The Rangers' recent offensive woes continued Sunday, as they failed to score in a 2-0 loss to the Senators. New York is now 0-3-1 in their last four at MSG and 15-7-1 overall. Ottawa swept their back-to-back, buoyed by Craig Anderson, who stopped 65 of 66 shots to grab both wins, as he plays through the health issues with his wife.
Coach Alain Vigneault changed the lines to start yesterday's game:
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Jesper Fast
Michael Grabner-Kevin Hayes-Brandon Pirri
Rick Nash-J.T. Miller-Mats Zuccarello
Matt Puempel-Josh Jooris-Jimmy Vesey
With the Rangers offense struggling to do much of anything, AV shuffled the lines to start the third period yesterday:
Zuccarello started w/ Stepan and Kreider
Grabner with Miller and Nash.
Pumpel with Hayes and Vesey
That left Jooris-Pirri-Fast
That didn't do much of anything, as the play in the third might have been worse then the first and second periods. With Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich out, AV is trying different combinations to spur the offense. It may be time to return to what was used at times earlier in the season and go with:
Miller/Hayes/Grabner
Vesey/Stepan/Nash
Kreider/Pirri/Zucc
That then leaves Puempel/Jooris/Fast as the fourth line. If you want to swap Vesey and Kreider, I could see that. Same maybe with Zucc and Grabner, but go with some combinations and allow them to try and build some chemistry.
Sunday's game was similar to what we have seen recently. As the Post noted, after the explosion out of the gate through which the Rangers resembled the 1984-85 Oilers by scoring 72 goals while going 13-4 through their first 17 games, the Blueshirts have been limited to 13 goals while going 2-3-1 in their last six. After scoring three or fewer in three of the first 17, they’ve failed to get to four in four of their last six matches.
I don't any of us are surprised at the recent offensive downtown. Expecting four-plus goals a game would have been foolish, especially when you factor in the ridiculously overinflated shooting percentage. Add in the absences of Zib and Buch, and a downtown was surely in the cards. But it's downturn has occurred that is most problematic.
When New York was rolling, it was tic-tac-toe from D to O and breakouts through the neutral zone using their team speed to generate chances and odd-man rushes. Teams, especially recently have caught on, which we saw against Carolina and Columbus, then yesterday by Ottawa. Rangers' opponents are clogging the neutral zone, forcing New York to go 180 feet plodding up the ice rather than via stretch passes, which would enable the team speed to take over the game. In addition, its four men at the red or blue line, at times like a picket fence and occasionally using interference to slow down the game and make it a slogging affair.
Against that strategy, stickhandling up the ice is almost impossible. The sheer volume of bodies to get through prevents that style of play. Yet, all we have is New York try that approach and fail miserably. Adjust. adjust, adjust. But the Rangers have either mentally or physically resisted doing so. The mental part shows stubbornness on the coaching staff and as well as the skaters on the ice. Chip and charge. Dump and chase. Then try the breakout passes and hope the change in approach create a hole or two, whereby you can use your speed.
I was mistaken in some of my tweets during and after yesterday's game. The Rangers actually played pretty well in the first, especially Rick Nash. Anderson came up big, making several key saves, especially one on Brandon Pirri following a Nash feed. Though Pirri had a half a net to score on and just put it into Anderson's pads. After that frame, Ottawa played their game to a T, while New York failed to adjust; situations that became the norm when the Senators got a 1-0 lead.
As the paper noted, It was 0-0 when Miller had to leave the game for a short stretch at 1:46 of the second to receive stitches after taking a Zuccarello shot on the leg. Kevin Hayes came on to replace him for a defensive left-wing draw. Zack Smith won the draw, it went around the net to Tom Pratt. Nick Holden was in good shape with Pratt near the half boards. But Kevin Klein for some inexplicable reason decided to cheat over that way as well, leaving the front of the net. Pyatt fed Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and with Klein in the wrong position and Kevin Hayes failing to stay with him in the slot, Pageau beat Antti Raanta unmarked from in front. That was basically all she wrote.
Ottawa’s made it 2-0 on a power play goal scored by Mark Stone on a short-side drive at 16:11 of the second. That tally came immediately after Nick Holden’s attempted clear from deep in the zone deflected off referee Frederick L’Ecuyer and remained in the zone for the Senators to gather. Klein was in the wrong position again, cheating towards Mike Hoffman, leaving Stone alone on the side of the slot. Once it became 2-0, you really knew it was over.
The power play went 0-for-4, as AV at times rolled out four left shooters. The units really miss Zib's one timers from the dots or at least the threat of that shot. Derek Stepan doesn't have the same ability and AV refuses to play a D-man who at least can shoot it. So what we get is a lot of passing or attempted passing and no shooters that scare the PK or the goalie.
Ottawa has to get credit as they didn't alter their style even after a so-so first. Getting that first goal emboldened the team even more to stay with it. The specter of a back to back and possible late wear and tear didn't factor in, though New York did little to press the situation. Comments by Ryan McDonagh noted both of these ideas, Ottawa' strong play and the Rangers' failure to adjust.
"We are a team that likes to create on the rush and they didn't give us many opportunities to do that," McDonagh said. "They didn't turn pucks over; they made sure they got pucks in deep. They made us go the full length of the ice for the majority of the game and they had numbers back. But in the end we have to find a way - some in-zone plays, running our cycles, getting pucks up top, and getting shots down at the net. There are other ways to create offense and that was a test for us tonight that we didn't accomplish."
"Obviously teams have seen a lot of us now," McDonagh added. "You might be seeing teams for a second time now at this point in the season. They understand our speed game is a big strength of ours. It is up to us defensively in units of five creating those turnovers and not spending a lot of time in our zone and us moving the puck up to our forwards quick, catching them when they are not in their structure."
Part of this has to be on AV. Klein has been lousy the last few weeks. For all the criticism afforded Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, Klein has been by far the weakest of those three. Holden has been solid as has Brady Skjei. We know what McDonagh is. But for some reason AV let's Clendening sit game after game. I don't believe Clendening is the end all and be all, but if you are willing to criticize and sit forwards for struggling, do the same with a d-man who deserves to be benched.
Up front, New York needs a lot more from Chris Kreider. With Zib and Buch out and Jimmy Vesey hitting an early-season wall, someone has to step up. Before he was hurt, CK20 looked prime for a breakout season. Whether he isn't fully healthy or he is just scuffling to get back to where he was, Kreider has looked nothing like that player since returning. He needs to put the offense on his back a little, as he did to begin the season. Because right now, he isn't doing much of anything
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