There is no indication that a change behind the bench or in the uniformed personnel is imminent, but everyone’s antenna should be up around the Garden because what we’ve seen from the Rangers is not even close to good enough.
“I can’t think about whether there could be changes. That’s not my job or focus,” Mats Zuccarello said after the Blueshirts fell to 1-5 with Saturday night’s 3-2 defeat to the Devils at the Garden. “For me as an individual and for us as a team, we have to go day by day and try to improve.
“When you lose five out of six any time, it’s tough, and it’s probably tougher when it comes at the start. We’re just not playing well enough.”
It is difficult to determine whether the Rangers, who dominated the young and fresh Devils for the first 25 minutes and the final 15, but yielded three goals while going AWOL for those other 20 minutes, need shock treatment — Darryl Sutter, anyone? — or simply a tune-up.
see also
Rangers fall again after quick start fades in loss to Devils
It looked like something finally had clicked. The Rangers were…
This is a team that has had only three coaches since the NHL reopened for business in 2005-06 — Tom Renney followed by John Tortorella followed by Alain Vigneault — and whose ownership and management values stability. But 1-5, while looking disorganized much of the time, tends to prompt careful examination of the program.
It is also an organization that hasn’t pulled off a blockbuster in-season trade outside of the deadline in eons in a league where it is mighty difficult to do so. But 1-5, while looking disorganized much of the time, can prompt a general manager, in this case Jeff Gorton, to investigate his options.
Again. There is no signal that either a coaching change or a major deal is pending. But the last time the Rangers started 1-5 came in 1980-81 with Freddie Shero in his third season behind the bench, not even two years removed from taking his team on a wholly unexpected ride to the Stanley Cup finals before losing in five to Montreal.
Shero made it to the 20-game mark before he was replaced by Craig Patrick with the Blueshirts an ugly-as-sin 4-13-3. That was the time when 16 of the league’s 21 clubs qualified for the playoffs. And the Rangers, seeded 13th in the 1-16 draw, actually made it to the semifinals after upsetting high-seeds Los Angeles and St. Louis before getting swept out by the Islanders.
In other words, organizations could afford patience then as opposed to now, when eight of 16 in the East will qualify and the Blueshirts are in danger of losing contact after already losing three of their four at the Garden.
The Devils, whom the Rangers have finished ahead of in the standings for six straight years and by an aggregate 85 points the past three years, are 4-1 and feisty, speedy and innocent enough to believe that they can twist the recent imbalance of the Battle of the Hudson their way.
And there are Hurricanes, Leafs, Flyers and Puddy Tats in Florida, oh my, for a Rangers team that doesn’t yet seem quite a unit with which to contend. So far the Blueshirts are a takeoff of that timeworn campaign slogan: They seem tired and everyone else seems fresh.
The Rangers did put forth their most impressive segment of the season in gaining a 1-0 lead on Rick Nash’s goal from in front at 5:31 of the second. They had played with pace and set the tempo in outshooting New Jersey 16-5 at that point. But if the Blueshirts had seen the light, they descended into immediate darkness, turning the puck over for shift after shift after shift. They played panicky hockey.
see also
Veterans return one bit of good news for reeling Rangers
Finally, some good news came the Rangers’ way. Finally, during…
After the goal, the Rangers did not generate their next shot from inside the blue line for another 21:24. Overall, though, they were an empty sandwich. Where was the beef?
“Teams aren’t doing it to us, we’re doing it to ourselves,” said J.T. Miller, who had a very strong game. “We played a strong north-south game, won battles, and then for whatever reason we got away from it. We just haven’t been able to play a full 60-minute game and you can’t win in this league without that.
“That’s been the story so far.”
The Rangers had best change the story themselves or the story is going to be changed for them. This cannot go on much longer.