OTTAWA — At this point, it’s tough to say the Rangers are anything but a team deserving of eighth place in the conference.
Eventually, all of the expectations of this shortened season sift away and what’s left is this: a team with zero consistency, an impotent offense, a middling power play and a goaltender whose wonderful performances more often than not fall for naught.
Last night at ScotiaBank Place the Rangers wasted a gem from goalie Henrik Lundqvist and lost to the Senators, 3-0, showing their convincing effort against the Flyers just two nights before was nothing but a mirage for a team that has not overcome its problems — and unless something drastic changes, likely never will.
“Can’t look at how much time we have,” said Brad Richards, whose 16-14-3 team is tied with the Islanders with 35 points but holds on to eighth place with a game in hand, 15 games to go. “The [games] come at you quick, so we have to find a way to get [points] as soon as possible. We all want to try to find a way to fix it, and we’re going to keep trying to do that.”
There is no way to predict which Rangers team will show up tomorrow night in Montreal against the conference’s second-place Canadiens.
The one in Philadelphia seemed to bury their recent struggles with slow starts by scoring the first three goals in a 5-2 win. But the one that played last night hardly was recognizable for the first 40 minutes, making Senators (19-9-6) backup goalie Ben Bishop (24 saves) look like Patrick Roy, and engaging the 19,447 inside still disbelieving how good their injury-riddled team is doing.
“I just don’t like our first 40 minutes,” said coach John Tortorella, whose team had 14 shots through the opening two frames. “After playing the way we did in Philly, and just not generating any offense until the third period, at this time of year, that’s why you lose. It’s just not good enough.”
The only reason the Rangers went into the third down 1-0 was because of Lundqvist, who finished with 26 saves. After making a diving play to save a Jim O’Brien breakaway midway through the second — followed five minutes later by stuffing a wide open Erik Condra shot on a great right pad save — Lundqvist finally had one beat him with 48.8 seconds remaining in the second, an Andre Benoit power play slap shot after Ryan Callahan had to kill the penalty with his stick broken on the ice.
“You could just feel how important that goal was,” a downtrodden Lundqvist said. “You try to get out of that period with a tie game, and instead they get that one. I talked about the other night, if we’re losing special teams, we’re going to have a tough time winning games.”
The Rangers fought back and applied pressure in the third, and with just under five minutes remaining on the last of their four fruitless power plays, Callahan just missed a one-timer that sailed wide of the net.
“Me personally, I have chances and I don’t score,” Callahan said. “I look at myself as a guy that has to contribute and put the puck in the net. I had some key opportunities and I don’t score.”
Guillaume Latendresse netted another for the Senators with just over seven minutes remaining, and Colin Greening finished it off into the empty net, setting the Rangers off to Montreal to lick their wounds and find some semblance of a personality.
“It’s really disappointing,” Lundqvist said, pausing before saying something he would regret. “Yeah, I’m going to leave it at that.”