Either the grind has succeeded in taking its toll or the Rangers have been less successful grinding. Regardless, the inescapable truth is that the Blueshirts just aren’t scoring enough goals to be comfortable with their season.
“Before tonight we’d been finding ways to win, but we have to bear down and bury some when we have the opportunity,” said Brandon Dubinsky, the lone Ranger to score, after last night’s 2-1 Garden defeat to the Canadiens that put a brake on his team’s three-game winning streak. “If we had found the way to bury that second one after we got the lead, it might have made a huge difference.”
The Rangers are 8-3-2 in their past 13 games, so it would be foolish to read too much into this one. The Canadiens went ahead on Benoit Pouliot’s bad-angle drive from the lower left circle that beat Henrik Lundqvist over his right shoulder at 6:03 of the third after tying late in the second.
“It took a perfect shot to beat me there, but I still should make that save,” said Lundqvist, otherwise outstanding in facing 38 shots. “It’s one I would like to have back.”
Bad goal or not, the Rangers have scored two goals or fewer in six of their past seven matches, getting to three once by virtue of an empty-netter.
The absence of a relentless forecheck has contributed to the paucity of goals. So has a power play that is 1-for-22 in the last six games and 3-for-35 in the past 11 following last night’s 0-for-2.
“We’ve been able to find ways to win even with trouble scoring, but sooner or later it’s going to catch up to you,” said Dubinsky, who scored off a power right wing rush off a nifty breakout bank pass from Matt Gilroy just 4:15 into the match. “We’ve got to put them away.”
Scoring issues combined with an acknowledged lack of elite skill up top prompted general manager Glen Sather to pull off Monday’s deal with Phoenix for the gifted, albeit underachieving, Wojtek Wolski.
There’s no doubt that the 6-foot-3, 215-pound winger has ability. But Wolski, who had just 16 points (6-10) in 36 games for the Coyotes while being scratched five times, including three times in an eight-game stretch late last month, has now washed out of two organizations by the age of 24 and been traded twice in 11 months.
But skill is seductive. So not only did Sather acquire the winger, coach John Tortorella immediately assigned him to the line with Marian Gaborik and Artem Anisimov.
That bumped Sean Avery to the fourth line. Avery was one of the most effective Rangers last night, consistently maintaining possession down low off the forecheck and cycle in 9:36 of ice time.
Wolski, who played 19:39, had a couple of neat exchanges with an engaged Gaborik in the first period. The newest Ranger went to the net with three minutes to go in search of the tying goal, only to be denied by backup Canadiens netminder Alex Auld.
“I thought we did a good job as a line backing people off,” said Wolski, whose day was a whirlwind following an early afternoon landing. “[Gaborik] has so much speed, the defense is afraid.
“A lot of today was trying to have fun. It was just getting back to playing the game of hockey because I love it.”
The Rangers would love it if he adds to the offense.