I know of no other way to put it. The ship is taking on water. With Henrik Lundqvist now an average goalie, for whatever reason, there seems to be no help or hope in sight. The Rangers are now 5-10-3 in the last 18 games. That is 13 points out of a possible 36. They are sinking fast. They need help but who can do it? Coach clueless? The invisible Captain? Early in the season it was Lundqvist. When the Ranger faltered, there was The Prince to bail them out. Now The Prince is faltering and there is no one to bail him out. In fact they are adding to the problem. When I got home last night the first thing Maryann asked me, "What's wrong with this team, there is no one protecting Lundqvist?" Protecting him? They are adding to his problems.
What are Lundqvist's problems? He does not seem focused. I counted four goals that he would have eaten up previously. The Flyers first goal, which trickled in off his glove. The miscommunication on the potential icing which led to a goal. The goal scored from the side, behind the net and the breakaway which he did something he never did, he fell for the deke and moved first. However, where was the rest of the team? Is Lundqvist concerned about his father's brain surgery? Is he focused on the contract negotiations rather than his play? Is he becoming too big of a New York celebrity with his music and band? I hope not, but something is wrong. Those of you that have been readers of this post know that I have long claimed that Henrik Lundqvist is 'The Man' as far as the Ranger success goes and I for one still believe that and will not abandon The Prince. I don't care how many goals Jagr scores it is Lundqvist who is the glue to this team and as he goes so go the Rangers.
The fourth line tried to show the Rangers how to win last nights game. They constantly went to the net on every shift they had in the first period with the result being that Hollweg scored his first two goals of the year. That should have set the pattern. However, there are too many timid souls on this team who enjoy the view of the oppositions net from at least 20-30 feet out. Don't let the 41 shots on goal fool you. Most of them would have been stopped by the goalies playing in the junior Rangers game. The Rangers were 0-7 on the power play, and gave up three goals out of seven chances on the penalty kill. So all aspects of their game are crumbling. What's the common denominator?
The Rangers took a 2-0 lead into the second period but they were two men down taking three stupid penalties, none dumber than Chris Drury tossing his stick to a defenseman. He said he didn't know the rules. You think coach clueless knew it? Anyway it all unraveled and the Rangers lost their fifth straight. What's worse, is there seems to be no hope in sight. The Dark Ranger had a very bad night last night. Had he been sitting with me it would have been worse as there were four Flyer fans who kept jumping up all night for their team. At least someone had a good time. Bring on Le Habs.
ICINGS: Brendan Shanahan was missing most of the third period. Hurt? Disgusted?
The-Blogger-of-The-Year-Award goes to.....The Ranger Pundit for your subtle and summarizing cartoon. The dual meanings in it -- the response of "we are just in a slump and we'll get out of it" is too simple an answer - and that is exactly what the Rangers camp is saying - what else are they supposed to say? - those in psyche might call that "denial" or in Cablevision's eyes "good business", but someone has to be hitting the ceiling in that place. It's embarrassing & humiliating to work in any company where the manager is abusing his power and upper management isn't doing anything about it. Someone needs to be accountable, but it is simply 'business as usual.'
Thanks for the shout-out, but I feel like no one is listening. I actually still receive emails from visitors (who don't quite understand the 'comments' section) that are still defending our Rangers - unable to critique our own team when times are beyond bad. "Don't worry Dark, just like last year, they are in a slump...give it time, please, just give it time." Confront the disease folks.
Who do they think we are? Toronto?
There are only so many times we can all say the same things about an failing team. Thank god we all stopped using the word 'chemistry' as it's now apparent there hasn't and will not be any in the near future with this coach & squad.
tdr
Lou Lamoriello would know what to do this this team. He knows that when a team has talent, and this one does, and it does not perform, you look first at the leadership. That leadership is the Coach and the Captain. You remove them.
If fear the season is lost.
CORRECTED
Lou Lamoriello would know what to do with this team. He knows that when a team has talent, and this one does, and it does not perform, you look first at the leadership. That leadership is the Coach and the Captain. You remove them.
I fear the season is lost.
the dark ranger-jb does the cartoon work. Fantastic. A guy behind me said the same thing last night that we will turn it around like last year.
section 335-Lou's new coach Sutter took the Captaincy away from Patrik Elias. Do you think coach clueless would have the gonads to do that to our Captain?
No. That sums up the problem.