Rangers captain with damning claim after Sabres loss: ‘don’t think we were too ready to play’
In the aftermath of their 6-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba was blunt as to the reason why they suffered such a lopsided defeat.
“I don’t think we were too ready to play,” Trouba stated postgame. “I don’t think that’s really any secret. I think everybody in here understands where we were in that game.”
That’s a pretty damning statement from a respected team leader. The Rangers, who’ve been struggling to find their “A” game the past two weeks, were not ready to play against the Sabres. And they got whacked because of it.
His words carry weight because of his standing on the team. So, Trouba likely chooses those words wisely when he speaks. And these specific words speak volumes, about the players and coaches alike.
Not too ready to play.
The eye test told you as much Thursday. The Sabres were faster, hungrier, all over the puck, winning battles, capitalizing on Rangers mistakes and a rare off night by goalie Igor Shesterkin, who was benched 13:51 into the second period after allowing five goals on 12 shots.
Shesterkin wasn’t good. But his teammates were careless, sloppy and on their heels in front of him
“There’s no excuse for what happened today,” center Mika Zibanejad said. “We just have to understand that wasn’t good enough.”
Added defenseman Ryan Lindgren, “I don’t think anything went right.”
But did nothing go right for the Rangers because they weren’t ready to play? Because they were too passive? Too disinterested? Too reliant on their superstar goalie, who finally stumbled?
Likely all of the above. And that’s concerning considering their play the past two weeks, when the Rangers are 3-3-0 and badly outplayed in losses to the Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals and now the Sabres. Even in a 2-1 win against the Ottawa Senators and 5-2 victory against the Islanders preceding this latest loss, there were concerning trends.
Related: 3 Rangers takeaways from ugly 6-1 loss to Sabres
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Coach Peter Laviolette lamented that the Rangers are not pushing the play offensively and are too often trapped in their own end of the ice the past two weeks or so. That timid approach means the Rangers are not dictating the game nor playing it on their terms.
As one of the top teams in the NHL, they should be able to dictate the style of play and impose their will against teams like the Sabres, Islanders, Senators and, likely, even the Capitals. Against the Panthers? Well, that’s a taller task as we saw last spring in the Eastern Conference Final.
But this appears to be about will. There’s a distinct lack of fire recently in the Rangers play. The Sabres appeared to play at a different speed than their hosts Thursday night.
Technically, a major issue is how often the Rangers are pinned in their own end and how easily they’re being beaten in transition or after losing puck battles.
“I think that’s what happening to us right now, we don’t get out of our own zone, we spend way too much time there,” Zibanejad offered.
The traditional stats and advanced ones favored the Rangers against the Sabres. They’ve been badly outshot and out-chanced in recent games, but it was different Thursday. The Rangers outshot (26-22), out-attempted (66-39) and out-chanced (35-23) the Sabres.Â
That’s good. But it doesn’t tell the entire story. There’re reasons why the Rangers lost 6-1, with terrible decision making, lackluster play and poor goaltending among them.
“As a group tonight, we weren’t good enough,” Trouba summed up.
The next chance to start turning things around comes Saturday, when the Rangers visit the Detroit Red Wings, a team they’ve already beaten twice this season.
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