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Rangers blue after beatdown in St. Louis on Thursday |
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If you thought Tuesday's performance was bad, Thursday's was at a whole other level. The Rangers were outmanned from the get-go, failing to match the Blues' intensity, falling behind 4-1 in what ended up a 5-2 defeat. St. Louis out-hit, outmanned and outplayed New York throughout the contest, especially the first 30 minutes, in cruising to a win. The Rangers look to finish their four-game road trip at 2-2 when they face Dallas on Saturday.
Game recap:
A few thoughts:
1) Igor Shesterkin - left out to dry by his teammates. First time this season and in the last two he has been pulled due to performance. In this case, I think the goaltending switch was more to send a message to the team and to not leave Igor out to dry and overworked rather than due to his performance. Normally, he bails his teammates out. Last night, the four goals allowed were all from high-danger spots and for one night, he was not up to the task.
Gallant used the term "embarrassed" in his post-game presser. That term is accurate. The team collectively failed Igor last night and he for one was not able to cover for their mistakes and sins. just a brutal performance from top to bottom.
If there was one positive to the game, after almost falling over himself in net allowing a goal on a delayed penalty where the Blues held the puck for a minute in the offensive zone, I thought Alexandar Georgiev had a solid last 30 minutes. If the team could have converted two breakaways and a handful of other chances, this might have actually been an interesting game in the third period. Instead, the contest remained a blowout, but Georgiev made several tough saves in the final frame.
2) The blueline maybe should be called the Blues Line, since they parted the seas to allow St. Louis all the time and space they needed. Hard to find any positives in their play. A bad pinch led to a 3-on-2 break on the first goal. Ryan Lindgren goes the wrong way in front of the net, pass allowed to the slot, goal. But the deficiencies were not all on the D, as the forwards failed to pick up their man in the defensive zone and another slot goal. Mika Zibanejad fell down while trying to clear the puck on a play where Lindgren tried to carry the puck up the wall rather than going wide and putting it off the boards and it was 4-0.
Gallant - finally - changed up the pairs putting Lindgren with Braden Schneider and Patrik Nemeth with Adam Fox. This isn't to say Jacob Trouba and K'Andre Miller were any better than the other four d-men, as they weren't, but I guess only so many changes can be made. We will see if these changes stick in practice today or in the game Saturday. But there has to be a level of increased concern over how the defense has played lately, possibly paving the way for a deal before the deadline.
3) Offense - if you look at the roster, we know it's made up of several who should either not be playing daily or in the slots they are in. Tim Gettinger. Jonny Brodzinski, Dryden Hunt and others all are either fill-in players or below on a different line. When the offense struggles, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Reinforcements are needed and ASAP.
That said, the he play of the top line the last two games is what does concern me, as the questions as to whether that trio can be effective when matched against a touch, physical line have come to the forefront again, mirroring the play-in round two years ago and struggles last season. To me, this is an area that requires attention and having that issue resolved if the team is to do anything come playoff time.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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