The season isn’t yet two weeks old and yet over the course of the final 10 minutes of the Rangers’ 3-1 defeat to the Avalanche last night, the Garden had the feel of late winter with the Blueshirts already out of the playoff hunt.
“I can’t tell that,” said Henrik Lundqvist, blameless yet not brilliant. “But maybe everybody was just waiting for something to happen to get them going.”
Lundqvist, who has allowed 15 goals in the Blueshirts’ 1-2-1 getaway that includes three straight losses since the Oct. 9 opening victory in Buffalo, was talking about the fans, not his teammates.
At times, though, it seemed as if the Rangers were waiting for someone else to make something happen, especially on the power play that rarely threatened while going 0-for-5 over 10:00 and is now 2-for-17 overall.
The team lacks a shooter from the point and, without the injured Marian Gaborik, lacks a one-shot finisher from the slot and the circles. Unable to get the puck through from the top and lacking a quarterback to run it from the half-wall or down low, the Rangers unfortunately seem to be exactly the sum of their parts on the man-up unit that hasn’t manned-up.
“No one can fill Gabby’s shoes, but we can’t worry about that, we have to focus on simplifying things and making sure we get shots through from the point,” said Michael Del Zotto, who had 7:48 of power-play point time. “We had some opportunities, but . . . we have to bury our chances.”
Del Zotto was in the box for tripping when the Avalanche broke a 1-1 tie for the winner at 7:20 of the third when Chris Stewart got his second power-play goal of the night, his second from in front, and Colorado’s second on their two man-advantages.
This was the third straight game the Rangers yielded a power-play winner in either the third period or overtime. The penalty-killing unit that has allowed at least one goal in every game is 6-for-19. Now isn’t that special?
“Obviously [the PK] is not getting the job done right now,” said Marc Staal. “I think we were a little better at not taking so many penalties but when we did, it cost us.
“Obviously there are some things we need to iron out. You can’t win consistently if your special teams aren’t there.”
Alex Frolov, who got the Rangers’ goal in a four-on-four situation when his two-on-one feed to Staal banked in off diving defenseman Kyle Quincey late in the first, didn’t seem to mesh with Derek Stepan and Ruslan Fedotenko. Sean Avery is likely to be back on that line Thursday in Toronto.
At the same time, the intact Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan trio manufactured little, with Callahan missing the net from 15 feet on a right-wing rush early in the second on his best chance,
When asked if the Blueshirts might promote a forward from the AHL, coach John Tortorella said the staff would review the situation tomorrow. If there is a move, a power-play gunner from the point might be preferable to a minor league forward, but there is none in the system.
Of course, Michal Rozsival will shoot more once Jaromir Jagr is no longer here.