The Rangers took a walk down the path of least resistance in Boston on Thursday night and found themselves in a dead end of a 4-0 defeat to the Bruins that did no one any good.
Alexandar Georgiev, who retired from his second straight start and his third in 11 assignments this season, inexplicably gave up another long course that put the Blueshirts into a 1-0 hole at 4:14 that must have been filled with quicksand given the way the club had just been swallowed up.
The club generated few fouls at five to five and few scoring opportunities against Jaroslav Halak. The work without the puck when the Bruins had possession of the ball was flawed. The team was unable to consistently get the puck deep and therefore unable to get in on the front deck. Fifty fights were weighed between 70 and 30 for Boston.
The power play was wooden, powerless and worse than that in giving up a shorthand goal for the second consecutive game, this one from Patrice Bergeron on a Brad Marchand feed at 5:34 PM, making it 2-0 and just about the league phase of the evening.
“In many ways that was just the backbone. You could just feel it, ”said David Quinn, much more optimistic than expected. “That short goal was way too easy.”
The coach and the two players who came to the podium for Zoom Questions, Brendan Smith and Jacob Trouba, all managed to put positive spins on the performance. They all talked about how the club held on to it and competed all the way to the finish. Maybe they even believed it. Maybe they should believe it with their season on the brink.
It’s now three consecutive defeats against the Penguins and Bruins after three consecutive wins against the Sabers and Devils. Just when it became necessary to get up in class, the Rangers took a pratfall approaching mid-season with the playoff cutline nine points ahead.
“I think we need to have more urgency and understand how quickly this season is going to get to us,” said Quinn, whose team, 10-13-2, represents the worst record of 25 games since 2002-03. team had the same results. “We have to make sure we stop the bleeding.”
A turnstile may be needed for Georgiev, who gave up a pair of goals within 1:21 early in the second period, scoring Boston on the power play at 3:31, then tied at 4:52 to both build a 4-. 0 lead and chase the goalkeeper after seeing 14 shots.
The 25-year-old Bulgarian-born net lesser was drawn twice in 71 starts during his first three seasons. He has been drawn three times in eleven starts this season and has developed a penchant for surrendering not only long but also goals in trusses.
Three starts ago, the Devils scored twice in 17 seconds. Last start, the Penguins scored three goals in 1:01. Now this for Georgiev, who faced 14 shots on Thursday, has seven goals out of 20 shots over 42:06 in his last two games and 14 goals on 102 shots in 226: 03 (.863, 3.72) in his last five starts Allowed.
Teams cannot win if they never know when one will enter. That upsets everyone’s balance. Of all the unexpected developments of this season, goaltending issues are in second place on the surprise list, with just eight weeks after Mika Zibanejad’s zero-and-void opening. Igor Shesterkin’s status remains unknown on Saturday as he continues to rehabilitate his groin strain.
Artemi Panarin can and probably will participate in the fight again on Saturday. Perhaps the return of No. 10 after missing nine games will inspire his teammates to greater heights. Then it shouldn’t be at all difficult for the Rangers to level up after this flatline feat.
Quinn shook his lines quite early in the second period, reuniting the Chris Kreider-Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich unit that has become a fixture for the coach when his team is in trouble. But the titular first line was of little use. Zibanejad may have had a strong shift here or there, but was mostly a number.
Perhaps the most encouraging news of the evening was Filip Chytil’s ability to play face-offs after delaying the first six games of his return from the broken hand he sustained in the fifth game of the season. But Chytil’s play was below par, exemplified by the way David Krejci could easily take the puck away from No. 72 behind the New York net before setting up Jake DeBrusk for the 4-0 goal at 4:52 of the second.
But he was part of a crowd that included pretty much everyone, especially Ryan Strome and Alexis Lafreniere. Kaapo Kakko went without a goal for his 14th game in a row. But again, this was true for everyone.
So the Blueshirts will try again on Saturday. They may want to take a different path this time.