PHILADELPHIA – It seemed like such a natural over the summer. The Rangers’ first line would consist of Petr Nedved, Theo Fleury and Valeri Kamensky, three fleet, creative veterans. But not so fast. Because while an arm injury cost Kamensky six of the season’s first seven games, Nedved and Fleury couldn’t seem to connect. And so the line, at least temporarily, has become history.
“I don’t have a good explanation for you why Theo and I didn’t seem to click,” Nedved, now playing with Kamensky and Mike Knuble, said here last night before the Rangers met the Flyers in the first of a home-and-home that will conclude Friday at the Garden. “I don’t think it has anything to do with our styles. I don’t know; maybe it’s just that we weren’t at the top of our game at the same times, often enough.”
Nedved likes to create speed for himself by winding through the neutral zone, puck on his stick. Fleury, too, likes to carry the puck. But Nedved, who had scored two goals in the season’s first nine games, didn’t think that was the root of the problem.
“It’s hard now the way the game is played in this league for anyone to keep the puck on his stick too long and try to skate through the other team,” he said. “Theo and I talked about it a lot, that the best way for us to be successful would be to work a lot of give-and-go’s, to move the puck as quickly as possible.
“We knew what we wanted to do. It’s just that we didn’t do it. And like I said, I’m not exactly sure what the reason is. Maybe we’ll get another chance. If we do, I’d expect it to be better.”
If there’s a lack of chemistry between Nedved and Fleury, they’re not alone in experiencing that problem. The Rangers do not yet look like a team. There’s little cohesion in creating an attack off a breakout. There’s little that appears instinctive as the traveling party attempts to become a team. The Rangers entered last night’s match at 4-4-1, with a chance to be .500 at the 10-game mark for the first time since going 6-3-1 in the opening segment of the 1995-96 season. They were 3-5-2 in 1996-97, 2-4-4 in 1997-98, 3-4-3 last year.
“We know that this is an important week for us,” said Brian Leetch, who has been saddled with attempting to make up for the myriad mistakes of his partner, Kevin Hatcher. “We’re always aware of trying to put some distance between ourselves and .500, and some distance between ourselves and teams out of playoff positions.”
Incredibly, the Rangers haven’t been two games over .500 since the end of the 1996-97 season. They were one over once in each of the last two seasons. They’ve been one over twice this year. But they haven’t been able to take the next step.
Indeed, given the opportunity to do so at home Tuesday against the Sharks, the Rangers crumpled in the face of adversity. A poor call by referee Bernie DeGrace put them two men down early in the second; the Sharks scored twice within 20 seconds to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. Not only were the Rangers unable to ever get that goal back, losing by 2-1, they did not respond at all. They were outshot 9-0 in the first 4:45 of the period.
“We tightened up after they got the lead,” said Leetch. “We didn’t even try to make plays for the next 10 or 12 minutes.”
Said Muckler: “When they got the momentum, we went into a defensive mode; we sat back. When things go wrong, we have to be prepared for it, and work through it.”
Ulf Samuelsson, whom Philadelphia signed to a two-year, $4.2 million deal on Monday ($1.8M this year, $2.4M next season), did not play last night. He is expected to make his Flyer debut at the Garden tomorrow night…Rangers entered the match 4-for-45 on the power play.