NHL

Vigneault: Big guns have to step up

During his tenure as Rangers coach, John Tortorella had no problem benching his stars when they weren’t playing well. So far, 28 games into the season, current coach Alain Vigneault has given his players longer leashes, but said if they don’t start producing, they could find themselves out of the lineup.

“That’s always a possibility,” Vigneault said after practice Tuesday, and on the heels of the teams 5-2 loss to the Jets on Monday.

“I’m not at that point yet. I’m hoping that with the experience the players that I’m talking about have, the sense of accountability, the sense of responsibility that they should have, then I won’t need to get into that.”

Brad Richards has two goals in 20 games. Captain Ryan Callahan has one in nine games, and Carl Hagelin — who had four goals in the first six games of the season — has one in 12 games since.

Nevertheless, the Rangers scoring woes go beyond these three players, as they have averaged 2.2 per game, which ranks toward the bottom of the league.

“We need the leaders of this group to perform accordingly, and we have not done that on a consistent basis, and on a game-to-game basis,” Vigneault said. “Just look at our lineup, look at our core group and look at our key guys and there is the answer.”


Monday’s loss followed up a 5-2 Rangers win over the Canucks on Saturday. They have alternated wins and losses the past six games.

The Rangers killed off both penalties Monday and have allowed one power play goal in their past six games, which ranked fifth in the league before Tuesday’s games. Defenseman Marc Staal attributed the success to one thing in particular.

“Solid goaltending is always a huge thing on your penalty kill,” he said.

Last season, the Rangers penalty killing unit ranked 15th including allowing a league-high 11 shorthanded goals. This season, they have allowed just one.


After Thursday night’s game in Buffalo, the Rangers have a nine-game homestand. They are in a stretch where they have one road game in 12 games and don’t leave the state of New York until Dec. 27 in Washington.

“It will be good to get some home games in,” Staal said. “Obviously we want to make MSG a fearful place to come into. We can put a start to that reputation this month and make it a hard rink to play in.”

The Rangers are just 5-6-0 at the Garden.


In the 48-game season last year, the Rangers were involved in 12 overtime games, including eight shootouts.

Through 28 games this season, they have had one overtime game (a 3-2 win at Detroit) and no shootouts. They are the only team to not be involved in a shootout this season.

“There haven’t been that many overtime games for us so far, but over the whole season, that will probably even out,” said goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who is second all-time in shootout victories with 45.


All 22 Rangers practiced Tuesday.