New York Rangers Need To Halt Small Skid

by Joe Fortunato on Jan 16, 2012 1:00 PM EST in New York Rangers Analysis

MONTREAL, CANADA - JANUARY 15: Members of the New York Rangers celebrate the first period goal from teammate John Mitchell #34 of the New York Rangers during the NHL game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on January 15, 2012 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)

These moments have been far and few between for the New York Rangers, but Sunday night's loss to the Montreal Canadiens is the second loss in three games for the Rangers -- who still have an NHL-high

New York seemingly got a dominant 3-0 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs to rebound from a 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators; but Sunday night's effort was poor at best. The defense couldn't find its game, and the offense only found the net once in the two losses.

There have been some alarming signs, mainly the power play. The Rangers' power play has been horrible recently, although the winning streaks have managed to overshadow the team's inability to convert with the man advantage. The Rangers didn't covert against Montreal Sunday night, although they only had one opportunity.

Join me after the jump.

The Rangers' next three games aren't exactly cakewalks either. New York will be taking on the Nashville Predators, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins -- three good teams who can easily turn this two losses in three games stretch into five losses in six games if the team does't find a way to snap out of it.

This is no time to panic, however. The Rangers are one of the top teams in the NHL and have proven all year that they are capable of beating top teams in this league. This three-game stretch will be an important one as the Rangers continue to try and strengthen their grip on the Atlantic Division crown.

As it is, the Rangers have done more than enough this season to create a feeling of comfort that the team will work out of this mini-skid. But that doesn't mean things don't need work, and the power play is the biggest of those issues right now.

We'll see if that changes Tuesday.

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Need to hope 17 gets healthy and 86 in the press box

by It may HAVE to Last a Lifetime on Jan 16, 2012 1:37 PM EST reply actions

Newbury was just sent down. So, hopefully that means Dubi is back.

by BigB22 on Jan 16, 2012 2:48 PM EST reply actions

Its almost feast or famine when it comes to effort from this team. Last night was horrendous. I’m not fearing a huge skid here, but hope to hell Torts finds a way to re-ignite these guys before Tuesday. And I don’t mean juggling the lines – probably the last thing we need is to screw with the chemistry. Just get these guys back to basics with a strong forecheck and north-south puck movement. Hank gets a pass in my opinion – he’ll get it in order on his own in typical King fashion.

Have another doughnut

by schwartzy on Jan 16, 2012 2:56 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Without trying to defend Hank too much the problem has been allowing teams toget and take shots from within the circle & on in. They are just way too close for any goalie( including Hank) to stop on a regular basis.Thats where we need the forwards to back check more.

"Shoot the Puck Barry, Shoot the puck !" Bill Chadwick

by RangerFanInChicago on Jan 16, 2012 3:44 PM EST up reply actions

That was only really true last night. 3 games before that they were doing a very good job of limiting chances.

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by George E. Ays on Jan 16, 2012 4:01 PM EST up reply actions

Can’t find the stats myself – but wonder if there’s a correlation between # of blocked shots and wins/losses. Might be misleading … but it just seems like we’ve seen much less the last two losses. Again, I could be wrong – so if anyone can check the trend, I would appreciate the validation (or not).

Have another doughnut

by schwartzy on Jan 16, 2012 7:53 PM EST up reply actions

Just counting even strength blocked shots (cause that’s all I have), we have 14.03 blocks per game in the wins, 11.06 in losses.

by George E. Ays on Jan 16, 2012 8:05 PM EST up reply actions

thanks G. so that’s a 20% decline in losses. I’d say that’s at least part of the puzzle – and probably symptomatic of a dip in effort in these games.

Have another doughnut

by schwartzy on Jan 17, 2012 7:33 AM EST up reply actions

Or could mean that since we were trailing we had the puck more so less opportunities to block shots. Or the team that was up was dumping it in more and taking less shots. I don’t know as a fact, just throwing that out there that it might not be that easy to read into just the counts.

Aucune clause de Mouvement

by Blueshirt in Paris on Jan 17, 2012 11:26 AM EST up reply actions

totally agree… but it at least supports the observation that we seem to block more shots when playing well — who knows if the reverse is true, in which blocking more shots = victory.

Have another doughnut

by schwartzy on Jan 17, 2012 11:56 AM EST up reply actions

not worried yet

"It's far from done, but we did get something accomplished."-#19 B.Richards

by -19-AgainstAll on Jan 16, 2012 6:25 PM EST via mobile reply actions

few and far between. not far and few between

your welcome

by thenyrangers on Jan 16, 2012 7:47 PM EST reply actions

i left for italy to study abroad last monday and here i am, 1 week later, feeling like I’m missing the entire season. hope dubi and feds recover quickly and that we can get back to our winning ways. sucks that i can’t watch every game here, something i am not at all used to for the past like 6-7 years or so

by polishBLUE on Jan 16, 2012 7:50 PM EST reply actions

Dude, the chicks are totally hot there – what are you complaining about??? I refuse to sympathize.

