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| Reuters Pictures |
The New York Rangers were not the better team tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins, therefore they deserved the 3-1 loss in front of their hometown fans. Unlike in the two games prior to this one, the Blueshirts did not get away with playing mediocre hockey. I said in the pregame that the Pens were far too skilled of a team to get a win against them if you do not play your best, and the Rangers learned that the hard way on this night.
The first period was evenly played for the most part, but the Penguins did get on the board when Maxim Talbot took advantage of a loose puck in the slot by surprising Henrik Lundqvist with a quick shot. This was simply bad luck for the Rangers, because the puck sort of eluded both Ruslan Fedotenko and Dan Girardi, and just sat there for Talbot to fire home. This is the second straight game where they were burned because of a bouncing puck on a broken play right in front of the net.
Also in the first period was Sidney Crosby’s controversial slew foot on Ryan Callahan at center ice. It was a cheap play by Sidney that he should have been penalized for, but somehow Callahan ended up in the box instead, which had fans enraged. I’ll elaborate more on this incident in a post I have planned to post tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon.
The second period was a disaster on all fronts for the Rangers. The biggest problem was that the Penguins were taking advantage of their aggressive forecheck by making long outlet passes. Here is where I will talk about the boring technical stuff about the game, but hopefully it will clear up for you what I am trying to say. The Rangers, on the forecheck, generally have two forwards supporting the puck and one forward stationed by the net (in front or behind depending on where the puck is). So now you have three forwards down low and only two defensemen back. When the Pens transitioned, they were making long outlet passes to spring 3-on-2 odd-man rushes, which occurred because none of the Ranger forwards could get back in time to help defend.
What John Tortorella had to do here was adjust his squad’s forecheck so that it was more conservative than aggressive. How does he do that, you ask? Simple. Instead of having three men down low, form more of a triangle in the offensive zone. One player on the puck, one player at the net, and most importantly, one player in the high slot. So now when the Pens transition, that third forward can easily join the defensemen in defending the rush.
Anyway, this led to Chris Conner’s goal at 13:16 of the second. He came in and rifled a wristshot past Lundqvist. It also led to Kris Letang’s goal, when he beat Hank with a one-timer that Crosby fed him for. Marian Gaborik gave the Rangers some life at the end of the second when he snapped a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury to cut into the Penguins’ lead to 3-1. That is the way the two teams would head to intermission.
The Rangers had all of the chances they could have asked for in the third period to tie this game, but they let each and every one of them go to waste. They were given two powerplays, both in which they struggled to even get a shot on goal. Then they had a few odd-man breaks that they missed the net on and even a semi-breakaway for Brian Boyle that he somehow scooped up into the stands. Again, the Blueshirts did not deserve to win this game, and they didn’t. Not much more you can say than that at this point.
None of the goals were Henrik Lundqvist’s fault. The first was a turnover and the other two he was completely screened on. He made a total of 24 saves on the night, many of which were on Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. He did not seem too upset after the game, so that was good. He’ll definitely be in net for at least one of the games against the Islanders coming up, possibly both.
I felt like the Rangers were not very persistent on offense. They needed to be in the faces of the Pens more, and that they were not. It was the usual dump followed up by an easy clear by Pittsburgh. Not enough pressure, not enough hitting. It all just was not there tonight and like I have said many times, you need everything going when you go up against a club like the Penguins.
The good news is that Marian Gaborik did play in this game despite battling a bad case of the flu. In addition to playing, he also scored a goal and registered three shots and 21:45 of ice time. Tortorella denied to comment about his game afterwards because he said the media goes nuts every time he says something about Gabby. I thought that was pretty funny, but also the truth.
So the Rangers finish up the month of November – the toughest of their entire schedule – with a record of 9-7-0. That is not bad at all considering some of the opponents they had to face. They will now kick off December with a home-and home with the rival New York Islanders on Thursday and Friday. Since they did not get any points tonight, they will want to steal at least three from the Isles in the next two games.
moochmadden 