Rangers Recap: Heading for rock bottom?

For the past 5 games, the Rangers have been mostly carried by the brilliance of Igor Shesterkin, a precision power play, and finishing talent. Much like the last few seasons. When they rely on skill over process, games like last night happen. Shesterkin had an off night, allowing 5 goals on 11 shots before getting pulled. The power play went cold, and the new lines could not get it together offensively.

This Jekyll and Hyde act the Rangers love when playing bad teams sure is frustrating though. The Rangers had a 4 day break between games, and while Buffalo can score, they are not a good team. The Rangers made it way too easy on the Sabres. There was very little forechecking, the defensemen were soft in their coverage, and the Sabres entered the zone with ease against the forwards. This cannot keep happening night after night.

This game was just bad and doesn’t need to be harped on any further than this: I think the Rangers need to have a serious internal look at how they evaluate defenseman. The Ryan Lindgren we have today is not one of the Rangers 6 defensemen anymore. From bad penalties, to being nowhere near 100%, he is without a doubt the worst player on this team at the moment. Yes, that includes Jacob Trouba.

Is this a the rock bottom game that causes some change? There has to be a change on the defensive end of this team badly. It’s the team’s glaring weakness. The team rightfully got booed off the ice and they looked flat, and the only way to fix it is to address the actual issues at hand.