BLACK' TRACK
Rangers suffer Classic letdown in flop vs. Chicago
It might have been a reason, but the Rangers weren’t using it as an excuse.
In the aftermath of their dramatic performance in the outdoor Winter Classic on New Year’s Day at Citi Field, the Blueshirts returned to playing hockey indoors with a dud of a performance, an empty-net abetted 5-2 loss to the Blackhawks on Wednesday night at the Garden.
It was a very quick reminder of how good feelings can be so fleeting in this league, especially when fueled by mistakes.
“I saw one team playing hockey and the other chasing the whole night,” captain Ryan McDonagh said. “It’s really disappointing. We know we are coming off a big emotional win and a big stage, but we’re almost at the halfway point of the season where we need to start playing with some consistency. We didn’t give ourselves a chance.”
That was some message, as the Rangers (21-14-5) were supposed to be riding the high of their triumphant 3-2 overtime win over the Sabres on Monday. Instead, they allowed the Blackhawks (19-14-6) all the room in the world to operate, especially fueling their transition game with turnovers through the neutral zone.
“They were able to do whatever they wanted,” said McDonagh, whose team was outshot 35-25 — 26-14 through two periods — as well as being out-attempted, 70-58. “We didn’t finish checks, slow them down, their speed. They had time and space and we left our goalie out to dry.”
That would be Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 30-of-33 shots before Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane filled the empty net in the final minute of regulation. After, the frustration was written all over Lundqvist’s face, knowing that the way this loss came about had abruptly ended any momentum and suddenly made this upcoming two-game trip to Arizona and Las Vegas that precedes the five-day bye week quite important.
“They were better. They had more jump,” Lundqvist said. “For some reason, it was hard for us to get going. We need points right now, so we have to dig deep here and try to get two big wins before the break. But tonight, I felt like they were definitely the better team.”
There was little question of that, as the Blackhawks held three separate one-goal leads and seemed to hold the play for most of the evening. There was one inequity that got coach Alain Vigneault hot under the collar, when Nick Schmaltz was awarded a go-ahead goal at 8:56 of the second period when a loose puck was put in by way of Ryan Hartman shoving Marc Staal from behind and Staal pushing the puck over the line before he slammed into the goal post.
“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Vigneault said about the reviewed play that made it 2-1. “It was a goal.”
The Rangers were able to tie it on a five-on-three power-play goal from Mika Zibanejad at 11:32 of the second, only to see Chicago pull
ahead again when veteran Patrick Sharp beat Lundqvist with a laser shot from the left circle to make it 3-2 at 2:24 of the third. That came on just one more odd-man rush that started with the Rangers turning it over as they tried to enter the Chicago zone.
“We fed their transition,” Vigneault said. “They’ve got too much speed and too much skill to give them the looks that we gave them.”
The Rangers were never able to put sustained pressure on Chicago’s unproven backup goalie, Jeff Glass, who surrendered a game-tying goal to defenseman Nick Holden at 18:09 of the first period after the Blackhawks had taken a 1-0 lead exactly two minutes earlier on a goal from Vinnie Hinostroza.
But it was never enough, and the good feeling is gone as the Rangers head out of town.
As Vigneault so succinctly put it, “We got what we deserved.”