Sports

PANTHERS FOIL MUCKLER PLOY ; LW LEETCH DOES GOOD JOB ON BURE

Panthers 3 Rangers 0

SUNRISE, Fla. — The operation was a success. The patient died anyway.

That’s pretty much the sum and substance of last night’s 3-0 Ranger defeat here to the Panthers in which Brian Leetch moved from defense to left wing, where he was matched shift-by-shift against the resplendent Pavel Bure.

The left-wing lock worked well against the league’s dominant offensive force but with Terry Murray taking advantage of the last change at home to match Bure against Petr Nedved’s line, the Ranger offense sputtered. Of course, the offense had sputtered against the Islanders and Lightning in the two pervious games, so it would be folly to lay the blame for last night’s goose egg on John Muckler’s strategy.

“It would have worked better if we had been home, I’ll say that, but I thought overall it went very well,” said Muckler. “Leetchie, with his knowledge, skating ability and ability to stay with Bure through extra-long shifts, is the right guy to have in that position, too.

“He did a heck of a job.”

Leetch was approached by Muckler following Tuesday’s tie in Tampa. Asked whether he would feel comfortable with such an assignment, the captain responded in the affirmative.

“I thought it was a good idea to have three defensemen out there against him because when there are only two, with the way he skates and circles all over the ice, you get spread too wide,” Leetch said. “Actually, I thought it worked pretty well.”

Bure did get his league-leading 41st last night, his 34th in the last 35 games, but it came with Leetch off the ice because Jan Hlavac didn’t take the opportunity to make a quick change, and it came on a drive from the slot that skipped off Mathieu Schneider’s stick over Mike Richter at 7:46 of the first period.

“Our plan was not to let him score, to limit his chances, and get the lead,” said Leetch. “Obviously we sacrificed some offense but you do that any time you match a checking line against a specific opponent.”

The Rangers are winless in their last three games (0-2-1) — their longest winless streak since an 0-4-3 skid that ended on Jan. 3 — while having scored a sum of four goals in those matches, generating nothing off the forecheck whatsoever. They’re 3-6-2 in their last 11 since the end of their seven-game winning streak, hanging on by their fingernails to a playoff spot.

What’s more, they’re a battered hockey team, a team that’s being assaulted night after night by brawnier opponents who understand the Blueshirts have no deterrent. The Panthers ran wild last night, smashing Leetch, Nedved, Theo Fleury, Sylvain Lefebvre, Valeri Kamensky, Kim Johnsson and Tim Taylor without fear of meaningful retribution.

“What’s scary about that is that the Panthers aren’t a terribly physical team but still they annihilated us,” one Ranger said. “Teams are playing for keeps now.”

The Rangers did manage some chances against Mike Vernon but never were they able to mount a concerted attack. The goaltender made his best save in poke-checking Nedved into shooting wide on a breakaway seven minutes into the third with the Rangers trailing at that point by 2-0. That came two minutes after a three-on-one led by Johnsson was unable to produce a shot. Less than a minute after Nedved was foiled, Scott Mellanby put the game away on an unopposed rebound.

“If Petr could have scored that one it might have switched the whole game around,” said Muckler. “We’re not getting the timely goals we were getting when we were winning those games.”

The combination of Alexandre Daigle’s meltdown and the lack of a physical alternative in the middle has prodded Muckler to move Adam Graves from left wing on the Mike York-Fleury line to center between Kamensky and Fleury. Graves has been anything but effective at pivot; not only that, the shuffling hasn’t produced the hoped-for jump-start effect from Kamensky.

“I’m not satisfied with [Graves at center] but I think it’s the best we have right now,” Muckler said. “But I’m not satisfied with that.”

(Calling area code 604 … paging a Mr. Messier.)

Because of the left-wing lock, because Kamensky left the game following the second period after taking eight stitches below his right eye after being hit with the puck on a Lefebvre attempted clear, the Rangers used 26 different forward line combinations at even strength. None was able to generate an attack. Neither was the power play (0 for 3).

“Obviously Pavel is a great player and you do have to honor him, but not to the extent that you leave the rest of your squad vulnerable to the rest of their team,” said Richter, who was magnificent. “I don’t believe that was the case.

“It wasn’t the plan; we just didn’t get the job done. And our confidence level is certainly down from where it was.”

The Rangers are down from where they were. There are 23 games to go. Colorado’s in tomorrow night, Flyers on Sunday. Reinforcements are necessary.