Rangers
The dam is bending, and it’s only a matter of time until it breaks. A 4-1 home loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Monday extended the Rangers’ losing streak to four games. Since starting their losing streak on October 22, the Rangers have been outscored 22-12.
Being without Igor Shesterkin doesn’t help, but the Rangers’ offense is their biggest problem. Most of their players are point-and-shoot forwards, not speedy puck-passers. Third- and fourth-line players like Eeli Tolvanen and Noah Laba are good checkers, but poor skaters.
Meanwhile, on the top line, Mika Zibanejad can create scoring chances on both sides of the puck, but few players aside from Pavel Dorofeyev and Alexis Lafrenière can cash in on his passes. JT Miller and Gabe Perreault can, but they play on the second line with Tye Kartye, who tries his best.
Speed is one of the Rangers’ biggest issues. According to NHL EDGE, they have the 25th-most skating speed bursts over 22 mph. This season, they have tried to compensate for that by getting more pucks to the net, and their 131 high-danger scoring chances are the ninth-most in the NHL. They finished last season with the fifth-fewest.
But it feels like the dam is about to break because this Rangers team’s core is emotionally vulnerable to reverting; last season could easily repeat itself. Even worse, so could 2024-25. This year’s team is stronger defensively, and they don’t have vendettas against the front office like two years ago. However, Shesterkin, their best player, is not coming back.
Because he gave up a goal 50 seconds into the first period, Dylan Garand blamed himself for Monday’s loss. Connor McDavid can be impossible to defend sometimes, and he showed off his speed on Garden ice, carrying a puck from his own zone past every Rangers skater until he reached the blue paint.
McDavid is a generational talent, but Garand still blamed himself. “I felt like I was overthinking a little bit there,” the young goalie said. “I felt really, really good in the second 30 minutes, and I thought my first 30 minutes were awful. Honestly, it’s inexcusable. Let the guys down. Pretty disappointing. Put that loss on me.”
Garand wasn’t perfect, but the loss was not his fault. After all, he can’t score. He isn’t Shesterkin. Coming off five days of rest, the Rangers should have had more offense in the tank. The Oilers are talented and score plenty, but they should not have been able to limit the Rangers to five high-danger scoring chances.
The Rangers outshot the Oilers, a mediocre defensive team, 28-24. They also generated eight more scoring chances. Yet only five chances were high-danger, so they only scored once. After trailing 3-0 midway through the second period, the Rangers had little time to come back.
But the biggest concern about generating five high-danger opportunities on 29 scoring chances was that the Rangers, a top-10 high-danger team, were so shaken by a three-goal deficit that they changed their game plan and took more long-range shots. In other words, they pressed. But that never helps, and it destroyed last year’s team.
The Rangers only have two reliable lines offensively. The bottom six can score, but they can’t be left to produce in big moments. Special teams haven’t helped, either. The Rangers’ 20% power play conversion rate ranks 18th in the NHL. Since October 22, when their losing streak started, the power play ranks 23rd.
Meanwhile, the Rangers have killed off 75% of penalties since October 22, but no opposing power-play goal was worse than Evan Bouchard’s midway through Monday’s second period. The Rangers were trying to respond after trailing 0-2 in the first, but Bouchard steepened the hill.
Pavel Dorofeyev struck back three minutes later, depositing Scott Morrow’s rebound. Morrow earned an assist in his first game this season, replacing the injured Sean Durzi. Aside from Adam Fox, Morrow is the only Rangers defenseman who can quarterback a power play, so he has offensive talent. He’ll return to the lineup tonight against St. Louis.
“Just got to have patience and know that whenever an opportunity comes, you’ve just got to be ready to take advantage of it,” said Morrow, who was a healthy scratch for 14 games. “I’m here for a reason. It’s going to happen at some point, so I’ve got to stay ready.”
Desperate for more offense, the Rangers plan to deploy Will Cuylle at center tonight, but he never played center, whether professionally or growing up. This will be quite an experiment, but at this point, the Rangers must do whatever it takes to make their bottom six productive.
“Will has a lot of the qualities and the attributes that would allow him to be effective at [center],” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “He can skate. He has good size. He can lean on people down low. He takes faceoffs regularly. […] We felt we’d try to effect a little bit of change to see if we can create more momentum for our group.”
The Rangers must start strong tonight and score first against the St. Louis Blues (7 PM, 6 PM CST – MSG, DAZN). They’ll be home again on Thursday before playing four games in Alberta and the Pacific Northwest.
Schedule
7:00 PM (6:00 PM CST): NYR vs. STL; MSG, DAZN
10:00 PM (9:00 PM CST): Yankees Hot Stove; YES, DAZN
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Rangers
