AP Photo/Gerry Broome

AP Photo/Gerry Broome

The Rangers went into Carolina last night with an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth with a regulation or overtime win. They Staaled (I couldn’t help myself), allowing four goals to the Hurricanes and losing in regulation, failing to clinch the playoff berth. Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t sharp, which seems to make all the difference lately with the state of the blue line, and the Rangers blew their chance.

There isn’t much reason to panic, since the Rangers will make the playoffs, but this effort was disheartening, and really makes you wonder if the team will be capable of turning it on come playoff time. The Penguins and Islanders both won, so the Rangers now may slip to a wild card slot. They control their own destiny regarding seeding, but continued play like last night will result in a wild card spot and a potential date with either Florida or Washington.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.comfiltered under the date of the game. On to the goals:

Canes 1, Rangers 0

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Keith Yandle lost Travis Brown after the Jeff Skinner dump in, as he cut to the middle behind Yandle. He got to the puck and beat Hank short side high.

Rangers 1, Canes 1

The top line had a solid forecheck on this shift, pinning the Canes deep while pressuring the puck. Derek Stepan forced Chris Terry into a turnover to Dan Boyle, who got the puck back to Stepan cutting to the net. Stepan hit Mats Zuccarello for the easy goal.

Rangers 2, Canes 1

Rick Nash doing Rick Nash things. This was a great effort.

Canes 2, Rangers 2

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Hank just missed this one, I guess.

Rangers 3, Canes 2

Chris Kreider just torched Pesce here, burning by him and using his strength to shield the puck before ripping it over Ward.

Canes 3, Rangers 3

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Innocent looking play, but neither Stepan nor Kevin Klein picked up Jeff Skinner in the slot, who deflected the Ryan Murphy shot past Hank.

Canes 4, Rangers 3

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Faulk did a great job keeping the zone, which was reviewed for offsides and determined to be inconclusive. After that, the Canes moved the puck well, and eventually the puck got to Viktor Rask with an empty net for the easy goal. It looks like Dan Girardi tried to push the puck wide after the point shot, but put it right on Rask’s stick.

Shot Attempts

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That first period was absolutely atrocious by the Rangers, really inexcusable for a team looking to clinch a spot. They showed up in the second ad third periods, but just couldn’t hold a lead.

Scoring Chances

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That first period was very bad. Have I mentioned that yet? But the Rangers actually did a decent job limiting chances, although the Canes team isn’t really that good. Not a good showing.

Individual Corsi

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Marc Staal seems to find himself in the lower right corner (note: very bad) a lot lately. That’s the only thing I’m really noticing over the past few weeks.

Shot Locations

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The shot chart isn’t that bad actually. Figure with a sharper Hank and one or two fewer gaffes, this is a win. But even then, do you want this kind of effort?

Shift Chart

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Alain Vigneault did what he usually does when trailing: Send out his fourth line for a shift with under ten minutes remaining. That baffles me. Some folks were complaining about Girardi/McDonagh as a pairing late, but that’s normal considering Yandle/Boyle are the go-to offensive pairing when trailing. Interesting to note Marc Staal was stapled to the bench with five minutes left.

This was not a performance that makes you confident in this team as the season winds down. They will make the playoffs, that we know, but after watching that game, and the Rangers all season long, performances like last night are not blips, they are the norm. They have five games remaining to get it together.

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