Sunday, October 13, 2013
Blues 5, Rangers 3: Wrapping up
Because it’s too easy to constantly pile on and look at the negatives, and, if you’ve been watching the Rangers over their first five games this season, you know there are plenty of negatives, let’s instead look at a couple of encouraging signs from their latest loss.
First and foremost, Henrik Lundqvist looked like Henrik Lundqvist in the third period, stopping 16 of 17 shots in 18:40 of play in the third period, allowing only Vladimir Tarasenko’s power-play goal, which appeared to change directions on Lundqvist. And given that, as detailed in today’s game account in The Record,, coach Alain Vigneault may very well have some trust issues with backup Marty Biron, the Rangers more than ever need Lundqvist to be on his A game. Lundqvist’s one-period relief outing improved his season’s stats to a 4.21 goals-against average and an .887 save percentage, still very unlike Lundqvist numbers.
“We keep fighting back,” Lundqvist said. “It felt like we created enough chances to win. It was definitely a step in the right direction for us and for me. When you come in like that, you try to battle.”
And, to be fair, the Rangers’ forecheck and time spent in the offensive zone was improved as well, at least after the Blues started strongly and took the game’s first six shots and also grabbed an early 1-0 lead on Biron. Limiting the turnovers, particularly in the neutral zone, helped.
“We got pressure going, we got a forecheck going, we spent a lot of time in their end,” captain Ryan Callahan said. “I thought we responded well after two poor games.”
Also, the pros and cons of not buying out Brad Richards will probably be debated all season and into the next offseason, when it will again be a will they or won’t they question. But Richards has been good in the first five games, clearly the Rangers’ best forward so far. He scored his team high fourth goal and also led all Rangers’ skaters with 23:39 of ice time while taking a game-high eight shots.
“I feel like me,” a confident Richards said after the game.
Lastly, among the good news, is this portion of the season-opening nine-game road trip is over and the team will essentially operate out of New York for the next week and a half, with a game Wednesday in Washington and one Saturday in New Jersey all that’s on the slate for this upcoming week. Plus, both the Devils and Capitals are struggling mightily as well so, somebody has got to win, right?
OK, enough of that. The Rangers still lost a game and it’s rare when there’s a game when not one, but two team members possibly have played themselves out of a roster spot. Biron, based on Vigneault issuing a “that’s a good question” when asked directly whether he could still trust the backup goalie to make the necessary 20-plus starts this season, is seemingly an at-risk player. But maybe so should Derek Dorsett be as well. Dorsett continues to take penalties that cripple the Rangers’ momentum. Thursday at Anaheim, Dorsett looked to give the Rangers’ some energy by fighting Bryan Allen and instead also received a two-minute instigator penalty, a two-minute tripping penalty and a 10-minute misconduct as well. Dorsett was supposed to be a poor man’s replacement for what Brandon Prust brought to the Rangers. It hasn’t worked out that way. Against the Blues, Dorsett took a bad boarding penalty in the first period and a bad holding penalty in the second period. But it was his senseless high stick on Brenden Morrow at 10:36 of the third period that was the crusher as Tarasenko scored on the power-play just six seconds later.
Vigneault insisted after the game that while the Rangers played some of their best hockey in the first periods, they simply ran out of gas in the third period, the product of four road games in six nights. I saw it a little differently. I saw a Rangers team that was energized by Lundqvist’s third-period goaltending and Callahan’s second power-play goal, a team that believed it could win the game. But all that momentum was sucked out of the team on Tarasenko’s power-play goal.
“Anytime you get a penalty and they score on it it’s obviously frustrating,” said Dorsett, who has to be given some credit for being accountable for his mistake, remaining for a long time in the post-game dressing room until every media member who wanted to speak with him got the chance. “I knew what was going on in the game, I knew we had momentum. I said to myself even before I got on the ice get pucks deep, keep the momentum going, don’t give a ref the option to give you a penalty with finishing a check. I think I’m usually pretty good with that. Tonight the puck got chipped back to our D and I was just trying to buy time and get in the forechecker’s way and I don’t know where my stick hit him but obviously it hit him high and they called the penalty and they scored on it and they took the momentum from us. Obviously it’s a terrible feeling especially the way we played in the second period and came out in the third and we were fighting back to get that extra point.”
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