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Rangers battle the Flyers in crucial division matchup; Vigneault fuming after yesterday’s loss
Bobby Bevilacqua
Yesterday was an embarrassing game for the Rangers (26-13-1), who lost 4-1 to the Buffalo Sabres after showing almost no effort or fire in their game. The team needs a quick turnaround, because they take on the Philadelphia Flyers (20-14-5) on the road tonight in what could wind up being an important one for the Metropolitan Division standings.
The Rangers did almost nothing right last night, and were outworked and out-executed by one of the worst teams in the league. Alain Vigneault normally keeps his cool, but he was fuming after last night’s loss.
“There’s no doubt we didn’t do a good enough job in preparing our team for tonight’s game,” Vigneault told reporters. “I mentioned it many times. There are no easy games in this league. We weren’t ready when the game started, our execution was nonexistent. We didn’t have a ‘D’ that could make a pass, and our compete level was not good enough. I haven’t said this very often about this group since I’ve been here, but this was a very bad game where we got outworked badly, and we’re going to need to respond here.” Read the rest of this entry
Rangers show no effort in 4-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The first game of 2017 was an absolute dud for the Rangers (26-13-1), showing minimal effort and playing a poor all-around game and falling to the Buffalo Sabres (14-15-8) by a final score of 4-1.
The Rangers were flat from the start, and never got anything really going whether it was offensively or defensively. They never recovered from early penalties and early goals against, getting totally outplayed and outworked by the Sabres, who were without some key players in their lineup.
There were some similar struggles for the Rangers, mostly the fact that they were losing one-on-one battles defensively in front of the net and along the boards, and that they struggled to move the puck through the neutral zone. Everything was off and the Rangers never recovered. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers begin the new year against the Sabres at MSG; Nash and Buchnevich back to practicing
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
After a successful two game road trip, the Rangers (26-12-1) head back to Madison Square Garden to take on the Buffalo Sabres (13-15-8), the first of two games over the next two days before heading to Philadelphia tomorrow.
The Rangers took care of business last week, beating the Arizona Coyotes and the Colorado Avalanche, two games they were supposed to win. The game against Arizona was a lot closer than it should have been, but they beat the Avalanche handily in their next game, scoring six goals. Now with games against the Sabres and the struggling Flyers over the next two days, the Rangers have a chance to secure some points before the league mandated bye-week.
The Sabres dealt with some injuries to start the year, but it’s been a pretty disappointing start considering some of the signings they made this offseason. Buffalo enters the game tonight with the worst record in the Eastern Conference, and are just 1-4-2 in their last seven games. Read the rest of this entry
How should Alain Vigneault utilize Dan Girardi? Or should he?
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Last night in my recap of the Rangers’ win over the Arizona Coyotes, I wrote that it was a mixed bag of performances from some of the players. Guys like Matt Puempel, Nick Holden and Kevin Hayes had fantastic games, but in reality, the Rangers let one of the worst teams in the league stick around and almost win.
Part of that had to do with the defensive effort. There were some bad bounces, like on Anthony Duclair’s goal, but there was also just bad coverage and decision making throughout the night.
In the Rangers’ win over the Ottawa Senators, Dan Girardi had one of his worst games of the season. This came after Alain Vigneault said that starting him on the top pairing was a “no doubt” decision because of the two player’s “history together” and because Girardi is effective when he’s “making his reads” and “moving his feet.” But he was way out of position on the first Ottawa goal, had countless turnovers, and struggled with his passing. Read the rest of this entry
Puempel hat trick, four power play goals give Rangers a win over the Coyotes
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
The Rangers (25-12-1) came into Arizona to face the lowly Coyotes (11-20-5), but it was an extremely close game in Glendale, one that took four power play goals and a hat trick from Matt Puempel to secure a 6-3 victory.
Puempel scored all three goals on the power play, becoming just the third Ranger to score a power play hat trick since 1986. Marc Messier (3/22/92) and Mike Gartner (1/31/94) were the other two. It was also his first career hat trick.
This was a mixed bag for the Rangers. They did a lot of things right. The offensive effort was strong, with the Rangers generating a lot of quality chances and shots, the power play running at full efficiency, and all four lines playing well in both zones. But they allowed the Coyotes to hang around and chip away at their lead until they tied the game at three. The defensive effort wasn’t all that great either. Realistically, this should have been an easy win, but the way they played at times made it difficult on themselves. Read the rest of this entry
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