New York Rangers
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3 Rangers takeaways after lackluster 4-0 loss to Devils further damages playoff hopes
Source: https://www.foreverblueshirts.com/n...loss-to-devils-further-damages-playoff-hopes/
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Time is beginning to run out on the New York Rangers’ hopes of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.
A 4-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Saturday afternoon dropped the Rangers four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference after the Canadiens held off the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Saturday night. The Rangers have six games remaining – four of them against the top 11 teams (by point percentage) in the NHL.
New York begins a stretch of four games in six days on Monday when the Tampa Bay Lightning (who clinched a playoff berth when the Rangers lost) come to Madison Square Garden.
For whatever reason, the Rangers didn’t seem very enthused about playing one of their biggest rivals in a game they absolutely needed to win. The special teams failed again, allowing the Devils to score a power-play goal four seconds after Sam Carrick was sent off for interference 10:52 into the second period of a scoreless game, then allowing a shorthanded goal 1:27 later.
The rest of the afternoon was almost academic. Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves for his second shutout of the Rangers at the Rock this season while improving his career record against the Blueshirts to 12-4-3. Timo Meier scored his second of the game with 4:59 remaining in the third period, and Nico Hischier’s empty-netter added insult to injury to a game that saw the Rangers allow just 16 shots, matching the fewest they’ve surrendered this season – they lost that game as well, 3-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 28.
The Rangers aren’t out of it by any means. But losing a game to a team that has little to play for – the Devils are all but locked into third place in the Metropolitan Division and a first-round playoff series against the second-place Carolina Hurricanes – doesn’t say much for a team that’s supposedly desperate to make the playoffs.
Related: ‘Brain-dead’ Rangers shredded by broadcasters during 4-0 loss to Devils
Three Rangers takeaways from 4-0 loss to Devils
Here are three takeaways from a damaging Rangers loss to one of their biggest rivals.
1. Power outage continues
The Rangers were third in the NHL on the power play last season at 26.4 percent. This season? Try 27th. New York is 34 for 198 (17.2 percent) after going 0-for-2 against the Devils. They are 2-for-43 since a second-period power-play goal against the Nashville Predators on March 2 – and have allowed three shorthanded goals in their past four games, including the back-breaker to the Devils 87 seconds after New Jersey had taken a 1-0 lead.
In other words, for the past five weeks, the Rangers’ power play is minus-1. For a team that has relied on its power play so heavily in recent years, failing to turn man-advantages into goals can be fatal.
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“We’re looking for something offensively, maybe pressing too much,” coach Peter Laviolette said of the shorthanded goals. “Any time you’re doing that, you’re subject to get caught the other way.”
Defenseman Adam Fox, who quarterbacks the power play, said the lack of production with the extra man is killing the Rangers.
“It’s the difference right now, right? The margin is so thin,” Fox said. “I think 5-on-5 we’ve been pretty good, and you let up shorthanded goals, you let up power-play goals against, you lose games by 1-2. Tie 5-on-5 or even win the 5-on-5 game — it’s costing us. It has been for a little bit now.”
2. Three is not a lucky number, especially for the goalies
The Rangers entered Saturday having won back-to-back games seven times since Nov. 14-19, the last time they’ve won three in a row. They had a chance to end that against the Devils – and failed again.
Instead, they fell to 0-4-4 when trying for a third straight win. That’s no way to make the playoffs.
The power-play issues have been the most noticeable problems, but they’re not the only ones. The Rangers are filled with east-west players who are being urged to play a north-south game. Igor Shesterkin has been fine in goal, and Jonathan Quick is a capable backup, but they’re facing far too many Grade A chances.
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The Rangers have relied on their goaltending, especially Shesterkin, to erase their mistakes. That’s not happening often enough this season.
“Obviously we have our goaltending, but like our I feel like our goaltending has been there,” said forward Mika Zibanejad, one of the players whose performance has dropped off sharply. “They’ve been helping us, and we’re not helping them.”
3. Do they really want it?
There’s a line from an old song by folk singer Pete Seeger in which he laments that, “My get up and go has got up and went.” That’s a pretty good description of the Rangers as they push – not very hard – for a playoff berth.
Though it took New Jersey more than half the game to score, there was little doubt which team wanted the game more. Though the Devils are all but locked into the postseason, they played with much more spirit and energy than the Rangers, who are desperately seeking to avoid going from Presidents’ Trophy winners in 2023-24 to postseason non-participants this season.
The Rangers are the only team in the NHL that has not won a game this season when trailing by more than one goal. The four teams they’re battling with for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference – the Montreal Canadiens, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders – each have at least three such wins.
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New York certainly played like a team whose drive and compete level had “got up and went” after the Devils grabbed their two-goal lead midway through the second period. Their 26-16 edge in shots on goal was deceptive; New Jersey controlled the tempo for most of the afternoon, and when the Rangers got an opportunity to score, Markstrom made sure the puck stayed out of the net.
“There just doesn’t seem to be that internal drive or fight right now from the Rangers,” ABC analyst Ray Ferraro said afterward of the team he played for during the 1995-96 season. “They seemed resigned (to missing the playoffs), but they’re still in it.”
Source: https://www.foreverblueshirts.com/n...loss-to-devils-further-damages-playoff-hopes/
