I can promise you that the Rangers don’t think their problem is behind the bench with the head coach. No one in the team hierarchy wants to point a finger at David Quinn. No one wants to have to make a change of coach.
But, games like this, in which the Blueshirts took a complete fall on the garden ice by losing 5-2 to a Devils team that hadn’t played a game since Jan. 31 and only had one practice to prepare … well, games like this can force club president John Davidson to ask some one-off questions about what the hell is going on here?
We, oh we, oh we. That was so smelly.
After a game in which the Devils owned the first and third period, and scored with three goals in the last 20 minutes to open a 2-2 contest, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, one of the main culprits of the team Getaway from 4 to 7-3: no words.
“We lacked a bit of despair to be honest with you,” said Zibanejad, last year’s 41-goal scorer who has been stuck in one for 11 games in a row. “Throughout the game we did not go up to the level we needed.
“We have to find a way to do it.”
The Rangers have been in the lead or tied in two periods in 11 of their 14 competitions. Still, they have only won four times. It is not enough to suggest that Zibanejad’s terrible start or Kreider’s insignificant impact on most of the road are the root causes of what affects the team, although few clubs can overcome the lack of productivity. of his greatest weapons.
No, there are more. The Rangers, who won 18 of 26 immediately after Igor Shesterkin’s promotion to Broadway last January, have forgotten how to win. It’s more than having the five to five shooting percentage in the NHL. Or maybe there’s just less than it looks.
Quinn, who appeared heartbroken during his call after the Zoom game with the media during the two years and more of his tenure, was asked if these were efforts.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, looking as beaten as his team.
When a team loses due to effort, at least part of it has to go back to the coach? I will answer: Uh, yes.
All the improvements in the defensive zone (well, not in the last 20 minutes the Blueshirts went through without the injured Jacob Trouba) don’t seem to be a bunch of beans compared to the problems this club seems to be facing.
“During most of the game, they beat us, they beat us, they beat us, they won most of the battles,” Kreider said. “I mean, aside from the possibilities, we moved away from the things we had been doing well.”
So this is Kid K’s money quote: “They wanted it more. It is unacceptable. “
The Rangers did not get rid of this by the power play. This year they didn’t get a single advantage for man. They dominated much of the second period in which the Ryan Strome-Kaapo Kakko-Alexis Lafreniere trio owned the record below the hash marks, but made no mistake.
Hey, you know what? Kreider has not conceded a penalty this season while wearing six, including a delay in the first period. And Zibanejad tied exactly one while catching five, including an elbow from the second period he played and for which he was in the box of Pavel Zacha’s power goal.
Again, however, these are the individual trees through which the forest might not be visible. The only reason the Rangers were tied in the game in the second was because Shesterkin was enlightened in 2019-20 for the first 20 minutes. Okay, Artemi Panarin was left out of the game for the second game in a row, but he doesn’t even come close to explaining the club’s illnesses.
“There are a lot of things that have happened tonight, you wonder why,” said Quinn, who doesn’t aim to wonder, but give solutions. “For us we are in a situation where we have not won much, you know. We have to understand the difference between winning and losing and what you need to do. ”
Quinn is constantly being called on social media for her failure in children’s development. This is a malarkey ball. Kakko – perhaps the club’s best at this, and that’s not meant to be a faint compliment – has made dramatic strides in the past two weeks. Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren and K’Andre Miller speak for themselves. Pavel Buchnevich was the replacement. His game has improved by leaps and bounds playing with Quinn. Lafreniere? No, I don’t think the coach is responsible for the exit of one and a point from number 1.
But a game like this … well, when the bus leaves the course, everyone looks at the driver. The Rangers don’t want to look at the coach, but it’s easier said than done.