Disgraceful Performance by the Rangers at MSG against the Senators

No life in the first two periods

New York, NY- The New York Rangers ended their current home stand with a game against the Ottawa Senators, and they were flat and pathetic from the start to the end. While there was some life in the third period, this Rangers team showed absolutely nothing to give anyone at Madison Square Garden any belief that a quick fix will help this team, as they were trounced by the Senators by a final score of eight to four.

Giving up six straight goals
FOUR IN THE FIRST PERIOD

The Rangers got off to one of the worst starts of the season. No sense of urgency, no sense of purpose, and no discipline as they coughed up four goals in the opening 20 minutes. As soon as Vincent Trockech got called for a holding penalty, everything went south quickly.

While Jonathan Quick was trying to defend on the penalty kill, he played very erratically inside his crease. There were several times he came out of his net and skated a bit too far, making you believe he was going to allow a goal with ease. Instead, he stopped the shot from Dylan Cozens, but the puck squeaked through him, and it was Drake Batherson who cleaned it up at 2:18.

The second goal came with the senators attacking the Rangers’ zone, when the puck was banked off the near boards and toward the point by Ridly Greig. Nick Jensen ripped a shot, and in front was deflected off the skate of Braden Schneider and in as he was defending Dylan Cozens at 4:53.

The third goal came off a two-on-one after Valdislav Gavrikov’s shot was blocked, Ridly Greig retrieved the puck and sent Brady Tkachuk out on a breakaway. He held the puck for a few seconds, then swept the shot hard, off the crossbar and past Quick to score his 200th NHL Goal to make it three at 15:01

Then the ultimate insult. The Rangers allowed a fourth goal inside the final seconds of the first period. Tkachuk has the puck down low at the far side, makes a back pass toward the faceoff circle, finding Greig. He stopped the puck and left it for Dylan Cozens, trailing the play and smashing it past Quick at 19:54. The Rangers skated back toward their dressing room with a round of boos from the fans.

Second Period disaster and Quick Pulled

The Rangers returned to the ice to attempt some form of respectability, but nothing came of it as the Senators scored two more goals to take a bigger lead. Carson Soucy took a hard shot off the inside of his left skate, and he stayed down for the entire sequence. He tried to return to his position to help defend, but couldn’t, as Jake Sanderson’s rip from the top of the zone goes in at 5:57.

Then the Senators got their sixth when the puck was sent to the near point. Nick Cousins took the big rip, and in front was Thomas Chabot, getting a piece of it to get a deflection past Quick at 12:23. Mike Sullivan, for the second time in three games, has pulled Quick for current backup goalie Spencer Martin after coughing up six goals in over two and a half periods of hockey.

Perreault at the double

The only bright spot in this game was the play of rookie forward Gabe Perreault. He finally had a breakout game, scoring twice in the second and third periods of this game. Martin started the play by passing the puck off the near boards to Mika Zibanejad. He gave the puck to Perreault, who passed it down low to J.T. Miller, then made a quick pass back to the slot for Perreault, and he slipped one in past the goalie at 18:55 of the second period.

His second goal was a beauty as Miller broke out his teammates for a two-on-one down the ice. Zibanejad was heading down the far side, saw Perreault with the cross ice pass to the near, then Perreault made a brilliant move cutting across the goalie and stuffing it in with the backhander to get his first two-goal game in the NHL at 5:26 of the third period.

Cleaning up the rest of the mess, and game over

Ottawa kept going, scoring their seventh of the game from David Perron at 8:20, then a power-play goal from Noah Laba off a deflection from Alexis Lafreniere’s shot at 10:44. Lafreniere would score his own goal to make it seven to four at 15:58. Still, the empty-net goal came at 19:11 from Tim Stutzle to officially earn the win

A noisy garden

For the past two games, including tonight, Rangers fans have been chanting to fire President and General Manager Chris Drury, as this team is imploding in front of them. With Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox out due to injury, the Rangers are relying on a 40-year-old goaltender in Jonathan Quick. While he will go to the Hall of Fame in Toronto, the reality is that Quick is on his last legs and can’t stop the puck anymore.

While there will be plenty of questions for the Rangers after the Olympic break and after the season ends, this will not be a quick fix at the trading deadline. This team is just not clicking on all cylinders, and they are playing without any confidence at all. As soon as they coughed up the first goal of the game, the downward spiral started.

While Mike Sullivan had a heated look on his face during the first period, his players are not getting the message. If he can’t throw some hockey sticks, shoulder pads, or goalie pads inside the locker room to spark them, then there’s nothing he can do. Maybe it’s time to give some of the players in Hartford a real chance to make the roster.

Time to bring back Brett Berard and Jaroslav Chmelar. Call up Trey-Fix Wolanski, Derrick Pouliot, and Adam Sykora to try and light a fire under this Rangers team, because right now, jobs should be on the line, and these players are not getting the job done. After a brilliant performance at the Winter Classic, the Rangers have fallen apart these last five games and are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

They have earned one point out of ten in an overtime loss against the Utah Mammoth. Jonathan Quick has allowed 22 goals in these past five games as a whole,15 of those within the last three games. Now they have to travel south to play the Flyers in Philadelphia, and then make their California trip for a back-to-back against the two southern California teams and a trip to Silicon Valley against the Sharks before returning to play against the Bruins.

Something needs to be done, and it has to happen quickly before the Olympic break begins.

GABE PERREAULT: Recorded his first career multi-goal and multi-point game.

MIKA ZIBANEJAD: Recorded his sixth multi-assist game of the season, surpassing James Patrick (363) for the ninth most assists in franchise history with 364 assists as a Ranger. He extended his point streak to seven-straight games (6G-8A), the fourth-longest active streak in the league.

ARTEMI PANARIN: Notched an assist on Alexis Lafrenière’s goal, extending his assist streak to eight-straight games (11A), the longest active streak in the league.

J.T. MILLER: Tallied his sixth multi-point game of the season. He has recorded at least one point in three of his last four games (1G-3A) since returning to the ice on Jan. 8 after missing seven games due to injury.

New York Rangers News:

• Rangers with a Good Start, Bent in the middle, Lost it late as they fall to the Kraken
• The Rangers Get Destroyed by The Bruins After Scoring First
• Rangers Celebrate Fans Favorites at the Garden

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