henrik lundqvist mark stone
Credit: AP / Sean Kilpatrick

The Ottawa Senators, a team on pace to set a record for most even strength goals allowed in a season, shut out the New York Rangers last night. I think that pretty much says all you need to know about the game. Craig Anderson barely had to move all night, and mistakes cost the Rangers all night long.

I guess this was to be expected. The Blueshirts started 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, which is never a recipe for success. However regardless of the lineup, the Rangers should have known better that to allow that many goals (i.e.: more than 0) from in front of the net. All the praise from earlier on that was earned from defending the middle has gone away in the last week and a half.

Note: Apparently it’s difficult to find gifs/videos of goals (since I watched this while out). I found videos of the first and third goals, but not the second. 66% is passing, right?

Sens 1, Rangers 0

That’s Drake Batherson, wide open in front with no one on him.

Sens 2, Rangers 0

No video, but this was the direct result of the Mika Zibanejad turnover at the blue line. Marc Staal made the right play by defending the pass to the better angle, and Magnus Paajarvi just beat Henrik Lundqvist with the shot.

Sens 3, Rangers 0

So that’s a whole lot of standing around watching the puck. Nice passing, but it’s easy to pass around traffic cones.

Shot Heatmap

That’s a whole lot of red in a dangerous area, with two goals coming from three feet out. As for the Rangers, they basically did nothing, with a few blips of blue in front, but most coming from outside any real dangerous area. Steve Valliquette said it best during the first intermission, they weren’t going hard to the middle, and it cost them.

Things were bound to come crashing down to Earth after elite goaltending and unsustainable shooting carried the Rangers through a terrific November. Three poor games out of four to close out the month leaves a sour taste in our mouths, but that run sure was fun. Losing to Ottawa in such ugly fashion is tough to stomach, but perhaps it’s a learning experience for all the kids in the lineup. As fun as that run was, this loss was not.

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