EDMONTON, Alberta — A pathetic Rangers performance marked by a scare when Henrik Lundqvist was forced to leave the game midway through the third period with pain in his left foot because of skate problems was punctuated with a short and sour statement by coach John Tortorella.
“This is going to be really quick,” Tortorella said after his club’s 2-0 loss to the Oilers. “I’m not taking any questions.
“We [stunk] from head to toe and we need to move by it, so I’m not going to dissect it with you guys. I know you have to do your jobs, but I’m not going to answer any questions.”
The statement lasted 16 seconds, which is only slightly less time than the Rangers had possession of the puck as they were once again pinned much of the night in their own end while failing to mount any sort of forecheck or apply the body in any meaningful way in a match that was largely an (un)reasonable facsimile of the games in Vancouver on Tuesday and in Calgary on Thursday the Rangers managed to win only by latching onto The King’s cape.
“We know that our record [2-2-2] is not horrible, but everybody knows that we can’t play this way and expect to be successful,” said Ryan Callahan, whose line with Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov was broken up. “The way myself and my line are effective is by getting the puck in deep and winning battles, but we’re not doing that.
“We need to create more offense. We’re aware of that. We’re an honest group in here. We’re accountable. This is not satisfactory.”
Lundqvist, almost solely responsible for all of the Rangers’ six points in the standings, was sensational again before leaving the match at 8:26 of the third.
“It’s nothing serious,” said The King, beaten by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a three-on-two at 10:09 of the second and then by a Corey Potter power-play blast at 4:03 of the third. “I have been having some trouble with my skate, it was getting worse the last couple of days, and by the third period I was just thinking about the pain when I need to be focusing on the puck.
“It’s going to be fine as long as I get this fixed, and we will work on it [today].”
The Rangers, who have scored 12 goals in six games while going 1-for-22 on the power play following last night’s 0-for-4 that included a failed 57-second five-on-three late in the second, have much to work on. They have not come close to resembling last year’s Back-and-Blueshirt squad that battled for every square inch of the ice while working consistently in the dirty areas.
Dubinsky, Anisimov, Ruslan Fedotenko (on the second power-play unit while Wojtek Wolski was a healthy scratch) and Derek Stepan (who missed the net by a mile from the left circle on the five-on-three) have yet to score. Callahan has one goal, the Rangers’ first of the season. Brad Richards seems tentative with the puck on the point of a confused power play.
“We have to win battles in the defensive zone,” Dubinsky said. “We have to get the puck out, we need to get it down low and go to work to create scoring chances, none of which we’re doing,” said Dubinsky. “The way we’re playing as a line is not acceptable.
“We’re supposed to be leaders, we’re supposed to be counted on. We have to figure it out. We have to support each other. If we don’t do that, and we didn’t, we [stink].”
Ah, there’s that [word] again.