Have another doughnut

by schwartzy on Jan 16, 2012 7:54 PM EST up reply actions

Newbury was already sent down today, so somebody has recovered, probably Dubi.

by BigB22 on Jan 16, 2012 8:05 PM EST up reply actions

dump mike sullivan

by locutus01 on Jan 16, 2012 8:27 PM EST reply actions

When I have small skids...

My wife uses some extra Tide and they fade away.

Unless its from Taco Bell..then they get thrown out.

by Gabby the Gutless Sniper on Jan 16, 2012 8:33 PM EST via mobile reply actions

try those little tide drop-ins after taco bell… or better yet, some oxy clean – a fully blown shart doesn’t stand a chance with that stuff.

Have another doughnut

by schwartzy on Jan 16, 2012 9:11 PM EST up reply actions

hahahahaha

"You fucking loser!" - Sean Avery
"Just reload my weapon, you know?" - Artem Anisimov
The future is looking bright boys.

by Tripodi on Jan 16, 2012 9:42 PM EST up reply actions

My wife says 30 year old men shouldn’t have accidents… I tell her shit happens.

by Gabby the Gutless Sniper on Jan 17, 2012 8:16 AM EST via Android app up reply actions

espn dropped us from #1 to #7….with five teams being from the west and boston ahead of us. while i dont disagree with boston ahead of us, its retarded to think we lose two of three and five teams that have played more games us and the same or less wins is better.

by birdmansns on Jan 16, 2012 8:49 PM EST via Android app reply actions

TSN only dropped us from 2 to 3.

by BigB22 on Jan 16, 2012 9:30 PM EST up reply actions

7 is more where we belong, honestly. Part of the reason CHI/DET/STL don’t have more points is they’re all in the same division. They’re all very good hockey teams.

Of course, getting riled up over subjective power rankings is a good way to give yourself an unnecessary ulcer.

by George E. Ays on Jan 16, 2012 9:45 PM EST up reply actions

im not knocking the other teams, but we lose to a good ottawa team and montreal (where we always struggle) on the second game of back to backs and that warrents being dropped the largest in the league? in all fairness espn though did say no change in the top 7 as they all are the top contenders for the cup

by birdmansns on Jan 16, 2012 11:54 PM EST via Android app up reply actions

MY rankings. Yes I know you all care about my opinion

1. Boston
2. Vancouver
3. Chicago
4. Detroit
5. St. Louis
6. NY Rangers
7. Philadelphia
8. San Jose
9. Nashville
10. Ottawa

"You fucking loser!" - Sean Avery
"Just reload my weapon, you know?" - Artem Anisimov
The future is looking bright boys.

by Tripodi on Jan 16, 2012 10:22 PM EST reply actions

the only team that scares me on that list is Boston which means I put the Rangers at #2. They are winning when they don’t play well. That’s the mark of a good team. Luongo is a stiff. Chicago and Det have very suspect goaltending. STL looks strong as I might put them at #3. Van and Det’s time has passed.

by Richter1994 on Jan 17, 2012 6:42 AM EST up reply actions

When hasn’t Detroit had suspect goaltending?

Aucune clause de Mouvement

by Blueshirt in Paris on Jan 17, 2012 11:27 AM EST up reply actions

true, except for maybe Hasek, but their teams were so superior that it didn’t matter. they’re getting older now so the gap in talent is a lot less.

by Richter1994 on Jan 17, 2012 12:17 PM EST up reply actions

nashville.

w/ no suter.

caught a little break?

by VVIZARD on Jan 16, 2012 11:00 PM EST via mobile reply actions

They play hard. Took the Islanders out in 1st period yesterday.

by Gabby the Gutless Sniper on Jan 17, 2012 6:41 AM EST via Android app up reply actions

I think the Rangers bounce back in a big way this week. They might as well just forfeit the games in MTL. Weird stuff happens there. forget it and move on.

by Richter1994 on Jan 17, 2012 6:43 AM EST reply actions

Wr normally get up, viagra style, against other top teams right?

I think we should be ok for this stretch. Or that’s just the optimist in me

R.I.P Derek

Rangers FTW!

by BleedsRangerBlue on Jan 17, 2012 9:15 AM EST via mobile reply actions

Well in that case, I’d prescribe one-a-day Cialis.. because you never know when the moment is right.

Have another doughnut

by schwartzy on Jan 17, 2012 12:00 PM EST up reply actions

And when a random bathtub appears outdoors.

by MyFavBaseballSquadron on Jan 17, 2012 1:50 PM EST up reply actions

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