Yoo-Hoo; Rangers, You'd Better Look Behind, The Canes Are On Your Tail

The New York Rangers failed their "Depth Test" as Winnipeg dropped a depth bomb that exploded in a 4-2 Blueshirts loss at The Garden last night.

What's more, Peter Laviolette's lads face another "Depth Test" tomorrow in Boston and the Bruins "Depth Bomb" may be even more lethal than what the Jets had. And if that isn't enough for Lavvy, Inc. to worry about, there's the matter of Carolina creeping up a mere two points behind the division-leading Locals.

"About ten to fifteen minutes in the second period bit us," moaned Adam Fox, as usual one of the better Blueshirts. "But we did the right things for the other 40 minutes."

Not Igor Shesterkin.

Iggy The Rubber-stopper made a measly 23 saves compared to Connor Hellebuyck's 38 stops. No kidding; a minus-15 save differential is the kind of stat that will give the Jets ace a Vezina Trophy and not our beloved comrade.

Laviolette: "The second period was the worst we played. They generated a few more chances than us. It was a low event period; a little bit flat."

"Flat," eh. It's mirror time.

The coach is to blame for that. Lavvy chose not to play "The People's Choice,"Matt Rempe, who was released from the NHL's four-game sinbin. The Remper-less Rangers are like a five-course meal at the Waldorf without knives, forks or spoons.

Or, as my insightful editor David Kolb -- a witness to the loss -- says: "There was zero juice in The Garden."

If the coach is as wise as I believe he is, The Grim Remper will return to action tomorrow at hostile TD Garden.

The Big, Bad Bruins lead the Rangers 97 points to the New Yorkers 94, and it's obvious that Man Mountain Matt is more apt to tame the Beantowners -- with all due respect -- than The Maven's other personal hero, Jonny Brodzinski.

Not that there wasn't good news in defeat; actually a few things:

1. Big Al Lafreniere reached a career-high 20-goal mark with his red light.

2. Newcomer Alex Wennberg scored his first goal as a Ranger.

3. That other new fellow, Jack Roslovic, continues to be useful and has four points in his last four games.

4. Chad Ruhwedel made his Rangers debut and got 13:31 of ice time on defense.
If you're looking for alibis -- who isn't? -- this was the Rangers sixth game (Oy Vay!) in nine days. Fortunately, Fox is not buying the beef.

"A lot of teams are playing a lot of hockey now," notes Adam, "and we know that."

We also know that neither the injured Ryan Lindgren nor Jacob Trouba will be playing tomorrow.

Which means that the so-called Blueshirt depth will be challenged.

Rempe, where are you now that your buddies need you?

And what better Bruins challenger than The Entertainer, himself -- like The Maven -- a big believer that there's "No Business Like Show Business."

The curtain is rising, Go, Rempe, Go!