ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Rangers think they’re playing well.
Again, the Rangers — who lost their third in a row with a 6-3 defeat to the Ducks on Tuesday night, who are 5-8-1 in their past 14, who are dangerously sliding into the fringes of the postseason race as they approach the All-Star break — think they are playing well.
“To be honest with you, I think we played a really good game,” said forward Mats Zuccarello, blood oozing from his nose inside the visitors locker room at Honda Center. “We just gave up too many easy goals — breakaways, 2-on-1’s — we have to be smarter than that. It’s too many of them.”
This was a strange night on the outskirts of Disneyland, as the Rangers (24-20-5) got a rare off night from their franchise bedrock, netminder Henrik Lundqvist, who gave up a goal on the first shot he faced for the sixth time this season and was eventually pulled after allowing three goals on seven shots in the opening 16:21.
“I just didn’t have it. I was too slow,” said Lundqvist, who was replaced by Ondrej Pavelec — who then also gave up a goal on the first shot he saw. “I thought we played pretty good. We gave up some chances there, but it’s my job to stop them. For whatever reason, I was just too slow to react. I have to be more on my toes.
“It happens sometimes. It’s been a lot of games here. But there’s no excuse. I have to be more on my toes to try to help the team here and make those saves.”
There is some truth to the fact the Rangers didn’t exactly roll over to the uncharacteristically struggling Ducks (23-17-9), out-shooting them 44-31 and overcoming 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in the first period with two goals from the resurgent Rick Nash. But with Lundqvist scuffling on goals from J.T. Brown, Corey Perry and Andrew Cogliano; with the execution of the penalty kill having fallen off a cliff; with the road woes continuing, this is season that is coming apart at the seams out here on the West Coast.
“A couple turnovers at the blue lines,” Nash said, “and it feels like we’re shooting ourselves in the foot right now.”
Speaking of turnovers, there sat J.T. Miller on the bench watching for the rest of the game after his ghastly giveaway led to a shorthanded goal from former Devil Adam Henrique at 18:38 of the first period, giving Anaheim a 4-2 lead. A clearly agitated coach Alain Vigneault had a rather simple explanation why.
“I’d seen enough,” Vigneault said.
Vigneault also sat Jimmy Vesey for the third period with the exception of one late power-play shift. It was an authoritarian way of dealing with his team, who was trying to chase down the lead all night by double shifting the likes of Peter Holland and David Desharnais. Never had the loss of pivot Kevin Hayes — missing his sixth straight with a leg contusion — looked so drastic.
But by the time Michael Grabner scored a shorthanded goal at 15:53 of the second period, his team-leading 21st of the season, the Rangers had cut the lead to 4-3. They had a chance to win this one, and then it would have been a lot easier to feel good about their game.
But Rickard Rakell made it 5-3 with the Ducks’ second power-play goal of the game — the fifth power-play goal the Rangers have given up in the past two games — and then Ryan Getzlaf ended it into the empty net.
All that remains now in terms of redemption is the final contest of this four-game road trip and the last game before the All-Star break, Thursday in San Jose. Nash called it “a huge game,” and the Rangers need something to change to start thinking their good play can result in wins.
“There are a few mistakes that aren’t the type of mistakes that you can make and they’ve cost us dearly,” Vigneault said. “Go back to the drawing board tomorrow, go back to work, and go from there.”