Shaky teams are unable to sustain authority over 60 minutes. Shaky teams are unable to protect leads over the final 20 minutes. The Rangers are a shaky team.
“We’re in a little rut,” coach David Quinn said after Friday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Coyotes on Derek Stepan’s goal at 4:28. It represented the second consecutive game at the Garden in which the Rangers lost after holding a 3-0 lead.
“That Philly game [on Nov. 23] is where it started.”
That’s a three-week rut the coach is referencing. The Rangers have gone 2-5-2 since Thanksgiving, pock marks dotting the landscape. If it’s not a poor power play, it’s substandard penalty killing. If it’s not inefficient five-on-five play, it’s taking too many penalties. If it’s not superlative goaltending to which the team had become accustomed, the burden becomes too much for the Blueshirts to bear.
“Everybody backs up instead of staying up. That’s a microcosm of our mentality,” Quinn said of the team’s mindset defending against the nothing play on which the Coyotes tied it at 16:59 when Oliver Ekman-Larsson hammered a rolling puck at the left boards past Henrik Lundqvist. “That’s what we’re doing right now. We’re not confident enough.”
This came out of nowhere, unlike the 3-0 lead the Rangers could not protect before losing a 4-3 shootout to the powerful Jets on Dec. 2. For this was one in which the home team was in complete control after striking for three power-play goals on its first three advantages against a weak opponent that had lost its last four in regulation.
“It’s frustrating to talk about another game where we couldn’t hold the lead,” said Mika Zibanejad, who scored the 3-0 power-play goal at 5:48 of the second period. “We played good enough but not long enough.”
The Rangers have won only five of the eight games in which they have led after 40 minutes, even if the three defeats all came in OT or the shootout. After riding a wave provided by the returns of both Mats Zuccarello (primary assist) and Pavel Buchnevich (goal) from long-term absences, the Rangers could barely keep their heads above water after frittering away 4:00 of power-play time in the second that included 1:31 of a five-on-three after Arizona had narrowed the margin to 3-1.
Funny, too, that a Rangers team that earned as many power plays (six) over 34:52 as it had over the previous five games, lost to a large degree because one of them was so stale.
“Sometimes that gives the other team confidence killing it,” Zibanejad said. “It was definitely a great opportunity for us. Maybe we moved it too slowly, but I thought we had some good looks.”
Not great ones, that’s for sure, even as Quinn went with the same four forwards — Zibanejad, Zuccarello, Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes — for 2:20 while Tony DeAngelo got 2:00. The Rangers could not create a single glorious opportunity. And then, in the aftermath, the club either ran out of steam or became somewhat demoralized even while still holding a two-goal advantage.
Maybe that reflects shaky confidence. Maybe — well, not maybe; obviously — that reflects a disconnect between what the coach is preaching and what the team is displaying. Regardless, the Rangers — who ultimately failed on their final four power-play advantages that included one early in the third — did not get a third period five-on-five shot until Vladislav Namestnikov’s right wing drive at 15:00. The Blueshirts finished with two five-on-five shots in the third period and 13 for the night.“Obviously it’s tough to accept this one,” said Lundqvist, beaten by Josh Archibald in front off a Stepan centering feed at 13:11 of the third before Ekman-Larsson tied it. “It was right there for us.
“There were a lot more opportunities for us to put this game away, including chances in overtime. It’s a tough one.”
The three-on-three produced frenzied action. Adin Hill stoned Jimmy Vesey and Kreider. Lundqvist kept the game alive with a stop on Clayton Keller’s breakaway. In the end, opportunities created came to an opportunity lost.
“We had it but then let them win the game,” Zuccarello said. “I thought we were the better team and should have won the game, but that’s hockey sometimes.”
That’s been a lot of Rangers hockey since Thanksgiving.