Rangers look lost in latest defeat, this time to likely playoff foe Habs
This was not a blip on the radar, and it no longer is too small a sample size to avoid.
This was the Rangers’ third loss in their past four games, a 4-1 defeat to the Canadiens on Saturday night at the Garden that was alarming not just for the lack of execution, but for the lack of determination.
It brought out legitimate anger in the normally cool-headed coach Alain Vigneault, who was about as angry as he has been all season.
“Right now we’ve got quite a few guys that are fighting it, a couple guys’ games are not very good,” Vigneault said. “But that’s still not a reason to execute at the level we did tonight, and it’s still not a reason to lose the number of 1-on-1 battles that we lost tonight. “So it has to be a reality check here.” There is also the fact that anyone who thought the Rangers (41-22-2) were going to have an easy road by finishing in the first wild card and crossing over the Atlantic Division side of the postseason bracket might be sorely mistaken. Over there, the Canadiens (37-21-8) reign, and their roster was retooled at the trade deadline, getting grittier and harder to play against. They showed they will not be afterthoughts in this postseason discussion.
“As much as I’d like to give Montreal credit — and I do, I think they played a solid game — we had no execution,” Vigneault said. “We couldn’t make a pass.”
Somehow, the Rangers have begun to lose confidence. Somehow, the team that was able to be offensively advantageous — if not at times explosive — has been diminished. Somehow, the team that has been defensively stout is floundering in their own zone, unable to get the puck out to start any sort of transition game or sustain any type of offensive pressure.
“We have to start building some confidence in our game,” defenseman Marc Staal said. “I think right now everyone’s clutching a little bit and second-guessing and we’re not doing the things that we normally know how to do very well.”
For the second straight game, the Rangers came out flat. At Boston on Thursday, goalie Henrik Lundqvist bailed them out and they were able to come home with a 2-1 victory. But these were not the Bruins, and goals from Shea Weber, Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw in the first two periods — all while the Rangers got just 16
shots on Carey Price — meant a 3-0 deficit going into the third.
“We found a way in Boston. I don’t know if we deserved it, but we found a way,” said Lundqvist, who made two terrific saves on a Max Pacioretty breakaway in the first minute of the third, which sparked his team to go the other way, getting a goal from Chris Kreider to cut the Montreal lead to 3-1.
But just over five minutes later, a point shot from Jordie Benn snuck through traffic and under Lundqvist to make it 4-1 and take all of the fleeting life back out of the library-quiet Garden.
“If we want to go anywhere,” Lundqvist said, “we need to figure this out at home.”
That’s right, that the Rangers are now 19-14-2 at the Garden, while a sterling 22-8-0 on the road, where they will go for a four-game trip starting Monday night at Tampa Bay. But this hardly was about where they were playing, and more about what kind of effort the Rangers were giving.
And as for what he can do to pick his team up, Vigneault seemed exasperated.
“I have to tell you, I really think these guys can make a 10-foot pass without me having to tell them,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s just a matter of beating a couple guys 1-on-1 and winning a couple puck battles.”
And now it is back to the road to try to figure this out before it gets out of hand.
“We have some tough games coming up,” Vigneault said, “and we’re going to have to be a lot better.”