Riding off of some newfound momentum after securing six out of eight points over a difficult four-game stretch, the New York Rangers put forth a disheartening performance in their 3-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.
From when the puck first dropped, the Blackhawks seemed to have a step on the Rangers, with Chicago’s speed proving to be an issue for New York.
Despite an onslaught of pressure from the Blackhawks in the first period, it was Igor Shesterkin who kept the game scoreless, but it didn’t last long.
Chicago’s first goal came from Louis Crevier with the Rangers on a power play, as their lackadaisical effort in the urethral zone led to Crevier finding himself all alone where he snuck the puck past Shesterkin.
Since Adam Fox suffered an upper-body injury that landed him on long-term injured reserve, the Rangers have utilized five forwards on their first power-play unit. That five-forward unit has gone 0-10 on the man advantage while their defensive flaws continue to be exposed.
Following Crevier’s goal, Mike Sullivan put Scott Morrow on the first power-play unit in place of Will Cuylle in order to add a defenseman to the man advantage.
“It's been a mixed bag. They showed us enough to stay with it for as long as we have, but they showed us enough to make a change,” Sullivan said of his mid-game power-play adjustment. “We put a defenseman up there. I'm not sure what we're going to do moving forward, but obviously Fox is not an easy guy to replace.”
From a defensive standpoint, the Rangers did not show a strong sense of urgency, especially in their own zone, allowing the Blackhawks to crash the front of the net without consequence, leading to both Connor Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi’s goals.
Throughout the entire night, the Blueshirts were outplayed, but more importantly, outhustled, and that’s the concerning aspect to come out of this loss.
“I thought from the drop of the puck they were quicker to pucks,” Sullivan said. “They played with more urgency. ... We knew they were going to come out with urgency based on the circumstance surrounding their team, and we didn’t match the urgency from the drop of the puck.”
The Rangers appeared to be turning the corner as a team prior to this miserable night in Chicago.
While the Rangers have shown signs of improvement from the 2024-25 campaign, specifically from a defensive standpoint and their overall identity, the bad habits that plagued them for the entirety of last season continue to creep back into their game.
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Should we be surprised though? It’s just deja vu all over again. Every time the Rangers take one step forward, they take two steps backward, seemingly canceling out any sort of progress previously made.
The inconsistency is truly puzzling about this team, and there’s no real explanation for it.
“I don't have an answer for you. It's disappointing because we just go through a stretch where we play what we would deem some of the best teams in the league, and we put a game on the ice that's pretty damn competitive,” Sullivan said. “We've got to be able to do that consistently, night in and not out. And that's our challenge. We took a step back tonight. We didn't bring that game.”
The Rangers will be back in action on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.