COLUMBUS, Ohio — At some point, it stops being the exception. At some point, the Rangers are going to start being defined by turnovers and sloppy puck management and utterly inconsistent play at almost all positions throughout the lineup.
They might not be at that point yet, not after another roller-coaster loss, this one a 3-1 defeat at the hands of John Tortorella and the Blue Jackets on Friday night at Nationwide Arena. It dropped the Rangers to 1-4-0 on the season, matching the worst start since coach Alain Vigneault’s first year behind the bench in 2013-14.
And that makes perfect sense, as these revamped Blueshirts look like a new group with a new coach. They are undeniably talented, but undeniably disjointed — with little time to unite the two before this season drops into full panic mode.
“It’s a tough time for us right now. We’re losing,” said Rick Nash, still unable to break through with a goal despite a five-shot performance. “I think we all have to stick together. I think this is when you get a character check. It’s easy for guys to start pointing the finger and blaming, but good teams stick together in these times.”
Well, this is not pointing the finger, but goalie Henrik Lundqvist (along with everyone else in the room) had a pretty good read on why things are going south so fast.
“A lot of areas going well, but the one thing that we need to clean up is turnovers,” Lundqvist said. “A lot of turnovers, I think, is really killing us. We’re a fast team when we put the puck in the right place. But we have to defend a lot because of the amount of turnovers. So that’s something we have to discuss and do better.”
The Rangers were hanging on through the mistakes until there were just 45.8 seconds remaining in the second period, when a Seth Jones shot deflected off the leg of Mika Zibanejad, off the left post and in, tying it, 1-1. The Blueshirts then came out to start the third period absolutely deflated and were outshot 11-0 in the opening 6:35 of the frame. Lundqvist was the only reason the game remained tied.
But Artemi Panarin changed that on the 12th shot of the period, an all-world rush up ice from the all-world Russian, skating around all Rangers present and beating Lundqvist for a 2-1 lead and what would stand as the game-winner.
“Again tonight, we didn’t play 60 minutes,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “They totally dominated us in the third period. Right now, every line seems to have one guy really fighting it, one guy just playing OK, and it’s not good enough right now. We definitely need to get our game in order.”
Vigneault tried mixing up some of his combinations, but almost no line kept up any sustained pressure, not even the previously formidable Chris Kreider-Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich unit. The new top defensive pair of Ryan McDonagh and Nick Holden was often swapped out depending on the situation, and Brendan Smith’s return to the lineup after two games as a scratch was highlighted by a screaming match from penalty box to penalty box with Columbus captain Nick Foligno.
The game was all over the place, starting with an overturned goal because of another successful challenge from Vigneault 27 seconds in. That play started with an egregious turnover by Kevin Hayes on the first shift, and after Hayes took a penalty soon thereafter, he burst out of the box and scored the opening goal at 14:35 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.
It kept going back and forth, and the tide kept swaying away from the Rangers when they needed it most. Once Lukas Sedlak ended this one into the empty net, the Rangers ostensibly moved on to Saturday night’s Garden match against the Devils — an early season game that suddenly means a whole lot.
“We need more,” Lundqvist said. “Obviously, it’s not good.”