There’s a saying about relationships that it’s never wise to go to bed angry. (Rangers’ losses on the West coast usually make that impossible.). Similarly, writing about sports while enraged is also a slippery slope. Your judgment could be clouded by raw emotion and produce analysis and takes that might come back to haunt you. (There are sites dedicated to doing just that.)
However, in assessing the Rangers twenty-two games into the season, I don’t think the horrific loss on Saturday to the Oilers is solely generating the negative vibe around the team. The cracks and flaws in this year’s team have been evident for a while now. Saturday’s loss only crystallized them swiftly and glaringly, making it impossible to ignore.
There is a myriad of on-ice factors contributing to this early season malaise:
- lack of 5×5 offense
- problems finishing
- defensive lapses
Unfortunately, these have coincided with terrible puck luck and sustained power play outages. Last year, when these phases happened, we were spoiled by being repeatedly bailed out by Igor. While he is still fantastic, even he hasn’t been immune to a lapse here and there.
To be fair, I’m confident most of these aspects will turn around at some point. The scoring will come (we’re due for a raging Mika goal streak), the power play will find its way, and I have faith Igor will be his Vezina-level self.
Yet, what is most concerning about this team at the moment, has been their propensity to wilt and collapse when adversity strikes. Last year’s team (with pretty much the same core) adopted the “No Quit In NY” mantra and played like it. They weren’t perfect, but you never felt they were out of a game and would literally bleed trying to secure the win.
This year, once they go down, they never seem to get up off the mat.
This shift in the Rangers’ DNA has been most disappointing. The hope was that last year’s Eastern Conference Finals run set a foundation for this team that would see them build off that experience and take it to another level. The opposite has happened. Their confidence looks shaken, and their play has regressed instead of evolved. It doesn’t feel like just a perception that the team has already suffered more bad losses this year (San Jose, Columbus, Anaheim, Seattle, Edmonton, etc.) than it did all of last season.
The blame for this is on the players but also on the coaching staff as well. Gallant has been juggling lines and preaching patience but has yet to prove that he knows how to correct this. While there’s no need to overreact, there is some urgency to turn this around SOON, as the Rangers reside in a very competitive Eastern Conference.
Tonight will immediately provide that chance with a critical, tough matchup against a blazing-hot NJ Devils team. This is not exactly the squad you want to face while scuffling, but a win here could provide the spark needed going forward.
Confidence and optimism are understandably shaky amongst our fanbase. A complete game victory tonight against the Devils would help replenish some of that, but that outcome seems bleak due to how these teams have been trending lately.
Mainly, you just want to see the fight, the guts, and the steel that the Rangers exhibited last year begin to show up on the ice consistently. That needs to become the team’s DNA again, so our collective psyche doesn’t continuously dangle on a mere strand.
