Rangers Recap: A point is a point

At least the Rangers scored, right? This is getting old, though, as the Rangers scored just once despite the game feeling extremely winnable. A point is a point, and sometimes you just need to see one go in the net before the floodgates open. The Rangers went 170 straight minutes between goals, a team that if you are living and dying with your top six, you look like you’re dying early on. Even with great process, at some point you need to convert your chances into tangible goals.

Maybe this is what the Rangers are this season. A team that has extremely sound process, but both lacks the finishing talent and has poor shooting luck, creating this kind of situation. Half of the top six does not look good out of the gate with another one currently on LTIR. That doesn’t bode well for a roster that is pretty thin at forward.

We can sit here and throw ideas at the wall like adding Gabe Perreault or Scott Morrow over Conor Sheary or Urho Vaakanainen to hopefully improve the offense, but the Rangers lack the necessary cap space right now, even with all of their injury woes at the present time. This team’s top six should be converting at a much higher rate than they are, and hopefully we are not seeing their demise in real time, Mika Zibanejad notwithstanding. At least he looks good, fanned shot aside.

Speaking of Zibanejad, the hate needs to calm down. Even with the fanned shot attempt, Mika has had a terrific start to the season and has looked engaged in every single game. Fanned shots happen to everyone, this was just one that came at a bad time and was exacerbated by Adam Fox biting on William Nylander holding the puck an extra second and Artemi Panarin’s lack of a backcheck. It happens, and the fanned shot was probably the least problematic part of that sequence.

Speakin of Panarin, what is going on with him? With just two assists on the season, we can’t ignore that failed backcheck. If he were scoring, then it’s easier to overlook a play like that, especially since he’s not relied upon for his defensive play. It’s astonishingly pathetic. Panarin is, without a doubt, the greatest free agency signing in this organization’s history, but I don’t think any of us ever envisioned this kind of start/slump from him.

There is some good news: The Rangers held another high powered offense to just one goal at 5v5. This bodes well for the future, it’s just incredibly difficult to watch right now. The Rangers are too good for these shooting woes to stick, assuming Panarin and JT Miller are just slumping and not declining.