More sloppy play leads to Rangers defeat by Capitals

The New York Rangers played their second straight sloppy game, constantly turning the puck over to a dangerous Washington Capitals team en route to a 4-2 defeat. This was another classic “if you don’t protect the puck, you won’t win” game from the Rangers. New York did a great job of limiting attempts –both in quality and in quantity– by Washington early, but two turnovers and sloppy play in the third cost them dearly.

Braden Holtby deserves a lot of credit in this game, as the Rangers had a solid quality chance advantage on the Caps through the first two periods. As Holtby kept the Caps in it, the Rangers got careless. In the end, Holtby made 23 saves on 25 shots, but most of them were quality chances. Cam Talbot was also very good, and there are no goals in this game that can be pinned on him.

This is now the second game in a row that the Rangers were careless without the puck. Some excuses can be made because of the injuries to Kevin Klein, Matt Hunwick, and Martin St. Louis, but in the end you need to protect the puck. They will need to get it together, and fast.

On to the goals:

Caps 1, Rangers 0

Small pocket of space, enough for Ovechkin.

Alex Ovechking powered past Jesper Fast along the boards, and took advantage of the room Dan Girardi gave him to cut to the top of the circle and rip a shot, using Girardi as a screen, through Cam Talbot. A lot of people are putting this goal on Girardi, and he did give Ovechkin a bit too much room, but this was a great play by Ovechkin on this goal.

Rangers 1, Caps 1

Whoops.

John Carlson left the puck behind him, and Kevin Hayes took advantage. Not much else on this one, other than the sweet move by Hayes on Holtby.

Rangers 2, Caps 1

They score a lot on the rush, don’t they?

Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash team up to take the puck away from a pinching Matt Niskanen. Zuccarello turns the puck up to Derick Brassard to start the rush. Brassard gave the puck back to Zuccarello, who drew Ovechkin to him on a snow angel, then dropped it back to Brassard who ripped it over Holtby’s glove.

Caps 2, Rangers 2

Nothing really wrong on this one.

Ovechkin was open at the weak side point on the powerplay, and Nicklas Backstrom got the puck to him while Joel Ward was battling with Dan Boyle in front. Ovechkin’s shot went off Boyle’s skate and by Talbot.

Caps 3, Rangers 2

Sorry for the blurry picture on this one.

Keith Yandle made a sloppy pass, turning the puck over to Eric Fehr without clearing the zone. The Rangers wound up caught, and eventually Jason Chimera was able to bat a puck home in front while battling with Carl Hagelin.

Caps 4, Rangers 2

Turnovers, man.

The clearing attempt by Chris Summers didn’t get by Brooks Laich, who found Chimera all alone in front. It doesn’t matter if you win the possession game (both in quantity and in quality) if you’re sloppy with the puck.

Caps 5, Rangers 2

Marcus Johansson empty netter.

USAT/Fenwick Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

In a game like this, the possession charts are nice, but don’t mean much. While single-game possession advantages only give you a roughly 60/40 edge for winning, if you’re sloppy with the puck, you won’t win. The Rangers were sloppy. They lost.

Scoring Chances:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Of course, Holtby stood on his head in the first two periods. Most of the Rangers chances were high quality chances. He’s the reason why the game was close in the third.

Individual SAT/Corsi:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

The same applies here. In a game that was close in attempts until the third, when carelessness cost the Rangers, possession isn’t something to turn to for answers.

Shot Locations:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Those 2 G’s for Washington were in the third period. Everything came from the outside. Shame, really.

Shift Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Typical Alain Vigneault shift deployment.

Luckily for the Rangers, these games are about jockeying for position, and not about fighting for the playoffs. While you never want to see a team get sloppy, now is the time when you’d prefer they become careless (all teams have stretches like this).