NASHVILLE, Tenn. — They are the last-place Rangers, and any remaining optimism for this season is dwindling.
The Blueshirts got bloodied and bullied in a 5-2 loss to the Predators on Saturday night here at Bridgestone Arena. In the process, they could have lost both Marc Staal and Jimmy Vesey, each unable to return to the game after separate unpenalized hits to the head in the second period.
It left the Rangers (25-22-5) in a moderate state of shock, both at the non-calls and at their own lack of execution that has taken them on a 6-10-2 tumble over their previous 18 and had them leapfrogged by the victorious Islanders as the bottom-dwellers of the Metropolitan Division.
“Headshots, they have to be taken out of the game. It’s embarrassing,” Rick Nash told The Post. “I don’t care about running around making clean hits. But when you target a guy’s head, it’s a joke.”
see also
Two Rangers get knocked out by head-hunting Predators
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Alain Vigneault didn’t use the word concussion,…
The shot on Staal was gruesome, with the puck gone and Nashville defenseman Alexei Emelin plastering Staal’s head into the boards. Staal has a long history of concussions, and he immediately grabbed his head and went off to the locker room with 11:12 remaining in the second. Less than a minute later, Vesey was nailed by Filip Forsberg, who turned his back and put an elbow right in Vesey’s face, leaving him with a mouthful of blood.
Neither drew a penalty, but they both drew the ire of the Rangers.
“My opinion, it’s very hard to figure certain things out from game to game,” coach Alain Vigneault said when asked about the decisions of officials Francois St. Laurent and Garrett Rank to declare neither one a penalty. “I’m just going to leave it at that, otherwise I might get myself in trouble.”
What has really gotten the Rangers in this deep bit of trouble has been their uncanny ability to make the big mistakes at the worst times. They twice cut a two-goal deficit to one, and on the next shift, allowed Nashville to score.
“If you look at the difference of being a winning team and a losing team, you make the mistakes at the wrong time,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who gave up four goals on 27 shots, while Kevin Fiala put his second of the night into the empty net with 2:04 to go. “They played a very solid game, and it was hard for us to create big chances.”
The Rangers didn’t really have a lot of chances, putting up just five shots in the first period and three in the second, down 2-0 after 40 minutes on goals from P.K. Subban and Fiala. The Rangers got two power-play goals in the third, coming from J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad, that made it 2-1 and 3-2, respectively. But the goals from Colton Sissions and Viktor Arvidsson followed them immediately, and the Blueshirts were kept at an arm’s distance.
Despite a fight from defenseman Brady Skjei — who might be better served with his hands in his gloves and not turning the puck over, like he did on Fiala’s first goal — the Rangers were still unable to match the intensity, physicality, or skill of the Predators (31-12-7), who were two wins away from winning the Stanley Cup last season.
“It was a hockey game, you have to play with emotion,” Lundqvist said. “You play better when you play with emotion. You can’t go out there and not feel anything.”
There certainly will be emotion when this two-game road trip wraps up in Dallas on Monday night. But already missing Chris Kreider (rib resection), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery) and Pavel Buchnevich (concussion), this season is very quickly slipping away as general manager Jeff Gorton prepares for the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
“That could easily creep in here,” Nash said. “I’ve seen it happen. I’ve been on teams where it’s happened. But I don’t think we’re anywhere close to done.”
Hard to convince anyone else of the same.