Last night’s 3-1 loss at the Garden to Ottawa wasn’t only an indication of how far the Rangers have to go in order to be on par with the elite Senators, it served as an illustration of how far the Blueshirts have to go in order to become a team.
Five games into the season, and it’s been nothing but fits and starts for the Rangers, who came within a Jaromir Jagr goal with 1:09 to play of suffering shutouts on consecutive Saturdays to the Eastern playoff champions. Five games into the season, the Rangers appear no closer to bonding than they did the day training camp broke.
It isn’t as if they’re not trying, and it isn’t as if they don’t care, but the 2-3-0 Rangers haven’t been capable of constructing a solid three-zone, 60-minute performance. The attack is sputtering and the breakout has been as painful to observe as was the Luke Richardson right hook that kayoed Brandon Dubinsky with 2:53 to go in the game. There’s no synchronicity either among the forwards or between the forwards and defense.
It also didn’t help that the Rangers gave up three goals in 52 seconds in the second period.
Scott Gomez, whom coach Tom Renney united with Jagr over the final 22:30, hasn’t been able to find or create open ice on the rush, and that’s his signature. Jagr has neither been able to get to the net one-on-one or get the one-timer through. Brendan Shanahan is still without a goal on the season, this despite recording 13 shots last night (three off the franchise record established by Rod Gilbert almost 40 years ago), 20 the last two games, and 32 on the season.
“The one thing we have to do is avoid hoping we get better,” Renney said. “There’s thinking you’ll win, there’s hoping you’ll win, and there’s knowing you’ll win.
“You can’t kid yourself into wins.”
Funny, but even as the Rangers and Senators were scoreless into the second, the Blueshirts always appeared to be hoping the puck into the net. Instead, the Senators capitalized on Ranger breakdowns at both ends of the ice to score three times on three shots within 52 seconds midway through the period just as they scored twice in 53 seconds of the first period in last week’s 2-0 win in Ottawa.
“Talking about play in the defensive zone, [un]familiarity with one another is a bad excuse,” said Chris Drury, who skated between Shanahan and Martin Straka in the third. “We have a few new guys, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to lean on.”
Jagr’s goal off a scramble in front of Martin Gerber allowed the Rangers to avoid their 11th scoreless period of the 15 they’ve played thus far.
Indeed, the Rangers have scored in three of their last 12 periods of hockey. What’s more (or less), the Blueshirts have gotten two even-strength goals in their last 246:58, with Jagr and Fedor Tyutin (against the Islanders) the scorers.
“We’re not satisfied with the way we’re playing, but I don’t feel like we’re going in the wrong direction,” Shanahan said. “We haven’t played with the lead very much this season. We’ve been playing catch-up hockey, and that makes a difference in both the way we play and in the way our opponents can play.”