After losing nail-bitter Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. New York lost 5-4 yesterday afternoon in Washington. Mika Zibanejad thought he had the first goal of the game in the first period but was overturned after review, the puck did not go fully go-over the red line. Foreshadowing the matinee for New York.
The game was scoreless until the mid-way point in the second. New York was down 3-0 in a blink of an eye. They only calculated 5 shots on net in the second.
“Yeah, I just didn’t think we were sharp during that second period,” Quinn said. “We had some power plays that we didn’t get a lot from and then I just thought our inability to shoot pucks and get pucks on net and get some chances.”
David Quinn returned from COVID and started Keith Kinkaid in the net. Kinkaid continued his inconsistency. Only two of the five goals given up identified high-danger chances, according to moneypuck.com. (see below) High-danger chances should be goals.
Rangers have a back-up goalie problem. Georgiev will most likely get a start this week after another five-goal effort by Kinkaid. Kinkaid gave up three goals last Monday vs Buffalo, then 1 at Washington March 20th, then 5 against Philadelphia on March 15th.
Rangers rallied after going down 4-0 early in the third period. Colin Blackwell scored twice then another Washington goal. Lafreniere and Kreider scored late, Blueshirts had plenty of opportunities to tie this game
Bright Spots
Adam Fox picked up two assists and emerges as the most valuable Blueshirt currently. Yes, he has been more valuable than Panarin in the past two weeks.
Ryan Strome continued his nine-game point streak. He has 14 points (2 goals and 12 assists).
Opinion:
Rangers came up sluggish in Quinn’s return from COVID. I was surprised to see Quinn return, especially after not coaching the day before. Rangers show that their pretenders and not contenders. Heading into the weekend, Blueshirts looked like they might make a run. After recording no points this weekend, that reality seems more like a fantasy. They can not afford to go multiple games without points. They trail Boston by five points but they did lose Sunday afternoon against New Jersey.
Rangers host Washington tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
