"No question," says my faithful NHL scout Jess Rubenstein, "Quick had a bad night." And while Jonathan entered the fray with two straight shutouts – and "played his heart out" sorry buddy, six goals is, to be kind, unacceptable. That goes for the rest of his overpaid pals who could have passed for onlookers at a five-alarm fire. "The Rangers looked like the team was on the plane back to New York," adds Rubenstein, "from the opening face-off." The Oilers came in just a win over .500, in dreadful shape and ready to be taken. But the Blueshirts have developed a curious formula that never wins. They habitually allow the first goals, ostensibly on the theory that the opposition then will fall into a deep sleep and the rest of the game will be for the Rangers taking. For that to have happened a little thing like a forecheck would have helped. Likewise, had Breadman Panarin not lost the puck in embarrassing fashion, stumbling to the ice, Edmonton wouldn't have scored the game's first goal. Trouble is that there were five more biscuits for too-slow Quick to stop; which he did not. Interestingly, coach Peter Laviolette let us in on some pre-game secrets. He said he warned his skaters about how good Connor McDavid's team was on the rush and how to "stay above them." All that makes a world of success except for one thing. The coach blew it as well. He let the game get away from his players. Rubenstein: "That's when he should have used his 'time-out' and lit a fire under his team." "You have to wonder if the players are listening to Lavvy," says The Old Scout. "They got outshot 21-8 in the first period. Being overwhelmed like that is not a formula for winning." Captain Jacob Trouba once again was no help, neither spiritually nor artistically. In the second period his mid-ice boo-boo allowed the Oilers to score their second of the frame. Blueshirt backchecking became a novelty while both the second and fourth lines appeared to be out to lunch – which extended until dinner at about 10 p.m. Edmonton time. Stan Fischler talks about Matt Rempe. In a low-key but brilliant observation MSG Networks Joe Micheletti summed up the debacle saying that the Rangers had "five offense-men and one player in the D Zone, Jonathan Quick." My astute Rangers-watching grandson Ariel Fischler disagrees with grandpa about New York's goalie. "Most of the goals were not Quick's fault," Ariel insists. Meanwhile, a disturbingly slump-infected Vincent Trocheck suggests that he and his mates "look in the mirror" before tomorrow night's Garden game against weak St.Louis.
