Capitals 3 Rangers 1 If the Rangers were a Broadway show – which anyone who has seen them at the Garden this year assuredly knows they are not – they’d now be closed following last night’s abysmal performance.
Back home after surviving a three-game road trip only because of Mike Richter’s brilliance, the Rangers were so bad, it was almost an insult to the paying customers. They showed little enthusiasm and less effectiveness. Rarely if ever had possession of the puck. Hardly ever were able to complete even one crisp pass, let alone two or three in succession.
And this all took place against the Caps, for gosh sakes, who entered the match 10 games under .500, and who had managed to fall behind the Kings at home 6-0 on Friday by the opening minutes of the third period.
Do not be fooled that the final score of the defeat was only 3-1. The Rangers really were never had their heads or their legs in the odious affair. The score, then, was simply testimony to Richter and to the Caps’ offensive ineptness.
But really, it’s nothing so new for the Rangers, who have lost four straight at home while scoring all of one goal in each defeat to the Blackhawks, Senators, Panthers and Caps, respectively. They’re now 10-11-2 on Broadway, one of only eight teams in the 27-team NHL with a losing record on home ice.
Welcome, everyone, to the World’s Most Famous Arena, where the Rangers themselves act as the welcome mats.
“When we’re home we seem to watch what the other team is doing and react to their game plan instead of taking the initiative ourselves,” said Jeff Beukeboom, who played a booming physical match and was one of the few blameless Blueshirts. “And by us not dictating, we give our opponents confidence.
“We play with more desperation on the road. We’re better on the road than we are at home.”
Wayne Gretzky received an injection before the game that froze his injured rib cage, played his 213th consecutive game as Ranger without a miss, and was one of the most spry athletes on the ice. Brian Leetch, who missed the morning skate with the flu, played furiously. Too bad so few Rangers were able to duplicate the effort of 99 and the captain.
“It was probably one of the worst games we’ve played all year; for whatever reason we didn’t compete tonight the way we should have,” said John Muckler, who could not sugar-coat his team’s pathetic display. “We were outplayed, outworked, outscored.
“Let’s be honest.”
Must we? All right, then. It’s games such as last night’s that should give Neil Smith all the reason necessary to embark on radical reconstructive surgery as soon as possible. We’d suggest a heart transplant, as well, except that Todd Harvey, whose absence has had a disproportionate effect on his team, is hopeful of making a return from his knee sprain within the next two weeks.
Without Harvey, at home, there is no atmosphere at the Garden. It’s as if the team plays in a vacuum of emotion and energy.
“We seemed to be flatfooted and standing still most of the game,” said Gretzky. “We didn’t do a lot of good things.”
The Rangers were retreating most of the night, pretty much from the first shift to the last. Pinned most of the game in their own end, they were able to stop the Caps one of three ways – with a Richter save and freeze; by throwing the puck in the stands; or, as a last resort, by icing the puck. By the nine-minute mark of the third, they’d iced the puck 10 times.
It was 1-0 Caps at 2:45 of the first when Steve Konowalchuk scored from in front on a third rebound. The Rangers came back to tie when Brent Fedyk got his first of the year – first NHL goal since April 7, 1996 – converting a Marc Savard feed on a delayed penalty at 6:10 of the second.
But just 25 seconds later, after another of a seemingly endless procession of defensive zone faceoff losses – this one by Petr Nedved – the Caps regained the lead when Joe Juneau swiped a deflected shot past Richter. And though it remained 2-1 until Peter Bondra converted a two-on-one with 3:00 to go, the Rangers never seriously threatened to tie. Rarely broke through the neutral zone.
The match concluded with those who remained in the audience, booing the Rangers until the curtain came down.
It does, however, come up again tomorrow night. With Mark Messier providing the opposition.
Now that’s entertainment.