This was a performance not worth even a 24-hour wait, let alone the 313 days between the Rangers’ performances at the Garden.
But then this wouldn’t even count as a performance by the Blueshirts – who had a no-show in the season opener and lost 4-0 to an Islanders team that essentially took a 60-minute walk through the park on Thursday.
If you’re looking for an excuse for this debacle – in which Igor Shesterkin allowed goals on the third, fifth and seventh shots he encountered while his teammates fiddled – don’t bother.
There are no excuses for the Rangers, spared the indignation of being booed out of the building just because customers are not allowed in the yard. This was an amateur performance by a team unwilling to compete against the conference finalists.
Check that. The Rangers were unwilling to compete, period. If you don’t believe me, you might prefer to hear it from David Quinn – who, now that I think about it, has a lot more responsibility for this than I do.
“I thought we were going to do some of the things we did in the bubble again,” said the coach, while issuing a hefty charge. “Cheating the game… there are no shortcuts in this game, no shortcuts. We played a lot of hockey.
“We just weren’t ready to play the right way. We let them get in position all night because we don’t skate. We weren’t playing with the right intentions. There wasn’t much good tonight, that’s for sure. “
It is almost impossible to judge the structure or system or the willingness of the Rangers to play simplified, straightforward hockey from this fiasco – causing one player after another to commit the most fundamental blunders.
Failed cross-ice passes, careless turnovers, not competing for loose pucks, inability or reluctance to win one-on-one and a lack of discipline were routine in what became the first shutout defeat on opening night since the terrible team of 1998 -99 fell. a 1-0 game against the Flyers
Shesterkin wobbled in the first period, perhaps not to blame for any of the three who defeated him within the time frame of 10:58, but unable to make a big save when Brock Nelson scored from the slot on the power play to 2:33. A two-for-one followed 1:19 later, with Anders Lee hitting one from the left on a move that started behind the Islanders net. And then the great Mat Barzal defeated the goalkeeper from the right, working his way through an escort.
An empty building meant that Shesterkin, the apple of everyone’s eye on his debut round last season, didn’t have to suffer the inevitable chants of “Henrik … Henrik.” But the 25-year-old Russian showed his backbone in the last 40 minutes and made his mark with a handful of beautiful stops. That was one of the few positives of the evening, although it must be assumed that Alex Georgiev will get the nod for Saturday’s rematch on Broadway.
K’Andre Miller had a very nervous time in his first professional league, save for an intrasquad scrimmage. Not as exposed as his fellow rookie, Alexis Lafreniere played at an encouraging pace, even getting some shifts with Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin when Quinn scrambled his line combinations and Kaapo Kakko started moving.
But don’t make the mistake of believing that youth and inexperience were key factors in the fiasco in which Semyon Varlamov was so rarely tested that there was no reason to even mention the name of the islanders’ goalkeeper until so late in the report.
Panarin and Strome were completely ineffective, except for a few power plays where the first unit controlled the puck and zipped it through the attack zone for a minute or more, although they were unable to really create a golden opportunity. Chris Kreider wasn’t much of a factor. Jacob Trouba, caught up on the blue line on that first period of an odd-man rush where Lee scored the 2-0, seemed in between. Adam Fox had a rough night.
So did Tony DeAngelo, who exacerbated his problems by taking an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in addition to a holdings violation. Brendan Lemieux only played one team in the first period and sat on the bench for big samples from the second after being responsible for a foul by too many men. The Rangers got shorthand eight times.
Mika Zibanejad was arguably the best of the blues shirts. Pavel Buchnevich worked hard. Filip Chytil had a few moments. Okay, we’re reaching for a bit of positivity here in a forest of frustration and 60 minutes of failure.
It was only one night, that’s right of course. But it is also the only night when the 2020-21 Rangers can be measured. The Blueshirts waited more than 10 months to return to the garden. They shouldn’t have worried.