The New York Rangers’ issues are beginning to become repetitive.
On Tuesday night, the Rangers exited the ice to the sound of boos after their 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, and for good reason.
In the first period down 1-0, the Rangers were awarded three power-play opportunities, and while the five-forward unit generated more chances and maintained quality offensive zone time, it translated into nothing, as the Rangers failed to score despite spending six of the first 20 minutes with a man advantage.
Since Adam Fox went down with an upper-body injury, the Rangers’ five-forward first power-play unit has failed to score a single goal and has given up two shorthanded goals. In total, without Fox in the lineup, the power play has gone 2-22.
Looking at the box score and seeing that New York edged Vancouver 23-17 in shots, while also being able to maintain more possession time, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that the Rangers played a strong hockey game.
However, there’s a lot more to this story.
The Blueshirts’ offense was disjointed, consisting of failed breakouts, sloppy passes in the offensive zone, and most importantly, they were just too slow and predictable.
Passes felt calculated, and when the Rangers had opportunities to shoot, players were gripping the stick, and they were hesitant when scoring opportunities were presented to them, hence being a tad too slow.
“In a lot of instances, that is the difference between scoring and not,” Sullivan said of the team’s offensive slowness and hesitation. “It's not always the velocity of the shot as it is the release. How quick you get it off so you don't give the goalie an opportunity to get set. It's just a little bit deliberate in the process. We're trying to get better at that, with releasing pucks and things of that nature. I mean, that's all part of it.”
Specifically in the third period, overall pushback was lacking from the Rangers, similar to their 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.
After the game, there was a lot of talk about how the team was able to generate an abundance of high-quality scoring chances, sustain pressure in the offensive zone, and defend well.
These are a lot of the same talking points we’ve heard from the Rangers locker room after many losses this season, and it’s simply becoming repetitive.
“It’s really frustrating… This can’t be the standard we expect to play to,” J.T. Miller said. “We can’t just go home tonight and be like we played well and we outplayed the other team. We didn’t score.”
The Rangers’ scoring woes date all the way back to opening night when they were shut out by the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden.
There’s a sentiment coming from the Rangers that they are playing with the right intentions, but it isn't translating into results.
Chris Kreider And Jacob Trouba's Emotional Return To MSG Ends In Rangers Loss
In what was an emotional game with the return of Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba, the New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers">Rangers</a> suffered a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.
Their 2.59 goals for per game ranks fourth worst in the NHL, their 19.2% power-play percentage ranks middle of the pack, and they currently sit just above a 500% record, out of a wild card spot.
We are 35 games into the season, and the Rangers can’t seem to score at a consistent rate. The red flags have been raised long ago, but unfortunately for the Blueshirts, there are no solutions being presented.
“If I had the solution, we would certainly bring it,” Sullivan said. “We're doing our best to control the process because that's really at the end of the day, what's within our control. I feel like we're trying to solve it, for sure, but is it a little bit concerning to this point? Yeah.”
The Rangers will be back in action on Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues.