The Rangers are a work in progress that doesn’t quite seem to be progressing, unless four losses in five games represents a unique strain of development.
Once again last night the Blueshirts fell behind. Indeed, once again last night the Blueshirts fell behind 2-0. This marked the third time in the last four matches they’d allowed themselves to be pushed into that hole by coming out tentatively and carelessly.
And though the Rangers rallied to send the game into overtime and beyond, Edmonton recorded a 3-2 victory at the Garden when Ales Hemsky beat an otherwise outstanding Henrik Lundqvist in the bottom of the second for the contest’s only shootout goal.
“We say all of the right things about having good starts, so you would think it would carry over, but it doesn’t,” said Markus Naslund, who was denied in his bid to extend the shootout by neophyte netminder Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers’ glove save.
“The only thing I can think of is individual preparation. Maybe we’re too concerned about making mistakes, so we stay back instead of taking the game to our opponent. Then when we fall behind, we have no choice.”
The Rangers have scored 13 first-period goals, 13 second-period goals and 19 third-period goals in going 11-5-2 overall. They’ve scored two first-period goals, three second-period goals and six third-period goals in going 1-3-1 in their last five games.
“We have a lot of confidence in ourselves in the third period, but probably one of the reasons we’ve been as good as we have been is that we cut down to three lines a lot in the third,” said Lundqvist. “Our top players get more ice in the third period, so it’s easier to get going.”
Well, maybe, but the Rangers’ problems pitching in with complete games weren’t created because of a paucity of ice time for their most talented forwards. The problems rather have developed because of an inability to create a hard forecheck, an inability to capitalize on transition, and an inability to mesh.
Coach Tom Renney juggled two of his four line combinations for the match, inserting Lauri Korpikoski into the lineup and into the middle of a line with wingers Aaron Voros and Dan Fritsche while Chris Drury, who scored the tying goal from in front at 0:46 of the third, shifted back to wing on the unit with Brandon Dubinsky and Nikolai Zherdev.
But by the third, Voros was back on Dubinsky’s wing and Drury moved through the lineup, getting some time with a revived Scott Gomez, some time with Dubinsky, some time with Korpikoski. The Blair Betts-Fred Sjostrom-Colton Orr line remained intact and steadfast, with Betts particularly shining yet again.
The problems have also been a byproduct of the ongoing issues that have plagued Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival. Neither has been strong one-on-one. Neither has been able to consistently deliver the quick, accurate headman feed to spring forwards on the breakout or in transition.
And so the Rangers are 6-5-2 since their 5-0 getaway. They’re surviving, if not thriving, primarily because of their goaltending, but secondarily because they don’t give up.
“It’s not like we had a bad game,” said Lundqvist. “We came back from 2-0 and got a point. It’s never fun to lose, but we should take the positive and move forward.”
The definition of forward, is?
SHOOTOUT Oilers 3 Rangers 2