It’s a point taken
Sloppy Rangers manage SO loss
THE Rangers made out like bandits getting anything at all out of Monday’s game as they followed up one of their better performances of the season with one of their worst.
Ugly and uninspired for nearly the entire night, the Rangers were thoroughly dominated by Dallas but snuck a point out of the game thanks to a brilliant performance by backup goalie Ondrej Pavelec and a late tying goal in a 2-1 shootout loss at the Garden.
“I think everyone in here knows that was embarrassing for two periods,” Mats Zuccarello said. “They smacked us around. We didn’t win one battle. We didn’t win a puck battle in front of the net. We weren’t first to pucks. It’s not acceptable for the team we’re supposed to be. ”
The Rangers (16-11-3) were outshot 41-19 in regulation and out-attempted a startling 84-38 through three periods. The simplest of passes seemed impossible, and they could never win the puck back after being so careless with it. Everything they were doing right two nights earlier against the Devils was missing. “We are too far in the season here to have a game like this,” Ryan McDonagh said.
It was going to take superlative goaltending for the Blueshirts to have any chance, and that’s what they got from Pavelec, who made 40 saves in regulation and 44 overall, six days after making 41 saves in Pittsburgh. He became the first Ranger goalie to make at least 40 saves in consecutive appearances since Dan Blackburn did it Nov. 23 and Dec. 1, 2001.
A long Brady Skjei shot hit off Rick Nash’s leg and went in with 3:41 left to tie the game as Nash snapped a 10-game goal drought. Dallas (17-13-1) challenged for goalie interference, but Kari Lehtnonen was clearly outside the crease when his glove made contact with Nash.
“It’s a tough thing to figure out,” said McDonagh. “As an individual you have to find a way to compete and even if you think you’re going you need all five guys on the ice to be at the same level. In order for us to be successful we can’t have three or four guys going and expect to win a game. ”
Alain Vigneault called Pavelec’s performance “unreal” and said otherwise his team wasn’t good. After a brief silence, he said, “I think I summarized it pretty good there,” and walked off. There was nothing else to be said. l Mika Zibanejad (concussion) participated in Monday’s morning skate and is set to practice today after missing his sixth straight game. He had yet to be cleared for contact as of Monday morning.