The Rangers may have hit rock bottom in their 2-1 loss to the Blackhawks on Monday. If this is not floor, then the concerns apparent for the last month have much further to fall. New York got off to a strong start for the second straight game, but were unable to sustain their effort and level of play, allowing Chicago to carry the game for most of the remainder of the contest. The Blueshirts face a struggling Sabres team Wednesday, but none of us have confidence in them notching a win.
Rangers lineup vs. Blackhawks:
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith
Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko
Edström-Carrick-Berard
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Schneider
Jones-Mancini
Shesterkin
Quick
Scratches: Vesey, Mackey, Brodzinski
A few thoughts:
1)
The memo - if the memo was to kick his team in the rear and have the squad play better and with more passion and effort, GM Chris Drury certainly misread the possible impact. Since then, New York is 2-6-0 with wins over Montreal and Pittsburgh and a whole lot of ugliness, even in those two victories. Overall, they have lost eight of their last 10 following a mirage like 12-4-1 start.
The lack of passion and effort in most of those contests has been way too noticeable, to the point that the team was rightly booed through much of the third period and off the ice at the end of game Monday. Finding positives has become even more challenging. The definition of insanity is repeating the same action and expecting a different result. This looks to be the case with New York, because the same errors keep occurring, with shocker of shocks, the same result happening.
2)
Lather, rinse, repeat - you can tell coach Peter Laviolette is frustrated beyond belief. His press conferences have gotten terser and terser while his comments are said through parsed lips. But whatever message he is delivering isn’t being received, or if it is, it’s being ignored.
“It could be fatigue, could be mental, could be anything – but regardless, it's unacceptable. We’ve got to be better than that. You're not going to win hockey games if we can't execute. We haven't talked about that much, but tonight, execution was clearly (an issue) with the puck. We couldn't make five-foot passes or connect on the 20-foot pass or come out of D zone coverage or in the offensive zone. We just couldn't connect on the plays."
My tweet to this comment was such: “Water is wet. Lather, rinse, repeat. When you hear the same refrain over and over, from several coaches, the message gets lost and you become numb to the comments. Allocate ice time to those who deserve it. Maybe that will send a message and force change.”
Yesterday, after a solid game Friday and okay Sunday, Mika Zibanejad was brutal again. Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone, as the top-six struggled. But his turnover and then failure to mark Tyler Bertuzzi at the far post led to the first goal.
These numbers are staggering: “the Rangers' top six, which had largely produced positive results in the previous two games, were shellacked by a Chicago team they should have had their way with. The Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafrenière and Chris Kreider-Zibanejad-Reilly Smith lines combined for only two HD chances while allowing eight, with shot attempts going 32-26 against them.”
On defense, K’Andre Miller is lost. His regression the past two seasons is astounding. Playing man to man defense is clearly not his speciality. His turnover at the opposing blue line led to to the second goal (and can we please stop with snow angels on two on ones. They don’t work and leave the goalie vulnerable). Yesterday, he brought down Braden Schneider to his level, as there was a 6-1 advantage in HD chances for the Blackhawks while that duo was on the ice.
3)
Hot start fizzles - The Rangers were credited with 15 shots on goal and six high-danger scoring chances in the first period, according to Natural Stat Trick, but didn't have much to show for it. Their one goal came shorthanded by Will Cuylle late in the period, but they handled the puck like it was a hand grenade, failing to connect on simple plays.
In the second and third, though, it was all Chicago. The Hawks earned 12 shots on goal and six HD chances of their own in the middle 20 minutes, while New York was limited to only one HDCF. That’s astonishing bad. But maybe down 2-1 heading into the third would kickstart New York.
How wrong we were. The Blueshirts posted only three shots on goal through the first 12 minutes of the period and finished the frame with just seven. That’s unacceptable and represents a lack of push and effort and wherewithal. If you had a sense of pride, seven shots should have happened in the first part of the stanza, not the whole period.
Overall:
I am not going to say the team has quit, because that’s hard to fully prove and a few are bringing effort. But the majority of the squad appears to have checked out. Whether it’s mentality, caused by the memo, the treatment of players, the grind to get back to where they were twice in the last three years, or physical, something is just not right. The team has appeared off all season and it’s reared its ugly head the last 10 games, as they look more and more disengaged each contest.
Laviolette has to start rewarding the kids even more as they deserve it. The Kid Line and Brett Berard brought energy and deserved to be on the ice late. Mika and Kreider have not earned the right to be on late. Maybe the sooner ice time is merit based, possibly the sooner a change occurs. Mika is his own worst enemy. The slump has impacted him mentally which has resulted in a major decline in his production and his play as he tries to dig out from under. Success begets success and failure begets more failure. This is where I think he is at, how that’s fixed is a major question.
I don’t think Adam Fox is still right physically. The knee to knee hit by Sebastian Aho might have started the decline. Nick Jensen’s similar incident in the playoffs has exacerbated it. He looks like a shell of the player who made quick reads and movements, despite the lack of speed, to escape trouble and create space. Ryan Lindgren may still not be 100% and trying too hard to prove he deserves a new deal. Maybe Connor Mackey warrants a game or two to try a new look and give Lindgren a mental health day.
Laviolette is rumored to not yet be in trouble. The longer this goes, the slippier his slope gets. Maybe the team is waiting for the stretch run to wake up - the problem is that could be too late.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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