For the first 10 minutes of Monday night’s game, one could easily see why the Rangers were 7-1-0 and riding a seven-game winning streak. Then reality set in, and they allowed six unanswered goals by the Sharks, who went on to spank the Rangers, 7-3.
It never is a good sign for any team when its starting goalie is given the night off then forced to come in relief after a bad performance by the backup. But that was exactly the scenario that unfolded Monday night, as Henrik Lundqvist played the third period after Steven Valquette allowed five goals on 18 shots through the first two periods. Though Valiquette didn’t look very sharp, his teammates didn’t help, drawing seven minor penalties.
“We have been talking about this for some time, about the penalties,” Vinny Propsal said. “If you look at their personnel, this is a team that has a lot of skilled players that capitalize on the power plays, and that is what happened tonight. It is something we have to learn from.”
That personnel includes Dany Heatley (three points per game) and Devin Setoguchi (four ppg), who each scored power-play goals Monday.
“We started off fine, but put ourselves in penalty problems,” coach John Tortorella said. “Watching the game, it wasn’t as bad as the score was, but we have some things to work on.”
Though the Rangers 88.7-percent penalty killing ranks fifth in the league, the 49 times shorthanded is tops in the league. The bottom line: The Rangers cannot expect to win every game while compiling the most penalties in the league.