Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Rangers came into last night’s game looking to build on their ugly win against Nashville on Saturday. They did no such thing, and allowed the San Jose Sharks to run all over them. It was another embarrassing performance by a team that had (has?) Stanley Cup aspirations. The Rangers stunk up and down the lineup, save for Pavel Buchnevich and Kevin Hayes.
Buch and Hayes played very will. Henrik Lundqvist, when he wasn’t making a pair of gaffes, made some very difficult saves. But Martin Jones was solid without the mistakes. Plus the Sharks actually showed up to play and played a tight game. The Rangers, on the other hand, were loose defensively yet again. At some point, you change from the overload/man system, right?
On to the goals:
Sharks 1, Rangers 0
With the Sharks a man up on a delayed call, Logan Couture wound up with the puck at the mid-point. His shot looked to defelct off Chris Kreider and by Hank. Yet another exhibit in the case against blocking bad shots.
Sharks 2, Rangers 0
Ugh. Hank needs to stop this.
Sharks 3, Rangers 0
This starts with a bad pass by Kevin Shattenkirk to Mika Zibanejad. The Sharks turn it quickly into a break for Joonas Donskoi. Donskoi’s shot beat Hank, off the post, and in.
He actually clipped Hank’s knee after the shot. Accidental contact, but looked bad.
Hank was not pleased.
Sharks 4, Rangers 0
Lundqvist went to play the puck behind the net, and Couture was right on him. Hank held the puck too long, Couture took the puck from him, and found Melker Karlsson in front for the tap-in. Karlsson got by Marc Staal and David Desharnais in his quest to get open.
Sharks 4, Rangers 1
Pavel Buchnevich forced the turnover along the boards and got the puck to Zibanejad, whose shot beat Martin Jones clean.
Score Adjusted Corsi
The Rangers did a good job of forcing the Sharks into long periods without shot attempts. Usually teams turtle when they have a lead for as long as San Jose did, but they still came out with an advantage in possession. Simple reason: The Rangers played like poop.
Scoring Chances
Lundqvist had to make a lot of difficult saves in this game to keep it close early. But that won’t be remembered because he gave up a softie in the first and had the gaffe in the third. The Rangers got good looks in the third, but they had already shot themselves in both knees by that point.
Shift Chart
Heres’ the shift chart. The Rangers were down the entire game, yet Tony DeAngelo barely played at even strength. At some point, you sacrifice defense to try to get on the board, right? But the stubbornness continues. I got nothing at this point.
Another game, another forfeited pair of points. The Rangers are digging themselves a hole that may be too deep to climb out of by March. Maybe this is rock bottom? But if the Isles game wasn’t, I don’t know what is. I’m frustrated at this point, as are you all, I’m assuming. Wonder how long until we hear a Fire Vigneault chant?
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