Much like the Yankees swinging and missing last night, the Rangers lost the game to the Islanders on a similar swing and miss play, and it came in the second period. After a beautiful save by Henrik Lundqvist on the Islander powerplay, a rebound came to the front of the net. Dan Girardi, again playing terribly, swung at the puck in the air, missed, and Kyle Okposo buried the rebound. The proper play there Dan, is to get your body in front of the play and tie up Okposo.

This is not to say that Girardi should be singled out, as Wade Redden and Matt Gilroy fell asleep and let Matt Moulson behind them for the game’s first tally. There’s also the powerplay that looked lost without Marian Gaborik, and the offense in general, that struggled to find consistency without Gaborik.

Not all of it was negative though, rookie (sort of) P.A. Parenteau, called up to replace Gaborik in the lineup, netted his first goal of his NHL career, and was generally the best Ranger on the ice for the game. He has a nose for the net, and was essentially the only Ranger that was consistently charging the net and looking for loose pucks.

The need for a seventh defenseman is really intensifying. The six defensemen either look gassed or just comfortable. Neither is a good thing.

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