Rangers-Hurricanes: New York Crushed by 29th Place Carolina, 5-1

Not much to say here after tonight’s 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, other than that it was the same old story for our New York Rangers. Scanty offense, atrocious defense, and now you can add shaky goaltending to the mix.

The start in this game was horrific, things got a little bit better in the second, but after they scored their first and last goal in the tilt, the Blueshirts energy tailed off and they became that humdrum squad which we are so used to watching. This was about the same time last season when things went down the toilet and a coaching change was made; what will happen this time around?

The festivities began at the 3:11 mark of the first period when Patrick Dwyer made a beautiful deflection through his legs to beat Lundqvist low and give the Hurricanes an early 1-0 advantage. Just 25 seconds later, Eric Staal’s shot from the boards confused Lundqvist, banked off his leg and into the back of the net, and in the blink of an eye the offensively challenged Rangers found themselves trailing 2-0.

The home team probably did not even have to play the rest of the game because they were out of it already, but there were still 40 minutes of hockey left to play.

About a minute and a half into the second period, Ryan Callahan tipped a Marc Staal slapshot past Ward and gave the Rangers a bit of hope that they could come back and tie this thing up. They always say the shift after a goal is critical.

Well, Tortorella and his boys obviously do not believe in clichés because less than a minute after Callahan’s goal, Sergei Samsonov was left wide open by Matt Gilroy and made New York pay the price by deflecting Alberts’ point shot to regain the ‘Canes two-goal lead (3-1). After that goal, Wade Redden would be yanked off the ice and would not step foot on it again for the rest of the night.

Sergei Samsonov then buried his second of the game at about the midway point in the third, which is one Henrik Lundqvist would definitely like to have back. Eric Staal followed that up with a five-on-three powerplay goal from the point and that right there was where the game ended.

The Rangers generated very few legitimate chances, and when they did, they were denied by an outstanding Cam Ward in net for Carolina. No hitting, no forecheck, nothing. They just played it out as if they didn’t mind that they were just blown out by the 29th place team in the National Hockey League.

Starting with Lundqvist, I think he is putting way too much pressure on himself right now. He is aware of the fact that if he allows more than two goals this team automatically loses, and he knows that it is up to him to stand on his head and keep the team in it when the defense in front of him breaks down.

All of this is rushing through his head and that is seeing him let the easy ones in—goals that should not be goals. Not to mention he has Team Sweden in the back of his mind with the Olympics coming up in just a couple of weeks.

On offense, Marian Gaborik actually looked snake bitten tonight. He had plenty of chances and when those came, he had some hesitation in his actions. Again, this goes back to the whole thinking thing, and obviously right now the entire team is dealing with it. Must give credit to Cam Ward, though, because   he stoned Gaborik often in this one, and that is not something many goalies are able to do.

Once Gaborik can break out of his slump, the team will be able to breathe a little easier knowing that they have some source of offense, but Gaborik himself is not going to solve all of the problems that this club faces.

This brings me to my next point. Standings-wise, the Rangers are in a better position than they were at this time last season, but as far as the record goes, they are eight points worse this year than they were in '08/'09.

Different coach, different players, and a year later this team is suffering from the same streaky defense and limited scoring. So really, you cannot say John Tortorella has made much of a difference during his tenure so far in New York. It really makes you wonder what is going through the head of GM Glen Sather right now because he is running out of options.

There aren’t many places to run and hide. The New York Rangers are a losing team and the world now knows it.

What worries me even more than the goal scoring problem is the lack of effort at times. When this team isn’t giving it their all, they are an extremely pathetic and stale group to watch. No one provides excitement, they all look depressed, and nobody is stepping up to the plate to make an impact. Now you question the leadership on this team, which we originally thought was not an issue as far as the Blueshirts went. Maybe now it is.

Lastly, the whole Redden benching thing is just Tortorella making it look like he knows what he is doing. That was a move just to say “I realize my team looks like garbage and I realize they must face consequences.” So what does he do?

He takes it out on the second most hated player by the fans, even though he did not make that major of a mistake. But hey, that won’t matter because everyone despises him anyway. I could pick out several players that looked worse than Redden at that point in the game.

The Rangers now kick off a three game road trip to the Wes Coast, going head to head with the Phoenix Coyotes Saturday night at eight o’clock. If they plan on turning things around soon, sweeping the trip with three straight wins would be essential in doing so. But then again, one goal isn’t going to get them very far so I wouldn’t get my hopes up.
(Picture courtesy of Getty Images)