New York Rangers Can’t Score, Lose to Calgary Flames

The Rangers are getting so desperate for offense, Scott Gomez was playing left wing at the end of their 3-0 loss to Calgary. Last night’s game wasn’t the complete disaster that took place in Montreal, but the team is heading in the wrong direction.

For most of the night, it was a back-and-forth, sleepy Sunday, not-much-happening kind of game. The Rangers were actually playing fairly well. Their defensemen were breaking up plays in their own zone, jumping into the play on offense and the team completely outshot Calgary for the first 35 minutes of the game.

Corey Potter made his NHL debut filling in for Wade Redden, who’s day to day. Henrik Lundqvist probably scared his teammates into playing better. They outshot Calgary 12-2 in the second period, but the Flames were the only team that scored. Calgary didn’t get a shot off for the first 15 minutes of the period, but their first shot led to their first goal.

But for all the shots the Rangers were getting (they outshot Calgary 32-20 for the game), most were out on the perimeter and weren’t great scoring chances. And when they’re about to have a golden opportunity, they either pass instead of shoot or wait too long to shoot. That was epitomized by a play in the third period.

Nikolai Zherdev made a fantastic move, fed the puck to Gomez, but the center/left wing took way too long to get a shot off and ended up with no shot at all. These aren’t happy days for Gomez. After going –4 in Montreal, he was –3 last night, and turned the puck over in the neutral zone, which led to Calgary’s second goal.

Tom Renney switched his lines again to start the game, and by the last period the combinations were so scrambled that the team actually played about 30 seconds with only four players on the ice. Nobody knows who’s supposed to be playing with who anymore. The power play, yet again, was no help.

They were oh for four with the man advantage, and (yes once again) let up a shorthanded goal (their astounding eighth of the year). They’re 22nd in the league in power play percentage, at a pathetic 15%, and look like they have no idea what they’re supposed to be doing out there.

The team was perfect on the penalty kill, and are now ranked No. 1 in the league, at 90.3%, so they have that going for them, but that’s about it these days. They’ve lost two games in a row and are a mediocre 8-8-1 since the beginning of November. Five out of their last six wins have come in the shootout. And scoring’s becoming a big problem.

They sit second to last in the NHL in goals per game, at 2.28. Renney changes his lines every game, but how about giving some of the combos he’s used a chance? How long did the Gomez/Zherdev/Naslund line last? Two games? Who knows what we’ll see on Wednesday in Atlanta. Just seeing the puck go into the net would be a start, though.