Well, so much for lineup changes and calling out the team in leaked messages. Neither worked Monday as the Rangers lost their third straight, failing 5-2 to the Blues in coach Jim Montgomery’s first game with the team. The mistakes we have seen all season and were on full display the last two games of the road trip, were highly visible again.
Lines against the Blues:
Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere
Cuylle - Zib - Berard
Edstrom - Kakko - Smith
Vesey - Carrick - Rempe
Miller - Fox
Lindgren - Trouba
Jones - Schneider
Power Play No. 1: Fox-Zibanejad-Trocheck-Panarin-Lafreniere.
Power Play No. 2: Jones-Berard-Cuylle-Smith-Kakko
A few thoughts:
Breaking down the game makes no sense. The issues that have existed persisted. New York was slow in their reaction time, which led to prime opportunities for a Blues team that came in struggling offensively. St. Louis carried the transition game like most Nee York opponents, especially lately. In addition, they ground down the Rangers below the hash marks winning battles that also created top chances and goals.
The Rangers are searching for answers. Moving around deck chairs on the Titanic isn’t the answer. Brett Berard brought some energy in his first game and Will Cuylle continued to impress, scoring twice. Matt Rempe attempted to be physical, but he still hasn’t learned when and how to do it. His penalty early in the third, hitting Jake Neighbours with the puck not even nearby was a stupid play. Beyond that, the forwards did little.
In addition, please stop playing Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren together, it does not work. Other than Zac Jones and Braden Schneider, none of the pairings are working. Reconstituting the D pairings still might not make any difference, but continually running those two out there as a duo is foolish.
Coach Peter Laviolette doesn’t know what to do. The post game comments are the same we have heard now for weeks. Lots of generic comments but no specifics on what is going wrong. Hearing the same game after game and week after week gets tiresome. Be specific on where the issues are. You don’t have to name names but provided some heft and context to the comments.
"We need to be better. Everyone needs to be better inside the room. It's not good enough what we're doing. I don't think anybody is going to sit here and say it was good enough. No matter what question you want to ask, it's got to be better. It's 3 games in a row where we're playing to a level and a standard that's not us and not what we work to be, not what we want to be. It's got to get better. Everybody's got to get better."
I have a bigger issue. If you are wearing a letter on your chest, the C or the A, your job is to talk to the media. You may not be happy with what leaked or with your performance or both, but you are a professional and need to be front and center. The only person who spoke after the game was Artemi Panarin. No Trouba. No Mika Zibanejad. No Vincent Trocheck. No Adam Fox. They were made not available. This shows a lack of leadership, and more important, a lack of accountability. Lavy is losing and may have lost the room already. Facing Carolina on Wednesday should be fun.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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