Rangers become a turnover machine in back to back losses (WSH 5 v NYR 2)
Talbot gives up goal to Ovechkin (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The Rangers bookended their weekend by having a sloppy opening against Boston and a sloppy closing against Washington. While Lundqvist looked rusty to start against the Bruins, the Rangers allowed way too many prime chances against. Same goes for yesterday versus the Capitals in a game filled with turnovers from the guys in Blue. The end result was 3 goals against in the third period and back to back regulation losses for the for the first time since January 29th.
CAPITALS 5 vs. RANGERS 2
You can make excuses if you like but it is hard to explain the hot and cold efforts of the Rangers lately. Blowing out Anaheim 7-2 to only come back and be dominated by L.A. 4-2. In their next game they hand Andrew Hammond his first regulation loss in 17 tries by a score of 5-1 to only have two sloppy games against Boston and Washington. That isn’t acceptable at this time of the year when you’re battling for the President’s Trophy.
Head coach, Alain Vigneault provided reporters with a possible reason behind the efforts. “It didn’t seem like we had a lot of gas in the tank,” AV said. That is likely why the Rangers execution was so much poorer against the Caps in the 2nd and 3rd periods.
However, like I stated earlier, it simply won’t fly in April, May and hopefully June. While the Rangers are in great position to take the division, the conference is up for grabs. Plus, it would be a feather in the cap of this team if they could win the title for best team during the regular season.
“We are playing for home-ice advantage. We haven’t secured that,” a concerned Vigneault explained. “You also want to go into the playoffs playing the right way.” The Rangers will get an opportunity to redeem themselves again on Tuesday when they face another playoff desperate team in Winnipeg.
Henrik Lundqvist will assuredly be back in goal and if his play in the 2nd and 3rd periods in Boston are any indication, he will be fine. Still, if a full 60 minute effort isn’t put in by all 18 skaters on the ice the outcome will likely be the same.
Do you want the real cause for concern in the last 2 games? Turnovers! The Rangers committed 18 of them in these two losses. Chris Kreider and Keith Yandle leading the way with 3 each. Protecting the puck and committing to a full 60 minutes should yield the results AV is looking for – 2 more points in the standings.
NOTES
#NYR Injury Update: AV says that defenseman Kevin Klein (upper body) will not go on the road trip this week
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 29, 2015
Talbot: “Maybe it was that their will to win was a little higher in the 3rd than ours. Something clicked for them that didn’t click for us.”
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossRecord) March 29, 2015
More Nash: “In the third period we came out and didn’t get the job done.” — Andrew Gross (@AGrossRecord) March 29, 2015
Nash: “We’re just not playing our system … I can tell just watching from the bench there are a lot of turnovers.” #NYR — Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) March 29, 2015
Vigneault on power play: “It’s not nearly good enough without a doubt. We’re gonna look at some tape & make the adjustments we need 2 make.”
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) March 29, 2015
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