came up with absolutely none tonight.
Marian Gaborik kicked off the scoring three minutes into the second period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead and pick up goal number 20 on the season, the first to do so in the National Hockey League. However, Sidney Crosby stormed down the ice and roofed a backhander over the shoulder of Henrik Lundqvist to tie the game just eleven seconds after Gaborik netted his. The Rangers just sort of sat back on this play and allowed Crosby to walk all the way in and set himself for the shot. That simply cannot happen and is common hockey sense. This team is not even executing the basics right now.
Mike Rupp then converted on his own rebound right off of the face-off to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead. This was a combination of a centerman and defeneman mistake. Anisimov has to stay with Jordan Staal on that play, and the defender needs to get Rupp out of the crease. Neither did their job and what do you know? It ends up in your own net. Once again, it was Marian Gaborik picking up a loose puck when Chris Drury fired a one-timer from the point on the powerplay to tie it up at two late in the second stanza.
Now think about this for a minute. The Rangers possess the top goal scorer and point scorer in the National Hockey League, yet they are .500 with a 13-13-1 record. Gaborik played his best game of the year, in my opinion anyway. He fought hard, he battled for loose pucks, he put up with the nagging Brooks Orpik shadowing his every move, and buried two goals. His body was put to the test with the physicality level in this game, but he held up well and stood his ground (knock and wood) and did what he could to keep this team in the game. Unfortunately his teammates did not give him much help.
Back to the recap, the Blueshirts defense was guilty of allowing the opposition way too much time and space yet again, when Mike Rupp walked in and picked glove side on Henrik Lundqvist midway through the third. Hank should have had that one and he admitted it in the postgame meeting with the media, but again, the D needs to step up on that play. Another one Lundqvist should have had was the next goal that Sidney Crosby softly deflected for his second of the tilt. At that point it was 4-2 and Tortorella elected to pull Lundqvist, leaving Mike Rupp the empty cage to flutter a puck into from his own zone to complete the hat-trick.
I do, however, give the Rangers some credit for coming out and playing a solid first period. You cannot really say that the effort was not there tonight, because they worked hard throughout the game, but those little defensive errors and the lack of scoring continues to haunt this team and is costing them games. They did respond to Tortorella’s meetings this morning, but were not able to get the job done.
Now, I did like how Sean Avery fit into the first line with Prospal and Gaborik. I said a few weeks back that I wanted Aves to be added to that line because he would benefit it greatly with his passing abilities and relentless mindset. Well, he did exactly that tonight and is developing some chemistry with Gaborik. I notice these two talk with each other often during games and in warm-ups as well, so I think that they have a bit of a bond and friendship going on, which can also contribute to the chemistry somewhat.
As other notes, Ales Kotalik received just barely over three minutes of ice time in the contest. Tortorella did not use him at the point on the powerplay, he did not use him much at even strength, and he saw no time during the several instances in which the two clubs skated four on four. Okay, maybe he has not been great five on five, but he has been great on the powerplay and I do not understand why he wasn’t used there. Chris Drury played that position instead, and did pick up an assist in the process. Drury now has a point in each of the last three games since returning from the concussion.
Marc Staal and Dan Girardi did play much better than what we are used to. That is a good sign because these two need to get going if the defense was to get themselves out of this slump.
I know I am beating a dead horse with this, but the bottom line is that the Rangers are making costly defensive mistakes, are not scoring many goals, and are not getting much luck right now. That being said, they will have four days off until they travel to Buffalo where they will clash with the Sabres on Saturday night. I think that these four days will do them good because a lot of these mistakes that are being made are all mental. Tortorella said that the team will have the day off on Tuesday and then will resume work on Wednesday. Hopefully things will be straightened out over the break and we will see a different product on Saturday in Buffalo, but nothing is guaranteed with this squad right now.
(Photos courtesy of Getty Images)
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