Rangers Vs. Blues: Who Didn't See That Coming?
Notes from the Rangers' loss to the Blues.
- Want to know why Tuesday's loss to the New York Islanders was so frustrating? Because the minute the New York Rangers dropped those two points everyone made the realization that the St. Louis Blues were coming to town on Thursday. And everyone knew how tough of a matchup it was going to be. And how tough they ended up being. And the Rangers lost, again. And the Columbus Blue Jackets won. So the Rangers very slim hold of their playoff spot gets smaller, and with so many games in hand it's not going to last much longer.
- The sad thing is the Rangers didn't play bad at all for the most part. But my God the Blues are a damn good team and shut everything down. Bryan used the term "suffocated" in his recap last night. That's a great word to use. The Rangers really were suffocated. No space, few chances and very, very little time.
- I'm not going to spend too much time on it, but the NHL really needs to figure out what is a kicking motion and what isn't. If J.T. Miller's goal didn't count against the Flyers (way, way, way back) there's no way in hell that goal should have been counted. However, the NHL seems to think this is a good goal, so obviously they have no idea what they're doing in this department. You can also probably tell the Rangers have gotten the really short end of the stick in goal reviews this year. Let's not even go back into the Toronto incident. Yuck.
- That's 10 goals now in 10 games for Rick Nash who is currently on a 31 goal pace (with just a 65-game pace). If you take away the injuries and put this goal scoring pace onto a full season Nash would be on pace for 39 goals. Just saying.
- Kevin Klein was a really nice bright spot. Those aren't scrubs on the other side of the ice (as we talked about above) and he really didn't miss a beat despite not being with the team for more than 24 hours. It's really nice to have an option like Klein on the bench, though. He can easily eat 20 minutes a game and you don't have to worry about the defensive aspect of things. And with the way Ryan McDonagh has looked on offense, and with the hope that John Moore improves now that he's moved back to his natural side, it doesn't make me miss Michael Del Zotto's potential offense at all.
- Henrik Lundqvist played really well. If nothing else losing a game and only giving up two goals proves he's back, right? That's been going on for years.
- Carl Hagelin had a horrific game. I sort of hate calling some players out individually after a loss (I am a big supporter of the win as a team lose as a team thing) but he wasn't good. How many good scoring chances was he going to pass up to pass the puck? Shoot. The. Puck. Every one of those passes were turnovers, too. Not a good game from him.
- Same goes for Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard. You're down by one, stop being so fancy. Shoot the puck. Same to you, Brad Richards.
- This, however, doesn't give you the right to scream "shoot" every chance you can. Please don't be one of those people.
- Next on the docket the Rangers play the Devils and the Islanders in their Stadium Series games, before taking on the Islanders again next Friday at home. Those are a huge six points. And with the two losses the Rangers just suffered they can't afford to lose them.
