The housewives on Wisteria Lane are more desperate than this. Presented with opportunity after opportunity to grab hold of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the Rangers repeatedly failed. While both the losses and injuries mounted for the Bruins this past week, the Rangers came up small in two huge home games against Montreal and St. Louis and then crashed and burned in a head-to-head showdown with Boston on Sunday afternoon.
At a time of the year when the watch words in the NHL are “urgency” and “desperation” for all the teams still left in the playoff hunt, it seems most of the clubs they play are just a little more desperate, a little more hungry and to be honest, simply more talented than this Rangers team.
In the match-up they’ve been pointing to since the post-game chatter on Thursday against the lowest scoring team in the NHL, the Rangers were just a tad more anemic offensively than Boston in the 2-1 loss on Sunday that has now pushed them five points back with 10 left to play—and the Bruins hold a game in hand.
With seven of the final 10 on the road, eight against teams still in the hunt, the Rangers might have to actually run the table to get in. All they did this past week was run the other way.
“It was obviously the biggest game of the season and we didn’t match their aggressiveness and they were a little more physical than us,” said Henrik Lundqvist after the Bruins loss on Sunday, but he could have also been talking about the losses earlier in the week to the Canadiens and Blues. It was a Groundhogs Day kind of week for the Blueshirts.
While the focus for the next few days will be on the loss to Boston, the week’s most maddening game was the mail-in effort at the Garden last Tuesday against a mediocre Montreal team. Out hit, out shot and out hustled all night, the lifeless 3-1 loss appeared to set up the rest of the week as the Rangers seemed to do just enough to lose each night.
While Lundqvist certainly cannot be faulted, the goalie was not sharp against the Blues on Thursday and, simply stated, the big save just wasn’t there all week. You wonder if The King is wearing down a bit after starting 62 of 72 along with the Olympic play. And it may not simply be the amount of hockey he’s played as much as the razor thin margin for error he has to play with each night. Playing behind the 27th ranked offense in the NHL may be catching up with the beleaguered Swede.
After all, when Sean Avery is one of your biggest offensive weapons you know you’re in trouble. The benching in Atlanta back on March 12 definitely jump started the agitator’s game and his three goals since then make him the only Ranger with more than one. Not good, especially considering the stakes this past week.
They referred to the game against Boston as a game seven scenario and that their mental approach would be of the do-or-die variety. The good news is there’s 10 more game sevens left on the schedule. The bad news is essentially the same team that played Sunday will be wearing the Ranger jerseys for each of them.
ICE CHIPS
An abysmal power play has really cost the Rangers all year but it was unusually awful this past week going 1-16 and generally looking lost. A two-man advantage for 1:15 to start the third period against the Blues trailing 3-2 provided a low point on the season. Forced passes, bad angle shots and panic with the puck produced nothing and the Garden faithful had seen all they could as the “Fire Sather” chants followed shortly thereafter.
Another very telling statistic with this Rangers team and the general lack of confidence they have in their popgun attack—they are 13-25-6 when trailing 1-0.
The schedule the rest of the way includes seven of the final 10 on the road, including a six-game trip after the Islanders visit the Garden this Wednesday. That’s probably best for the Rangers, who are 3-7-2 in their last 12 and 15-17-6 overall at the Garden, where the natives are beyond restless…it’s getting downright ugly.
Tortorella recently admitted that the line shuffling he’s done all year is due to the club’s lack of a true No. 1 center. Olli Jokinen has been a bust and Tortorella likes Brandon Dubinsky more on the wing, saying, “He doesn’t see the ice well enough to play down the middle.” You can bet Sather’s top priority this summer will be a big time pivot to play with Gaborik.
Also on his incessant line shuffling, Tortorella had this to say earlier in the week. “We try to keep (the combinations) as steady as possible. I don’t think line changes are really a big deal, though we have done a lot more this year than I’ve wanted to,” he explained, adding, “I’ll put it to you this way: We can change as many people around on our lines, but if we don’t get a better effort from certain people within our lineup, it doesn’t mean a damn thing. We need for people to step up here, with three weeks left in the season to play a more consistent game, play consistently hard.”