Rangers flop early, still can’t clinch a playoff spot

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

The Rangers came into last night’s game with another opportunity to clinch a playoff spot with a win. What resulted was an ugly first 20 minutes of the game, in which the Sabres jumped out to a 3-0 lead, one that the Rangers could not overcome. Henrik Lundqvist, who was not sharp, was pulled after less than 21 minutes.

Beyond Lundqvist, who again was not sharp, the top pair of Ryan McDonagh and Kevin Klein were flat out owned by the Sabres’ top line. It got to the point where Alain Vigneault switched up the defense pairings. They had a really good chance to tie it too, but couldn’t score on a full two minute 5-on-3 advantage.

It wasn’t all bad for the Rangers, though. Their penalty kill was solid, and their forward lines are showing some solid chemistry. They realized they were the better team too late though.

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

Sabres 1, Rangers 0

Hank just didn’t handle the initial shot off the boards from Zack Bogosian properly, sending a big rebound to the slot off the paddle. Ryan O’Reilly was there to collect it and bury it.

Sabres 2, Rangers 0

Ryan McDonagh and Kevin Klein missed on the Mark Pysyk pass to Jack Eichel, starting a 2-on-1 with O’Reilly with Derek Stepan back. Stepan snow angeled in an attempt to take out the pass, but Eichel was able to get it across anyway with a brilliant pass. O’Reilly had the empty net.

Sabres 3, Rangers 0

The entire five-some couldn’t clear the zone, which was bad. Lundqvist was caught off guard by the initial Zemgus Girgensons shot, kicking the rebound back to the slot, which was worse. Kevin Klein again couldn’t clear the rebound, which was the worst. Goal, and no more Lundqvist.

Rangers 1, Sabres 3

Eric Staal dumped the puck in and got his own dump. Jesper Fast and Kevin Hayes cut to the net. Staal’s pass, seemingly for Fast, went through to Hayes, who buried it.

Sabres 4, Rangers 1

Antti Raanta mishandled the Cal O’Reilly dump in, making the exchange with Keith Yandle difficult and not smooth. This led to the Yandle turnover to Matt Moulson, who buried his own rebound.

Rangers 2, Sabres 4

McDoangh’s shot got deflected wide by Mats Zuccarello, and it took a live bounce off the boards right to J.T. Miller, who put it into the empty net.

Rangers 3, Sabres 4

Klein made a tremendous keep, getting the puck to Stepan low. Stepan banked the puck off Johnson’s pads, and the rebound went to the slot. Chris Kreider teed up the rebound, and Stepan deflected it over Johnson.

Shot Attempts

This is what the shell looks like from the other side. The Sabres shelled hard in the third, and they gave up a ton of shots, but no goal. Frustrating on both ends.

Scoring Chances

Same shell effect applies here. Score effects are real.

Individual Corsi

Dan Girardi had a very strong game, the lone bright spot all game for the Rangers on defense. Kevin Klein and Ryan McDonagh, not so much.

Shot Locations

Lots of goals allowed from the slot. Not what you want to see.

Shift Chart

Klein/McDonagh got torched by ROR early, then the pairs were shifted around. The fourth line didn’t get much time when the team needed goals, a welcome change. They got two shifts in the final 25 minutes of the game.

Another easy two points down the drain. While it would be advantageous for the Rangers to slip to WC1 and move to the Atlantic for the playoffs, no one actually advocates it and/or wants them to look this poor while doing it. Hopefully they can actually, you know, show up one of these days.