FEELING THE HEAT
Rangers rally for point, but pressure on as they still search for 2nd win
Alain Vigneault said all the expected things about hard work and preparation and perseverance, and as he was leaving his postgame press conference after another deflating loss, the buttoned-up Rangers coach loosened his tie and let out a deep sigh.
It’s getting hot around these Blueshirts, and everyone feels it.
“I’m a firm believer in if you prepare, work hard, things are going to fall into place,” Vigneault said with a stern jaw and straight face, his team now 1-5-2 and off to the franchise’s worst start since the 1959-60 season following a 4-3 shootout loss to the Islanders on Thursday night at the Garden.
It just seems that no matter how much good these Rangers do, it’s not enough. So despite coming back from a 3-1 deficit to tie it with 5:54 remaining in regulation, and despite Henrik Lundqvist standing on his head — figuratively in the second and third periods and literally for the final two seconds of regulation when he stopped Josh Bailey twice from close range while rolling around on the ice — they still fell when both Jordan Eberle and John Tavares scored for the Islanders in the skills competition and Jaroslav Halak stopped David Desharnais in the third round.
“Like AV told the group, we have two choices here: To feel sorry for ourselves or go out and really try to make the most of the situation,” Lundqvist said after making 34 saves on 38 shots. “It’s a good thing the games are coming fast here.”
It’s good the Predators come into the Garden on Saturday afternoon because any time to stew on what could have been from this night would be mentally draining. It seemed like this self-defined snakebit club finally got its break when a weak Kevin Hayes backhand beat Halak from the goal line extended at 14:06 of the third, waking up the rightfully brooding fans. The Rangers even had a handful of opportunities to win it during the 3-on-3 overtime, the best when Rick Nash was denied by Halak from the right circle on what felt like his umpteenth great chance of the game.
“Sooner or later, you have to convert,” said Nash, who has one goal on the season but came into the game with the fifth-most shots on goal among league forwards. “It’s tough right now.”
There is still mettle in this group, shown when Hayes, Marc Staal and Ryan McDonagh combined to kill off the whole 1:19 of a 4-on-3 penalty kill coming from a too-many-men penalty in overtime. And Lundqvist was again outstanding, denying rookie Mathew Barzal his second career NHL goal late in the second period after Barzal got his first 1:15 into the second period, giving his team that 3-1 edge.
“Obviously when we don’t get the wins it’s easy to get stuck on mistakes, the missed opportunities, or not coming up with that extra save,” Lundqvist said. “But at the same time, we are doing a lot of good things as a group.”
Starting the game is not one of those, as the Rangers began digging themselves that hole when Chris Kreider took a hooking penalty behind the Islanders net and Anders Lee scored the Islanders first power-play goal of the season just 2:40 into the first period. The Blueshirts answered with Desharnais’ second goal in as many games, but Brock Nelson allowed the 1-1 tie to last just 62 seconds before he scored on an open wrist shot from the slot to make it 2-1 at 6:06 of the first.
“I think some of the bounces aren’t going our way,” said defenseman Brendan Smith, who scored what seemed like the original game-tying goal with 7:53 left in the third period, but it was pulled off the board after a video review ruled he kicked the puck in.
“And that’s life,” Smith said, “that’s hockey, and that’s sports.”