The Rangers allowed Montreal to race up-and-down the ice, counterattacking with odd-man rushes at will in a 5-2 loss Saturday. The Canadiens took advantage of the Blueshirts' overaggressive nature to send wave after wave on Alexandar Georgiev. Several defensive blunders, especially from Brady Skjei, were also the story of the loss while Alexander Georgiev was under siege all night.
Game recap:
Shea Weber, who returned Tuesday after being sidelined since Dec. 16, 2017, gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 3:53 of the first period. He scored on a one-timer from the left point off a pass from Jonathan Drouin. Lousy own-zone coverage, both from the forwards and defensemen were keys to the wide open spaces in the defensive zone. The Kevin Hayes (who was invisible), Chris Kreider (slightly better but not by much) and Filip Chytil (who was deep in the zone and didn't have a chance at deflecting the Drouin pass) were on the ice.
If the first goal wasn't a great one to surrender - credit given to Weber for a howitzer - the second one was woof. New York had outplayed Montreal after killing a penalty at the 8:35 mark of the stanza. With about 15 seconds left, at worst, New York should exit the period down 1-0 and enter the second with momentum. So much for that idea.
This is what coach David Quinn said:
"To give that goal up in the fashion that we did really was a tough pill to swallow and tough to overcome. You know we're not in a great mindset right now, and to come in the second period down 2-0, playing the way we did the last seven or eight minutes and give up a goal like that, really set us back....That was a crusher. I'm not going to lie to you, that was a crusher."
Here is how Larry Brooks' described it. Accurate, including the issue with the forwards. But to me, he could have taken Skjei, who was minus-three on the first three goals against, to task a lot more.
This was largely a mindless performance, typified to the extreme by Brady Skjei’s blunder with under 10 seconds to play in the first period when the defenseman stopped playing to contest a delayed tripping penalty call awaiting him and thus permitted a fallen Tomas Tatar to feed a wide-open Weber in the slot for the goal that made it 2-0 at 19:53.
The whole thing was nonsensical, with Skjei turning away to argue with the nearby linesman, Greg Devorski, who obviously had nothing to do with the call that was made by a referee 60 feet away from the play. Then again, none of Skjei’s teammates were able to ride to the rescue. The three forwards on the ice — Mika Zibanejad, Jesper Fast and Jimmy Vesey — had all been trapped below the offensive zone hash marks while the Habs swept in on one of many odd-man rushes with Brendan Smith also up ice.
“He stopped, but Brady’s not the only guy to do it in the league, unfortunately,” David Quinn said. “Guys throw their arms up to [complain]. Other guys stopped, too [on that play]. It wasn’t just Brady.”
You play to the whistle. You don't stop in the middle of the action, especially in your own. You don't quit on a play. The regression we saw last year in Skjei has continued unabated. He was scratched earlier this season, and his performance lately, but especially tonight, where he was a minus-three, should land him back in the press box for Sunday's contest. New York rewarded Skjei - thinking that last year was a mild aberration and he would grow under Quinn - with a long-term deal this off-season. I am not about to say yet that was a major blunder, but he sure hasn't earned that contract yet.
The $ amount is high, but the cap % usage and expected rise in the cap, should hopefully help mitigate the risk of the contract. However, that requires Skjei to play at least reasonably well. That has yet to be the case. Coach Alain Vigneault sheltered Skjei, using him against weaker forwards. For the contract to be worthwhile, Skjei has to at least play like a #3 defenseman, ideally as a top-two, but right now, that's crazy talk. But he is not even playing as a third pair, making the deal look bad. He needs to find his game at both ends of the ice. with seven healthy d-man and Adam McQuaid two weeks away, Skjei has not been good, but he has had company lately, including last night.
Kreider gave his thoughts on that goal, which were pretty accurate as well. The piece on not playing before is more certainly on the money. Overall, the team is missing something, beyond just the injured players. Much of the good vibes from the 9-1-1 stretch and also beginning of the year, when they were losing but playing well, has been lost. A solid, complete victory would go a long way to restoring some level of confidence.
"Yeah, that hurts," Kreider said. "I thought we played a pretty strong 20 minutes, but that's hockey sometimes, right? I thought we were tilting the ice pretty good and we come away down two. It's gone the other way for us a couple of times, too. We've been outplayed and we've been able to pot our chances here and there. So it's hard because then I think we get a little overanxious. We weren’t playing that great at home before we started with these road games. We were pressing, got a little bit anxious, stretched it out, and gave up two-on-one’s left and right.”
Arturri Lehkonen extended the lead to 3-0 at 2:04 of the second period, scoring short side from the left circle on a 2-on-1. Shock of shocks, another bad pinch by Skjei with the forwards also also caught deep. Neal Pionk, who was one of the few blueliners to play well, made a horrific decision to try and pass the puck through the center of the ice from his own zone by the end line. Lehkonen stole the puck and made it 4-0 at 5:29, Pionk turnover. Tatar tallied Montreal's fifth goal, as Brendan Smith was caught flat footed, allowing Montreal to gain the zone. The goal, which came on the power play, was set up when Skjei batted the puck out of play resulting in a delay of game penalty.
Jimmy Vesey scored as did Ryan Strome, the latter coming on the power play, Zib posted assists on both tallies. But honestly, those were mainly window dressing. Granted, those score made it 4-2, but New York had just three shots in the third, none the first 11 minutes or so of the period. The Rangers have been outscored 19-7 in their past four road games (0-4-0) and have the joy of facing Winnipeg on Vic Hadfield night tonight.
For a bit of good news:
New York Rangers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»