This is why the Rangers tease so much. This is why they can be seventh in the NHL in goals per game and 12th in goals against per game, but still be 18th in the overall standings and watch the playoffs from the outside.
They just aren’t consistent enough. They are unable to contextualize success. They are unable to adapt to an opponent who eliminates their skill game and forces them into a fight between tight spaces and paint-by-the-numbers hockey.
Two nights after hilarity followed in a win over the injury-ridden Penguins, there was little but grief after the Rangers’ loss 5-2 to the same (but very different) Pittsburgh side that wouldn’t let its opponent run free.
Denied their bread and butter, the Rangers couldn’t take it. Their top two lines were barely reaching. They couldn’t or didn’t want to get the puck deep. They were unable to work the walls. There was no puck to speak of under the trellises. They were usually bad at face-offs. Attention to detail was a fabrication.
“They made it difficult for us and we were maybe a bit too stubborn with the puck and our decisions,” said Mika Zibanejad, whose game was way below par, and not in a Masters way. “We tried to force a little too much and didn’t really get a consistent forecheck or pucks on the net.
‘They fed on that. They are a good team. We were a bit too stubborn today. “
Zibanejad missed what appeared to be a wide-open left side of the net on a short two-on-one feed by Pavel Buchnevich 8:29 in the game, which left the Rangers 1-0 at the time. His failure to clear led to Kris Letang’s goal in 3:23 of the second, giving the Penguins a 2-1 lead at just 1:21 after Colin Blackwell’s power play tied the score.
Later, Zibanejad lost a clean defensive-zone penalty-kill draw to four-game veteran Radim Zohorna. That led directly to a power play goal from Evan Rodrigues at 11:28 from the second to lift Pittsburgh’s lead to 3-1. No, this was not a good evening for Zibanejad.
But he was not alone. Neither Artemi Panarin nor Ryan Strome had much. And Chris Kreider had nothing. Again. Kreider has not scored a five-on-five goal in 13 games since March 13. He struggles across the ice and cannot make an impact.
Kreider has been a Ranger since 2012-13 and leads the team in goals over that period. But in all that time, he has been selected once to participate in the shootout. That was February 21, 2013 in Ottawa, when Kreider was the seventh and ultimately last player to shoot Ben Bishop. He was stopped and the Blueshirts lost.
Since then, the Rangers have been in 58 shootouts and used 17 shooters, not one of which is named Chris Kreider. On Thursday, the reasons were likely reinforced when Kreider, who was awarded a penalty at 5:59 PM when he was downed from behind by Cody Ceci and his team 3-1 behind, shot the puck into Tristan Jarry’s brake pads.
The Rangers’ tendency to avoid good shots to try worse has reached epidemic status. Halfway through the first period, Kaapo Kakko drove from the right side to the center, but instead of firing from the slot, he threw it wide back so that Flip Chytil would have a worse angle. Halfway through the second, Chytil drove to the castle and passed it to the right circle, but his feed did not connect.
“A lot of things were missing tonight,” said coach David Quinn. “Not firing the puck has been a problem all year, a problem since I got here.
“Sometimes when you win a match [8-4, as the Rangers did Tuesday], you can change your mindset a little bit and if you do that at this level, you will get what you deserve. “
Again, when it comes easy, the Rangers can look like the Dynastic Oilers. When things tighten up, they could look like the Rangers from 1997-2004. That’s not a particularly flattering comparison.
This was on the top guys and on the team mindset. After elevating the opportunist Blackwell to ride a shotgun with Panarin and Strome on Tuesday, Quinn turned him over with Vitali Kravtsov after just four turns through the order. Kravtsov was one of the better Rangers, but it seemed strange taking playtime away from a guy who’s always willing to dig on a night when few were in the mood. If Kravtsov had earned more Ice Age, it probably should have been at the expense of Kreider.
The Bruins won in Washington to extend their lead to seven points over the Rangers for the final playoff berth while holding two games. What did Quinn say in a different context?
Oh, that’s right. You get what you deserve.