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Blueshirts have an almost lost weekend, kickoff three game road trip in WPG |
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The Rangers nearly had a lost weekend. Saturday, the Blueshirts blew a 3-1 third period lead to fall 4-3 in overtime in Ottawa, who also won Monday 2-1 versus Detroit. Sunday, New York was nearly run off MSG ice in a 7-3 loss to Columbus. The only one point earned kept the Rangers on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.
I almost feeling like a Jim Mora playoffs rant is warranted. If you watched Sunday’s contest, under no way shape or form did you view this team as a postseason option. But oddly enough, they still have a chance, outside as that may be.
New York’s reward for blowing one game and getting hammered in the second? A nightmarish three game road trip. The Rangers face the Jets in Winnipeg tonight, followed by the Wild on Thursday and finish with the Jackets on Saturday. Just to keep it interesting, the Blueshirts take on the Oilers at home Sunday, the Flames, who are also battling for a playoff spot, on Tuesday and Maple Leafs on Thursday. If New York is going to make it to the postseason, they certainly will have to earn it.
Rangers lineup vs. Blue Jackets:
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Miller-Zibanejad
Kreider-Carrick-Berard
Othmann-Brodzinski-Rempe
Miller-Borgen
Vaakanainen-Schneider
Soucy-Jones
Quick
Shesterkin
Scratches: Pärssinen, de Haan, Kaliyev
IR: Edström (lower-body), Fox (upper-body)
You can shift the personnel and the lines, as the team did slightly Sunday, but the errors are still the same. Poor coverage through the neutral zone, evidenced in New York allowing the most shot attempts off the rush per game this season (16.7). A lack of proper handoffs in their own zone. The slot left wide open, as the team has surrendered the third most shot attempts from the slot per game (24.78) and a raft of slot passes leading to open shots. Blind cross ice passes at the opposing blueline have led to turnovers, adversely impacting and abetting the above numbers. An inability to change on the fly, leading to 12 - no that is not a misprint - too many men on the ice penalties. Where is the discipline and structure? Maybe it is the players, and that certainly is a big piece of it. But a system can mask deficiencies. Right now, whatever system they are playing exacerbates them.
I never call for a coach or coaches to be fired. But if New York continued to play as they have, I can’t see Peter Laviolette surviving. The same with Phil Housley. Where is the coach that with Philly would blister the paint off the wall. You see flashes of that annoyance and anger at press conferences but not enough. Maybe behind the scenes he still has the same fire and brimstone, but it’s been lacking in public.
The man to man defense just does not work. Despite evidence to that fact, no change in the structure appears to have to been made. The blueline is a work in progress due to all the new faces and lack of practice, so maybe that’s a factor. But earlier in the season with a familiar unit who knew the system, the issues persisted. Switching to a zone or hybrid structure would be smart but that also requires the forwards to be in the right position, another problem area as we have seen. But to solely blame Lavy is unfair, since this is the third coach that has had the same problem, so maybe it’s the players and not solely the coach.
New York’s fourth line has been their best trio. At least that group was rightfully rewarded with more ice time. We have seen Artemi Panarin show signs of his prior form, evidenced in his five game goal streak. The problem is that the solid shifts have been inconsistent, where we will see a few and then nothing for a while. New York had chances to hold on Wednesday and Saturday and blew both games. The mindset about and around this team would be vastly different if they had won both contests, despite Sunday’s loss. But when coupled together, the view is not pretty.
One major issue holding this team back is the power play. Almost all year it’s been a problem. The lack of a consistent attack, despite the names on the back of the jerseys on the ice, has been all too apparent. Chris Kreider was on the first PP on Sunday, and while they had good looks, once again, there was no success. If the man advantage struggles, additional pressure is put on the team 5x5, which they have been unable to handle. Finding some success here is paramount.
A huge three game road trip begins tonight. If New York has any true illusions of making the postseason, two out of three is required. Doing so will be extremely difficult. It begins tonight versus the Central Division and Western Conference leading Jets.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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