Suddenly, the Rangers 7-1 start seems like a lifetime ago.

After losing last night to the Washington Capitals 4-2, it is safe to say the Rangers have real problems. Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik are the only forwards making anything happen right now, and no one else is stepping up to help.

The injuries to Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky are killing the Rangers on puck drops. The Rangers only won 4 out of 13 face-offs in their own zone last night, which helped the Caps dominate play for a good portion of the evening. Artem Anisimov was a woeful 4 for 14 on face-offs overall.

After Gaborik's second goal of the night tied the game at two in the third period, Wade Redden made a costly mistake and was beaten badly for a goal by Matt Bradley, who had earlier made a substantial blood donation thanks to the fists of "Boom Boom" Voros.

The Capitals added an empty netter to put the Rangers away.

Final thoughts before we get to the notes and quotes from the Rangers:

• What in God's name were Wade Redden and Michael Rozsival doing on the ice with the goaltender pulled? As we said in the game thread, put 4 forwards out there, and Gilroy and Del Zotto.
• Sean Avery seems to be finding his game again.
• I think the Rangers have to make a callup, and try and get something going, this just isn't working. Corey Locke, Evgeny Grachev, Bobby Sanguinetti, somebody, anybody that can put a charge in this team.
• Sometimes I think DirecTv customers are lucky not to have to suffer through games on Versus.

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES AND QUOTES

November 17, 2009 - New York Rangers 2, Washington Capitals 4 (Game #21, Home #10)

Click Here For The Official Game Summary

• The Rangers were defeated by the Washington Capitals, 4-2, in front of a sold-out crowd (18,200) at Madison Square Garden to drop to 11-9-1 (23 pts.) on the season and 6-4-0 at home.
• New York have sold out 166 consecutive regular season games, dating back to Nov. 5, 2005 against New Jersey; the last regular season non-sellout was Oct. 31, 2005 vs. Montreal (17,697); including the playoffs, the Rangers sellout streak is now at 180 games.
• The Rangers are now 14-5-0 in their last 19 regular season games at MSG, and have out-scored their opponents, 65-40, during the stretch.
• Marian Gaborik opened the game's scoring at 1:16 of the first period, and added a power play goal in the third to post his ninth multi-point effort of the season; he has recorded a point in 17 of 19 games this season, including nine goals and 15 points in his last 10 contests; Gaborik also logged a team-high 24:03 of icetime.

Plenty more after the jump..........

• Sean Avery tallied one power play assist and registered three hits in 16:03 of icetime; he now has five goals and eight points in eight career regular season contests against Washington.
• Rangers defensemen Dan Girardi and Marc Staal each recorded an assist on Gaborik's goal at 1:16 of the first period; New York defensemen have now combined for 45 points (13 goals and 32 assists) this season.
• P.A. Parenteau recorded an assist on Gaborik's power play goal at 8:23 of the third period; the assist was his first as a Ranger.
• Ryan Callahan registered five hits in 21:21 of icetime; he currently leads the NHL with 82 hits on the season.
• Christopher Higgins led the team with seven hits, and won seven of 13 faceoffs (54%) in 18:00 of icetime.
• The Rangers next practice is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 19 (11:00 a.m.), at the MSG Training Center.
• The Rangers return to action on Saturday, Nov. 21, when they will face-off against the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.); the game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.

POST-GAME QUOTES

John Tortorella on tonight's game...

"I thought, for most of the game there, we played.  Obviously our biggest weakness is that we are not getting any secondary scoring.  We played in surges at times.  We held them to 11, 12 scoring chances.  We just aren't creating enough with our secondary scoring."

Henrik Lundqvist on tonight's game...

"You have to be positive and you have to think you'll turn this around. We had a big win the other night and we just need to have a couple in a row and get going. Now we're back to square one again. We have a couple of days off between games and we have to make sure we're ready for the next one."

Marian Gaborik on tonight's game...

"We've got to capitalize and try and score on those hardworking, grinding plays. We just have to cut down on taking penalties and go from there. We didn't generate a lot of shots, that was a problem there. We came back in the third, we had some good chances down low and we need to keep the puck down low more often."

Wade Redden on creating offensive chances...

"I think a lot of things stem from getting the puck in their zone.  It starts from our end, where we get good passes, chip it in and forecheck.  It is not just shots, it is creating momentum. I think we just have to rely on the simple little plays to create chances for ourselves."

Finally, here is video of Marian Gaborik's first goal: