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So here was John Muckler bemoaning last night’s 3-1 Garden loss to the Hurricanes in which each of the first two Carolina goals skipped behind Mike Richter on inadvertent ricochets off Ranger defensemen.
“It seems like we can’t buy a break,” he said.
Then just add that to an expanding list of things a $42 million payroll apparently can’t buy – such as size, speed and goal scoring.
Oh, and victories.
Victories more than anything.
Last night’s loss left the Rangers five games under .500, a low-water mark for the season, and in 12th place, now a point behind the surging Caps. It left the Blueshirts 11-12-2 at home on the season. It left a lot of Rangers grasping at straws, searching for answers to a spiral that, with six games coming in nine days beginning with tomorrow’s match against the Red Wings, may well flush any hopes for the season once and for all.
It left Wayne Gretzky wearing his emotions on his sleeve.
“It was a horrible loss that came at a time when we desperately needed a win,” 99 said, bristling with discontent. “It was a game we had to win, yet we didn’t do enough to deserve to win.
“It’s not one guy, it’s not two guys. It’s the whole team. And it’s always the same way [at home]. We take three or four penalties in the first period, fall behind by a goal, and then spend the rest of the night fighting for our lives. It’s not good enough.
“We keep giving away games at home that are so important. And with the way this team should utilize the home-field advantage, it’s horrible. We should all be extremely embarrassed by it.”
Actually, the Rangers weren’t horrible last night, just not good enough in any one particular facet of the game to hold an advantage over a mediocre Carolina team that wound up limiting the Rangers to two goals in three matches at the Garden. They had no edge in size, no edge in speed, no edge in nets, not with Arturs Irbe matching Richter with a solid night.
They didn’t seem hungrier than the Hurricanes, not even with the booster injection of Todd Harvey’s return to the lineup. They were, well, they were the Rangers, a team that finished 14 games under .500 last year and is in real danger of sliding down a slippery slope to the same nowhere as 1997-98.
“Any time you’re out of the playoffs and below .500, that’s not where any organization or team wants to be,” said Brian Leetch, who scored the lone Ranger goal to bring the team within 2-1 early in the third, and was again the best player on his team. “We’re included in feeling that way.”
The power play, which carried the Rangers to whatever heights the team reached earlier in the season, was 0-for-5 and is stone cold, 2-for-20 in the last five matches (both goals against Vancouver a week ago Thursday), 4-for-27 in the last seven games, 5-for-52 in the last dozen. For the season, the Rangers are 6-18-1 when failing to score with the man advantage.
Petr Nedved, as well, remains stone cold. Muckler juggled his combinations last night in order to both accommodate Harvey’s return and to try to get Nedved going. Muckler also used his last change to keep Nedved away from Keith Primeau, relieving No. 93 of his checking-line responsibility.
Didn’t matter. The center, perhaps now pressing, was ineffective; so were his wingers, John MacLean and Niklas Sundstrom. Nedved has one goal in his last 11 games.
The Rangers fell behind 1-0 at 9:14 of the first when Curtis Leschyshyn’s drive from the left point glanced in off Peter Popovic’s glove, then behind by 2-0 at 18:12 of the second when Sami Kapanen’s wrister from above the right circle glanced in off Mathieu Schneider’s leg.
Leetch’s left point drive at 40 seconds of the third brought the Rangers within one, but when Jon Battaglia batted one out of mid-air at 8:30, the game was history.
“We don’t have a lot of margin for error on this team, so when we don’t do the little things like keeping our shifts short and getting the puck in deep, they build up,” said Leetch. “The feeling [of wanting to succeed] is there, but the execution is not.”
The execution may be coming shortly. *Rangers dealt little-used Sean Pronger to LA for fourth-line winger Eric Lacroix, a move that probably spells the end for Darren Langdon, who has never gained the confidence of Muckler.