The day that started with somewhat silly questions about the Rangers’ goaltending pecking order ended with legitimate questions about the Rangers’ ability to be more than the run-of-the-mill group they’ve been through the first third of the season.
For while in the morning coach Alain Vigneault reaffirmed Henrik Lundqvist is “definitely [our] No. 1 goaltender” in the wake of choosing to give Cam Talbot his second straight start, at night the Blueshirts were careless and uninspired in losing a 5-2 match to the Jets at the Garden to fall to 14-14.
The defeat, the team’s sixth in the last 11 matches and fifth straight when presented with the opportunity to go two games over. 500, prompted a brief postgame team meeting in which the players reinforced the point such mediocrity is unacceptable.
“To come off that emotional win on Saturday [against Vancouver] and not be able to build on it is very disappointing,” Rick Nash said. “This just wasn’t a good enough performance from us.
“It’s disappointing and frustrating and a whole lot of other things not to be able to put a string together here. We’re a .500 team right now and we just have to be a lot better than that,” added Nash, who was denied seven times by Winnipeg goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. “Good teams don’t hover around .500 all season.
“This is not good enough.”
The Rangers had relative control of a dozy first period after which they led 1-0 on Mats Zuccarello’s score at 2:49. Indeed, the Jets had a measly 10 attempts through the first 20 minutes. But the Blueshirts dialed it down thereafter.
They were deficient in the neutral zone, and caught too often on the wrong side of the puck when they weren’t giving the puck away, as Derick Brassard did on a foolish attempted cross-ice feed just across the Winnipeg line that, a) led to the Jets’ rush on which John Albert beat Talbot at 10:00 for a 2-1 lead, and b) got him demoted from the second line to the fourth unit for most of the remainder of the contest.
Still, when Ryan Callahan scored from in front at 15:50 of the second period, the Rangers needed only to win the final 20 minutes to escape. They couldn’t do it. Indeed, they had their most ineffectual period of the match.
“We talked in here about winning the period and then we went out there and did the things that lose a hockey game, not win one,” Marc Staal said after Olli Jokinen took advantage of wide-open spaces in front of Talbot to score at 12:42 and 18:06 before the Jets added an empty-netter.
“There are things we need to correct in a hurry.”
The game marked the first time in eight starts Talbot had surrendered more than two goals. If he were not at his best, then it was also the Rangers’ worst performance in front of the 26-year-old goaltender.
“Obviously he didn’t make some saves that he did in the past, but we certainly made his life challenging by how we played in front of him,” said Vigneault, who surely will go with Lundqvist Thursday in Buffalo.
“I wasn’t where I wanted to be; I have to do a better job,” said Talbot, who had a couple go off his body into the net. “It’s not going to cut it.”
Talbot also said the message in the postgame room was “.500 hockey is not going to cut it, bottom line, we won’t be in the playoffs.”
The Rangers lack a defining characteristic. They have yet to establish an identity. They appeared to look for shortcuts throughout the match. There are no shortcuts to the playoffs, even in the weak Metro Division.
“It was a little of both [a lack] of execution and effort. They go hand in hand,” Callahan said. “We just haven’t been consistent.
“We can’t go on like this. If we do, we’re not going to be where we want to be.”
A third of the way in, the Rangers are living life in the middle lane. They are what their record is.
“Is this a .500 hockey club?” Vigneault asked rhetorically without waiting for an answer from Bill Parcells. “We’re certainly playing like one right now.”