The Rangers had scored a total of five goals in the five-game (0-4-1) losing streak they carried into tonight’s Garden match against the Caps.
In those five games, they’d gotten goals from two forwards: three from Nikolai Zherdev, one from Markus Naslund.
Ryan Callahan hadn’t scored a goal in his past 11. Nigel Dawes hadn’t scored a goal in his past eight. Aaron Voros hadn’t scored in his past 21. Fred Sjostrom had one goal in his past 33 games. Lauri Korpikoski had one in his past nine. Chris Drury hadn’t scored in his past eight.
Yet, Petr Prucha was still unable to get into the lineup, the $1.6 million winger tabbed as a healthy scratch for the fifth straight time, seventh game in the past eight, and the 34th time in the club’s first 55 games.
Nothing about it computes, neither the lineup decisions nor Tom Renney’s explanation of them when asked specifically about Prucha following the morning skate.
“The difficulty I have with Prooch is that he’s a serviceable guy, no question, and he does have an offensive flair to him, no doubt about that,” Renney said. “But I do have concerns with his ability to sustain it, and I have concerns with the size of our team in general and our ability to play big, strong opponents.”
At this juncture, though, with the Rangers in danger of spiraling out of control and out of a playoff berth, the issue doesn’t concern sustainability. The issue is the immediate offensive spark that might be provided by Prucha, who twice previously scored in his first game into lineup following lengthy stretches of enforced inaction.
Dec. 3, after being designated as a healthy scratch for the previous 10 games, Prucha scored a late third-period tying goal in what became a 3-2 shootout victory over the Penguins. Then on Dec. 29, after having been scratched in the previous eight, Prucha scored an early third-period tying goal in what became a 5-4 victory over the Islanders.
Indeed, Prucha scored the Rangers’ only goal in their next game, a Jan. 3, 2-1 defeat in Washington.
It’s not about sustainability in the midst of this crisis. And it’s not about size. It’s about the ability to win battles and get to the front of the net and move guys out and play with a determined edge. These are qualities the Rangers have lacked pretty much all season a when Prucha has been out of the lineup as well as in, though he competes as hard anyone on the roster.
Renney did suggest that Prucha could be restored to active duty imminently, but Renney’s been saying that all year. The coach also has been talking for weeks about sitting his top players if they merit benching, but other than Scott Gomez in the third period of Friday’s 10-2 loss in Dallas, that pledge has not materialized into reality.
“I don’t know how much longer I can [scratch] Petr, in fairness to him,” Renney said. “He won’t go [against Washington], but I’m certainly looking at him as maybe a key guy going forward.
“Right now, it’s a one-off. Every game will be evaluated unto itself. It’s not easy for Petr for sure, and it’s not easy for fans of Prooch to watch that.”
It’s not easy for fans of the Rangers to watch them, is maybe what the head coach meant to say.