There’s no brushing this one off, no looking back and taking the positives. At this time of year, there is no such thing as a moral victory.
So forget the 41 shots the Rangers peppered on Sharks goalie Antti Niemi, because as Sunday afternoon turned into Sunday evening, the Blueshirts still had a doughnut hanging on the Garden scoreboard, on the wrong side of a 1-0 loss that was their third in the past four games and finds them in rather treacherous standing with a baker’s dozen remaining on the schedule.
“This loss is so painful in so many ways,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, beaten only on a short-handed breakaway by Logan Couture 11:48 into the first, keeping him perched at 301 victories, still tied with Mike Richter for the most in franchise history. “We had so many open nets, so many chances to get back in this game, and we just couldn’t get it in. It’s extremely painful.”
What will be more painful is to look at what is going on around the Rangers, who at 36-29-4 are barely hanging on to the final wild-card spot in the East, usurped by both the Flyers and Blue Jackets for second and third, respectively, in the Metropolitan Division, both holding two games in hand. The Flyers completed a home-and-home sweep of the first-place Penguins on Sunday, something not lost on the Rangers.
“We definitely understand how important every point is right now,” Lundqvist said. “We go out here and play a really strong game against one of the best teams in the league, but it’s hard to be positive about a lot of things when you don’t win.”
The Rangers thought they got themselves back into the game with 3:15 remaining in the second period when Carl Hagelin wrapped around the net and appeared to jam the puck between Niemi’s skate and the near post. The officials ruled, however, that it was no goal. At the urging of Rangers assistant coach Scott Arniel, the referees went for a review back in the War Room in Toronto, and although it seemed as if the puck probably crossed the goal line, there was no conclusive evidence to back it up.
“This is not me saying it, some of my friends say it — they make it up as they go along,” is how coach Alain Vigneault decided to sheepishly dance around the question about the call. “I’m just going to leave it at that.”
The fact is the Rangers created a lot of offense, out-attempting the mighty Sharks 75-56. Yet Niemi highlighted his day with a wonderful point-blank stop on Derick Brassard just 35 seconds into the second period, and another dazzling stop on Ryan McDonagh just four minutes later, getting the Sharks (45-17-7) their sixth win a row.
“There is not a lot of time for moral victories,” said forward Brad Richards, whose team came in after a 1-2-0 road trip with duds in Carolina and Minnesota before Friday’s 4-2 win in Winnipeg. “The three road games were not our type of hockey. It was just bad hockey. [Sunday] was more our game: We had tempo, we got pucks to the net, and we have to keep believing that that’s going to cash in.”
So now the Rangers head out on a quick two-game jaunt starting in Ottawa on Tuesday, followed by what is shaping up to be a huge divisional game Friday in Columbus. And the season hangs on the thinnest of threads.
“Right now, it’s about points,” Lundqvist said. “It’s not about playing great against good teams. It’s about finding ways to win, and we didn’t. It’s just painful.”