It is not going to be a good holiday season for the New York Rangers.
The Rangers were shutout by the New Jersey Devils by a score of 5-0 at the Prudential Center on Monday afternoon, December 23. It was a game that encapsulated their play this season as they were outplayed, broken in each area of the ice, and did not pay attention to the small details of the game.
With the loss, the Blueshirts are currently (As of Monday night, December 23) seventh in the Metropolitan Division, five points out of wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, 12th in the Eastern Conference, and 23rd in the league with a record of 16-17-1. The team is 3-7 in their last 10 games and had it not been for the play of Igor Shesterkin, they could be on a 10-game winless streak.
As mentioned above, the way the Rangers played against the Devils on Monday afternoon is the way they have played all season long, except they did so this time with the longest-tenured Blueshirt, Chris Kreider, as a healthy scratch. For starters, they hung Jonathan Quick, out to dry.
Quick stopped 24 of 29 shots, but he could not be held accountable for any of the goals he allowed. The team in front of him left him alone for most of the game and did not do a good job with their positioning in their own end, clearing rebounds, getting the puck out of the zone, and doing everything else that is necessary to protect their netminder.
This has been the case all season for the Blueshirts. The team is currently (As of Monday night, December 23) 30th in the league in shots allowed per game as they give up close to 32 shots (31.9) a game.
Night in and night out, Shesterkin and Quick are under siege. Shesterkin has faced 789 shots in 25 games while Quick has faced 288 shots in 11 games.
In their loss to the Devils, the Rangers played poorly in every area of the ice. The team hardly had control of the puck, when they did have the puck they turned it over, and when they got into the offensive zone, they were only able to muster 12 shots on goal.
The Rangers were chasing the puck all over the ice against the Devils on Monday afternoon. Even when they had the man advantage, the Devils found a way to control the puck and even generate a few quality scoring chances.
When the Rangers did have control of the puck, their offense could not do anything productive with it. Yes, the Rangers are currently (As of Monday night, December 23) ninth in the league in shots per game, but they are not generating nearly as many quality scoring chances as they need to in order to score goals.
These days, the Rangers are making it easy on both opposing teams and their goaltenders. They made things very easy for Devils goaltender Jacob Makstrom on Monday afternoon as they only had 12 shots on goal.
The team was also very careless in their loss to the Devils. The Blueshirts took two too many men on the ice penalties, which is unacceptable for both the players and their head coach Peter Laviolette as those are penalties that can be avoided easily.
Lastly, the Rangers did not play with any kind of energy or passion. This should be worrisome considering it was a game against a hated rival in the Devils.
When it comes to playing with energy and passion, that is on the team’s leadership group. It is tough to see who the real leader of the team is out on the ice right now because it looks like the team is extremely fragmented whether it is on the ice or in the locker room.
There may still be a lot of hockey left to be played, but it is getting late early for the Rangers. Being five points out of a playoff spot may not seem like a lot, but with the way the Rangers are playing right now and the way they have been playing for well over a month, it might as well be a mountain that the team may never be able to climb this season.
