The Rangers took a walk down the path of least resistance in Boston on Thursday night, hitting a dead end of a 4-0 defeat against the Bruins and favoring no one.
Alexandar Georgiev, who started from his second straight and his third in 11 assists this season, has unquestionably given up another long one that put the Blueshirts in a 1-0 hole after 4:14, which should surely have been filled with quicksand, given the way the club was just swallowed up by it.
The club produced few offense against five-on-five and few cards against Jaroslav Halak. The work without the puck when the Bruins were in possession was flawed. The team was not able to get the bag constantly and therefore could not go to the front. Fifty-fifty fights weighed about 70-30 for Boston.
The power play was wooden, impotent and worse than the second consecutive game for the second consecutive game conceded a short goal, and that of Patrice Bergeron at 17:34 from a Brad Marchand feed, which made it 2-0 and the competition phase of the evening.
“In many ways it was just the fullback. You could just feel it, ‘said David Quinn, much more sanguin than would be expected. “The goal for the shorthand was way too easy.”
The coach and the two players who came on stage for Zoom Interrogation, Brendan Smith and Jacob Trouba, managed to turn the show around positively. Everyone talked about how the club stuck to it and participated until the finish line. Maybe they even believed it. Maybe they should believe it with their season on point.
It is now three defeats against the Penguins and Bruins, after three straight victories against the Sabers and Devils. Just when it was necessary to perform in class, the Rangers took a pratfall near the halfway mark of the season with the playoff line nine points further.
“I think we need to be more urgent and understand how fast this season is coming down on us,” Quinn said. The team’s 10-13-2 score represents the franchise’s worst 25-game record since the undefeated 2002-03 team had the same results. “We need to make sure we stop the bleeding.”
A tournament may be needed for Georgiev, who conceded a few goals within 1:21 early in the second period, while Boston passed on the power play at 3:31 and then was on an equal strength at 4:52 to both take a 4-0 lead and chase the goalkeeper after seeing 14 shots.
The 25-year-old Bulgarian-born networker has started pulling twice in his first three seasons 71 times. He was drawn three times in 11 starts this season, and he developed a penchant for not only handing over longs but also goals in bunches.
Three starts ago, the Devils scored twice in 17 seconds. Last start, the Penguins scored three goals in 1:01. That for Georgiev, who came up with 14 shots on Thursday, allowed seven goals on 20 shots over 42:06 in his last two games and 14 goals on 102 shots in 226: 03 (.863, 3.72) over his last five games.
Teams cannot win if they never know when one will enter. It throws off everyone’s equilibrium. Of all the unexpected developments this season, the goal of matters taking place for the second time on the surprise list is just behind Mika Zibanejad’s eight-week invalid opening. Igor Shesterkin’s status remains unknown for Saturday as he continues to rehab his groin.
Artemi Panarin will possibly rejoin the fight on Saturday and in fact probably will too. Maybe no. 10’s return after missing nine games, inspires his teammates to higher heights. Then it should not be difficult for the Rangers to increase their level after this flat line performance.
Quinn shuffled his lines fairly early in the second period and reunited the Chris Kreider-Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich unit, which became an important staple for the coach when his team was in trouble. The first rule, however, is few. Zibanejad may have had a strong shift here or there, but was mostly a coding.
Perhaps the most encouraging news of the evening was Filip Chytil’s ability to succeed after postponing the first six games of his return from the broken hand he suffered in the fifth game of the season. But Chytil’s match was subordinate, as illustrated by the way David Krejci easily got the puck from no. 72 behind the net of New York could take away before setting Jake DeBrusk for the 4-0 goal at 4:52 from the second.
But he was part of a crowd that included almost everyone, especially Ryan Strome and Alexis Lafreniere. Kaapo Kakko incidentally passed for his 14th game without a goal. Again, it was for everyone.
So try the Blueshirts again on Saturday. They may want to take a different path this time.