JUST WINGING IT
David Quinn is serving two masters now as he coaches Rangers players desperate to win games for their own peace of mind, but has also necessarily moved the dial ahead to 2019-20.
So that is why Vinni Lettieri, who got a string of fourth-line assignments during his first three stints on Broadway this year, received a top-six role in Tuesday’s 3-2 Garden defeat to the Red Wings that extended the Blueshirts’ losing streak to five games (0-4-1), the last four in regulation.
That is why John Gilmour was in the lineup getting 18:43 of ice on the blue line following his promotion with Lettieri from the AHL Wolf Pack on Monday. That is why Filip Chytil moved back to his natural center spot for the first time since Game 41, Jan. 6 at Arizona, and Lias Andersson took a steady turn centering the fourth line with his most ice time (10:45) since March 1.
That is why it would be no surprise if the Blueshirts summons Ryan Lindgren from the Wolf Pack with their one remaining allotted recall if they think the defenseman can handle it and would be no surprise to see veterans strategically scratched the rest of the way so the kids can get their minutes, and in key situations.
But the players’ innate motivation to win games is why Pavel Buchnevich, who failed to score despite having a handful of glorious opportunities throughout the match, was slumped over by the bench late in the third after failing to convert with a chance to tie it 2-2 seconds before the Red Wings salted it on an empty-netter.
“It’s frustrating for everybody,” Buchnevich said. “Losing games like this stinks.”
The Blueshirts are 1-6-4 since the trade deadline, 1-6-5 over the past 12 and 7-12-6 since the All-Star break. They are careening toward a finish that will probably land them the fifth or sixth pre-lottery slot in the draft. But that hardly provides solace to the athletes as they lose game after game after game.
“Hey, listen, we want to win hockey games, we’ve talked about that, and obviously our situation is what it is,” Quinn said. “But when you’re out there in the middle of the game you’re not thinking about the standings and things of that nature. You’re dialed into the moment and you want to win the game.”
The Rangers haven’t won a game against anybody other than the Devils since, yikes, Feb. 19, having beaten New Jersey twice in the interim. Things dete
riorated so badly during last week’s western trip that Henrik Lundqvist was asked after the game to essentially measure whether this was better than the team’s last performance in Minnesota on Saturday.
“Yeah, I think so,” said Lundqvist, 2-8-3 in his last 13 starts. “We made some mistakes giving two-on-one rushes, but I think we played a pretty good game. We had good energy, were skating and physical.”
Yes, and scored two goals, one from Brendan Smith with 9.9 seconds remaining at five-on-five, the other from Ryan Strome on the power play at 14:46 of the third period in the club’s second loss within 13 days to the NHL’s 29thoverall team.
The Rangers did throw 43 shots at Jimmy Howard, but the netminder was not called on to make many memorable stops. There was a late third-period stop on Buchnevich and a second-period glove on Chytil, who looked pretty decent in his return to the middle, but the shot total belies the amount of pressure the Blueshirts applied after an early first-period flurry.
Indeed, when it was over, Quinn again lamented his team’s lack of an attack mentality.
“One of the things that’s been a problem all year is that we don’t go into an attack mode when we get into the offensive zone,” said the coach, whose team has scored eight goals through this five-game streak. “We’re too perimeter, we don’t shoot enough pucks and we don’t anticipate attacking the net.
“It’s tough to score goals in this league if you’re not going to have an attack mindset. We don’t have enough of an attack mode to generate offense.” That’s been true throughout much of the season. Now, with nine games to go, Quinn and the Rangers will evaluate who might be a solution to the problem next year.