Rangers allow too many Pens chances in loss
PITTSBURGH — Give the Rangers this: They’re not delusional about what they are, or what they need to do to be successful.
And as Henrik Lundqvist explained after a third straight ugly loss, this one a 5-2 defeat to the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena, there is no more high-flying Blueshirts. There needs to be a refocusing of philosophy before this playoff picture clears up and they’re on the outside looking in.
“You have to face it, too. The last 15-20 games, we’re a team that’s going to battle hard to get in,” Lundqvist said after he did what he could in making 42 saves on 46 shots. “We score about two goals a game, so obviously we have to limit our mistakes to stay in games. That’s a fact, and that’s something we have to realize. I’m going to start with myself, work as hard as I can and try to help the team.
“And we need everyone doing that to see if we can turn it around.”
If the Rangers (22-17-5) can take solace in one thing is that this run of 1-4-0 in their past five, and 3-5-2 in their past 10, is still not quite as bad as the way they started this season. And that was followed by a two-month stretch that brought them back into relevance.
But this was the sixth time since Dec. 5 the Rangers have given up 40-plus shots, and in that stretch of 18 games, they are averaging 37.3 shots against. And against the rising Penguins (24-19-3), they were playing without two of their best defensive players in captain Ryan McDonagh (back spasms) and checking center Kevin Hayes (leg contusion).
But despite another sterling performance from Lundqvist, the number of chances against creates an unsustainable equation for any team with postseason aspirations.
“We’re definitely talking about our process,” was how coach Alain Vigneault answered in response to the question about the quantity of shots against. “We’ll analyze this game and see the areas we can improve.”
It seems that the areas for improvement are the same — puck management, especially through the neutral zone, and then winning one-on-one battles, especially in front of the net.
They did a decent job of it in the first period, going up 2-1 when Michael Grabner and Brendan Smith both beat backup goalie Tristan Jarry, negating the game-opener from Patric Hornqvist just 3:14 into the first.
Oh, and their starts continue to be a point of inexplicable disappointment, as well.
But all those fundamentals began to fall apart midway through the second, when Dominik Simon scored his first NHL goal from in front at 13:15, and it was followed 85 seconds later when Phil Kessel was left open in the right circle and recorded his 700th career point by beating Lundqvist’s glove to take a 3-2 lead.
Sidney Crosby was then left open in the slot and he scored — shocker, right? — to make it 4-2 at 12:33 of the third before old friend Carl Hagelin ended it with his first goal in 18 games into the empty net.
Asked if the same mistakes over and over are making it tougher to deal with, and Rick Nash quickly shook his head.
“It definitely makes it tough to swallow,” Nash said. “We have to stick together in here.”
That is the rhetoric of teams on the verge of spiraling out of control. The Rangers had already been there and were already saying things like this earlier in the season, and they were able to pull themselves back from that brink.
“Early on in the season when we had our struggles, we stuck together and we got out of it,” Nash said. “We’re not having the consistent hockey that we want to right now. But we believe in here, and we’re a team. And we can’t start to separate.”
It seems the only way to come together would be to play better hockey, but it’s again on the Rangers to show they’re capable of doing that.
“Enough talk,” Lundqvist said, “we just need to do it.”