In a game that the New York Rangers needed to win in order to stay in a wild card spot in a very competitive Eastern Conference, they instead never showed up.
On Tuesday night, March 18th, against the Calgary Flames, they were outplayed, outhustled, and outworked in a 3-1 loss at Madison Square Garden. To make matters worse, the Flames played the night before in Toronto in a 5-1 loss to the Maple Leafs.
Because the Rangers delivered an extremely poor effort against the Flames and the Montreal Canadiens put in a herculean performance against the red hot Ottawa Senators and won 6-3, the Blueshirts are currently (As of Wednesday, March 19) one point out of the second wild card spot. This makes their effort against the Flames alarming for several reasons
For starters, the Rangers were afraid to shoot the puck against a team that is currently (As of Wednesday, March 19) 24th in the league in shots against per game. On average, the Flames give up 29 shots per game.
That was not the case on Tuesday night. The Rangers were only able to must up 12 shots in making life extremely easy for Flames goaltender Dan Vladar.
Speaking of goaltending, the Rangers made life difficult Igor Shesterkin. Shesterkin was the only reason why the Rangers were in the game in the first place as he made 33 saves on 35 shots.
In their loss to the Flames, Shesterkin made several saves on shots from the slot, stopped a few breakaways, and did what he could to give his team a chance to win. It could actually be said that Shesterkin was the only Ranger that showed up in the hockey game.
After the game, Flames head coach Ryan Huska told NHL.com writer Brian Compton that he thought Shesterkin was more than solid when it came to trying to prevent his team from getting more pucks past him.
“I thought their goalie was excellent. I thought this was one where we could’ve scored more than two or three, but their goaltender was excellent as well.”
While it is great that Shesterkin played well, the problem is that the Flames are not known for being an offensive hockey club. In fact, as of this writing (Wednesday, March 19), the Flames are last in the league in goals scored (170 goals in 67 games).
Another area where the Rangers were sloppy was on the defensive side of the puck. Besides allowing the Flames to throw a lot of pucks on the net, the Rangers were careless with the puck, did not do a good job of clearing rebounds, missed important coverages in their own zone, and allowed the Flames to have a lot of clear looks at Shesterkin.
In speaking to Brian Compton of NHL.com after the game, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette explained that when it came to the play of his club, there was nothing to be happy about.
“[The compete] was not there — there was nothing there,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “They were faster than us, they were more ready. That’s the way they game played out.
“It’s concerning for any time of year when you don’t play a game that you’re proud of, so it was not a good showing.”
The truth of the matter is that it has been this way for the Rangers for most of the season. They will play solid for a few games, then look awful for a few games.
This is why the Rangers are currently on the outside looking in when it comes to getting into the Stanley Cup playoffs. The team is too inconsistent, takes too many nights off, and does not appear to be motivated enough to win on a consistent basis.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, things are not going to get any easier. In looking at the upcoming schedule, the team’s next three games are not going to be easy as they take on solid teams in the Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and the Los Angeles Kings.
If the team does not put forth a better effort over the next month, the Rangers will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-21 season, and frankly, it will be more than well deserved.
ITR 30: Down The Stretch – Inside The Rink
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