Big mistakes are scuttling Rangers’ chances to make playoff push
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — What’s better, making a ton of small mistakes or just a few big ones?
The Rangers have been making those big mistakes, and it started to not just hurt their playoff position, but also to sway general manager Jeff Gorton toward selling in the lead up to the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
When that happens, these Blueshirts can look back on plays like the one captain Ryan McDonagh made in the first period on Thursday — turning over the puck in the defensive zone and giving the Maple Leafs a great scoring chance that they converted for the game-opening goal in a 4-0 trouncing at the Garden. It was the Rangers’ first game back from their week-long All-Star break, and it got them off on the wrong foot as they embarked on a two-game road trip starting Saturday night against the Predators.
“We need to get back to playing well with the puck on our stick,” McDonagh said after practice Friday in New York. “That’s the big thing, a couple turnovers and it results in some offensive chances for [Toronto]. Even though when we look back at the game, total chances weren’t as high, a number that we like, we still want to manage the puck a little bit better.”
Coach Alain Vigneault had his team focusing on defense, trying to play a smart, conservative game, a style that doesn’t allow for big mistakes. But while going 6-10-1 over their previous 17 games, his team couldn’t stop giving up those big plays.
Total chances might have been down, but the opportunities they were giving up were too good, resulting in goals against and eventually losses.
“We’re not giving up a lot,” Vigneault said. “We’ve tightened up, and we’re not giving up a lot of chances. What we’ve given up, every team will. Just need to elevate our game throughout our team and that’s the challenge we have in front of us.”
It’s quite a big challenge if the Rangers want to stay in the playoff race. It has been difficult with the losses of Chris Kreider (rib resection), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery), and now winger Pavel Buchnevich, out indefinitely with a concussion suffered against the Leafs. It’s not going to get any easier if the Rangers deal away trade candidates and to-be unrestricted free agents Rick Nash and Michael Grabner, if not McDonagh and Mats Zuccarello, both with one more year left on their deals.
But the reason Gorton is considering trading them is because of the Rangers’ play thus far, and because they are not believed to be contenders in the Eastern Conference, let alone for the Stanley Cup. And that’s because they’ve made catastrophic mistakes on the ice.
“We just have to make a couple more plays coming out of our zone,” McDonagh said. “A couple times we turned it over and it cost us. But mistakes are part of the game. We need a big save, a big blocked shot, a big defensive play when that happens.”
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Big plays haven’t been made, and neither have big saves from goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who had been pulled in two straight regular-season games for the first time in his career, entering Saturday. It has led to desperation on a nightly basis, just for the Blueshirts to avoid being embarrassed, as they were against the fast and skilled Maple Leafs.
But those are the types of teams with dreams of the Stanley Cup, and the types of teams that are going to be buyers at the deadline. This season, that doesn’t include the Rangers, continually undercut by those big-time mistakes.
“We had a really poor performance at home, and we have to bounce back,” defenseman Brady Skjei said. “Every game is huge now. Have to treat each game like a playoff game.”