A 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils was branded as an off-game for the New York Rangers. A 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators followed. It was easily excused as a tough game against a fired-up opponent.
Surely that brief losing streak would end on the road against the up-again, down-again Chicago Blackhawks. The Rangers returned to battle with Henrik Lundqvist in the net and their checking game intact. With the score tied 1-1 in the third period, the opportunistic Rangers took the lead as solid forechecking led to a hard shot on Chicago goalie Ray Emery by Ryan McDonagh. Emery managed to get his pad on the puck, but the rebound skittered out to an uncovered Brandon Prust who easily slid the puck into the net for a 2-1 New York lead
Throughout the season, a third-period Rangers lead with King Henrik in the net meant victory. But not March 9 against the Blackhawks. Patrick Sharp tied the game after taking a perfect pass from Patrick Kane and then defenseman Johnny Oduya gave Chicago the lead with a slap shot that got past Lundqvist's catching glove. Kane closed out the Chicago surge with an empty-net goal that would prove to be the winner after disappointing Brad Richards scored in the final minute.
Unlike the games against the Devils and Senators, the Rangers played well against the Blackhawks for the majority of the 60 minutes. However, they could not slam the door shut once they got the lead.
While they have been the most consistent team in the league this year, the Rangers' weakness at finding secondary scoring outside of Marian Gaborik has been an issue throughout the season. If there is a little bit of a dip in their defensive game, an inability to put games away with additional scoring could become an issue against top teams in the playoffs.
Hot-tempered head coach John Tortorella looked as if he would explode on the bench as the Rangers blew their lead. But after the game, he calmed down and clearly analyzed what is going on with his team.
"If you watch the third period, the game was going our way," Tortorella told CBS Sports. "We were doing fine. We have a defensive mistake, someone falls down and they end up scoring, and then get another one after that. I thought we got back to the way we needed to play. I thought we had some sustained pressure. I thought we did some things along the walls. I thought we checked well.
"We did a lot of good things. We were finding ways to win earlier. We're finding ways to lose right now."
The Rangers' problems are not fatal flaws. They are fixable. As long as they realize that a few regular-season losses are just that and not the beginning of a trend, Tortorella and his coaching staff should be able to fix the situation
Reference:
CBS Sports—Blackhawks come back to beat Rangers
http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/gametracker/recap/NHL_20120309_NYR@CHI/blackhawks-4-rangers-3
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