Blog Archives
The Rangers’ brutal possession is a problem, and it starts on defense
Bobby Bevilacqua
Dan Girardi had one of the worst games of his career in last night’s game against the Sabres. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Last nights loss against the Buffalo Sabres was yet another brutal game, continuing a stretch of poor play in recent weeks that is very telling about the true nature of the New York Rangers team.
The performance last night was poor in many aspects. Henrik Lundqvist played his worst game in years. Many of the forwards were lackluster, having little to no impact on the game. The defensive coverage was atrocious at times, with a few players especially standing out.
But a huge problem this team has is their corsi, or their possession numbers. I know a lot of people write off analytics and won’t acknowledge it as a way to evaluate a team, but it truly helps in this situation. Corsi and possession are literally just tracking shot attempts. If a certain player or the whole team is getting buried and shelled with shots, chances are they are not playing well. It just quantifies what you’re seeing on the ice. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers blow late lead in a disappointing loss to the Buffalo Sabres
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
The Rangers (16-8-1) saw their team fall apart, giving up two late goals and blowing a lead against the Buffalo Sabres (9-9-5), dropping their fifth game in their last eight contests.
Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash and Marc Staal combined to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead after two periods, but it all eventually fell apart. Jack Eichel, in his second game back from injury, scored two big goals, including the game winner.
It was a game the Rangers never really should have won, because they were outmatched for the majority of the game. It was another concerning showing from the Blueshirts, one that has now become a pattern. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers visit Eichel and the Sabres for first time this season
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
New York is coming off of a game where they didn’t play particularly well, but managed to come away with a win anyway. Rick Nash had a spectacular game, with a goal and an assist in a dominant offensive performance, while Jimmy Vesey scored the game winner on the power play to end a scoreless drought. Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves in the win.
Buffalo is also coming off of a win, an exciting back-and-forth game against the Ottawa Senators that ended with a 5-4 scoreline. Ryan O’Reilly led the way with two goals and an assists, while Kyle Okposo, Sam Reinhart, and Jack Eichel, in his first game back from injury, had a goal and an assist. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers look to rebound against the Hurricanes; Grabner and Miller questionable
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
After a disappointing effort against the Senators in which the Rangers (15-7-1) could not get anything going offensively, Alain Vigneault and his squad will look to pick up a much needed rebound win over the Carolina Hurricanes (9-8-4) tonight at MSG.
The Rangers are coming off of a shutout loss, while the Hurricanes are coming off of a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers. It’s been a long rebuild process for the Canes, but every year it seems that they’re becoming more and more competitive. They scored three unanswered goals and got 31 saves from Michael Leighton for his first NHL win since 2010.
The Rangers are showing signs of regressing to their 2015-16 form, with defensive issues, little possession and scoring chances and too much reliance on the goaltender. They’ve won just two of their last six games and are dealing with injuries and some other issues. Given that it’s only 23 games into the season, there’s still time to get out of this funk and a win tonight would be big. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers get a lot of shots, but are shut out by Anderson and the Senators
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers (15-7-1) could not make it two wins in a row, as they were able to get more shots on goal but could not covert that into offense, falling 2-0 to Craig Anderson and the Ottawa Senators (14-7-1) despite a 33-20 edge in shots.
Recently, the Rangers have been the ones getting outshot and out possessed, but coming away with wins for the most part. Despite turning the tables tonight, they were shut out, mostly because their shots were not from high danger areas. The Rangers had some pretty good chances when they were able to break through the Senators’ defense, but Anderson answered the call.
There wasn’t a lot going on for the Blueshirts in terms of their usual breakaways, because the Senators did a really good job eliminating the Rangers’ speed game. Ottawa clogged up the neutral zone, pushed the Rangers skaters to the outside and mostly eliminated a lot of the good scoring chances. It was a pretty disappointing effort from the Rangers coming off of a game where they barely came away with a win over the Flyers, nearly blowing it in the third period. Read the rest of this entry
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