rangers avs vlad namestnikov

The Rangers figured it couldn’t get any worse after the 7-2 loss to Pittsburgh. They thought wrong, as Colorado gave the Blueshirts a similar 6-2 drubbing. However unlike the game against the Penguins, where the Rangers were at least in it after the first period, there was no time during this game that the Blueshirts were actually in it.

The defense was even worse against Colorado, yet the same sextet keeps getting trotted out there. Some of the veterans, even some fan favorites, are going through the motions and appear to just be waiting to be traded. Alex Georgiev faced a whopping 47 shots, stopping 41 of them. He did what he could.

Avs 1, Rangers 0

That top line and powerplay unit is dangerous. Adam McQuaid broke his stick, which made it a 5-on-3. He took Jesper Fast’s stick, which made the pass over to Gabriel Landeskog easier to make. That was a great shot, but it looked like Georgiev flinched. Maybe it’s because he never plays?

Avs 2, Rangers 0

Sometimes hockey happens, and deflections like this happen. But it was Marc Staal with the giveaway 20 seconds prior that set this up.

Avs 3, Rangers 0

Landeskog got to the slot uncovered, and Neal Pionk was not in a good position to stop the deflection.

Avs 4, Rangers 0

Alex Kerfoot with another deflection that gets by Georgiev. That’s three in a row, two by Avs. Pionk again just leaving him alone in front.

Avs 5, Rangers 0

Another PPG. Another deflection. Another undefended man in front. Another Pionk miss.

Avs 5, Rangers 1

Oh hey the Rangers showed up. The Avs misconnected on a pass, and Ryan Strome was off to the races.

Avs 6, Rangers 1

Remember Ryan Graves? The guy who never got a shot here and was sent to Colorado for Chris Bigras? Yea, this is his first NHL goal. I’m not saying Graves is going to be good, but with all the improvements he made while in the OHL and with Hartford, the fact he never got a true shot is disturbing and shows the Rangers don’t know how to evaluate defender talent. This time he just cruised in to the point untouched and no one picked up the slot.

Shot Heatmap

I don’t really think you guys need me to break this down much. It would be nice if the Rangers actually had sustained offense.

This is the ugliness of the rebuild we were expecting. However it is now on the coach to start playing the youth in bigger roles and letting them get big minutes in the NHL. The vets that are playing now aren’t even showing up to play. It’s embarrassing.

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