PITTSBURGH — Well, at least the Rangers lead the league in something, even if it is in players’ postgame meetings.
The Blueshirts felt the need to talk it over for the fourth time this season, and the third time in 15 games dating back to Dec. 2, following Friday night’s 5-2 defeat in which the club wasn’t nearly good enough to meaningfully compete against the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins.
An abundance of turnovers and negligence in defensive zone coverage combined to undermine the Rangers, who were 20-20 in their hindsight slipping to 20-20-2 entering Saturday night’s match in Toronto.
“Right now I’m not 100-percent sure why it went the way it did, but I feel as though we beat ourselves with turnovers from the start,” said Derek Stepan, whose team trailed 2-0 after the first period and 4-0 by the end of the second. “You can’t play that way, especially against a team that feeds off mistakes on the transition game.”
The Rangers outshot and out-attempted the Penguins by 35-28 and 63-45, respectively, but rarely were able to create off the forecheck or generate a meaningful even-strength attack while Pittsburgh picked apart the Blueshirts around Henrik Lundqvist’s net.
“It was just too easy for them to create chances,” said the perturbed goaltender. “I thought we did a lot of good things offensively, but being able to beat them starts with a good structure in our end.
“They’re always a good team in finding opportunities, they’re a top team, but it was a little too simple for them to make the play. We beat ourselves.”
Ryan Callahan returned to the lineup after missing nine games with the sprained left MCL he sustained on Dec. 10, but the Rangers lost Derek Dorsett to a broken leg he suffered blocking a Matt Niskanen shot seconds before Chris Kunitz scored on the power play at 13:09 of the first period for the match’s first goal.
Coach Alain Vigneault said following the match that Dorsett would be sidelined for four-to-six weeks. J.T. Miller, scratched on Friday to accommodate Callahan’s return, is the lone extra forward on the roster.
Pittsburgh’s Kunitz-Sidney Crosby-James Neal combination gave the Rangers fits throughout while the Blueshirts’ top line of Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and Rick Nash was very quiet at even-strength. Brad Richards had a very difficult night five-on-five as well in the match throughout which Pittsburgh seized the physical initiative and never let it go.
“They just jumped all over our mistakes,” said Nash, who has scored one goal in his last 10 games. “In the first period we had way too many turnovers, we didn’t get the puck in deep, and that set the tone.
“We have to stop making it hard on ourselves,” said No. 61, who had six shots, including four at even-strength. “We know that.
“There’s 110-percent urgency to clean this up.”
Jussi Jokinen scored at 18:40 of the first for a 2-0 Penguins lead after being left alone in front while taking advantage of a coverage blunder by either Nash or Benoit Pouliot. Jokinen then scored again at 1:09 of the second to build the Penguins’ edge to 3-0 to complete a rush through the neutral zone when the Blueshirts couldn’t quite possess the puck.
“The first period wasn’t very good, and playing from behind made it tough the rest of the game,” said Marc Staal, who finished the night minus-three with his partner Anton Stralman. “We have to be better in our end zone and manage the puck better.”
Mats Zuccarello and Ryan McDonagh scored at 7:43 and 11:53 of the third respectively after Crosby’s wicked backhand from the inner right circle had given Pittsburgh a 4-0 lead with 1:31 remaining in the second. But the Rangers’ rally was snuffed when Kunitz got his second of the game at 12:54 of third.
So it’s onto Toronto for the Rangers, who are 4-2 in their last six games but simply cannot gain meaningful traction on this season despite talking it over, over and over again.