Garden Lifts Curtain, and Rangers Flop
The evening was supposed to be a celebration of last season and an eager curtain-raiser on the season to come. But the feel good atmosphere of the Rangers' home opener Sunday was erased in a sobering 6-3 defeat against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
'As a group, I feel we've turned the page on last year,' Coach Alain Vigneault said before the game, when asked if the Rangers were still thinking about their run to the Stanley Cup finals last season that ended with a five-game loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
The Rangers trailed with less than eight minutes gone in the game, but equalized by the end of the first period on a goal from Rick Nash, his fourth goal in three games. But the Rangers were outscored, 5-1, in the second period, losing in their home opener for a fifth straight season.
Six Maple Leafs scored, led by Phil Kessel's goal and two assists.
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped 18 of 24 shots and was pulled in the second period - the first time in his career he was removed after allowing so many goals in less than 40 minutes. The Rangers' defensive anchor and new captain, Ryan McDonagh, was one of four Rangers who went minus-2 or worse as the Rangers fell to 1-2.
It all started brightly enough, with a fan fest in the sunshine on West 33rd Street, crowded with Rangers fans happy to be a part of their team's opener after last June's surprising run to the finals.
On the ice, the fans cheered a short pregame video that recounted the Rangers' series victories over Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Montreal last spring, ending with the team posing with the Prince of Wales Trophy on Garden ice before they had headed to Los Angeles to open the finals against the Kings. They cheered again as each Ranger was introduced.
But after an evenly played first period, the Rangers' weak spots showed.
They missed the high-scoring veteran defenseman, Dan Boyle, who broke his hand in the season-opening 3-2 victory at St. Louis, his first game as a Ranger. They missed their pesky forward, Mats Zuccarello, who hurt his shoulder in the 5-2 loss at Columbus on Saturday night. They also missed Derek Stepan, who has been out with a broken fibula since training camp.
And perhaps they missed some of the Rangers who are no longer around from last season's playoff team, players like Brad Richards, Anton Stralman and Brian Boyle, all of whom were absent from the Rangers' pregame highlight video.
But players change teams all the time, and a 1-2 record in an 82-game schedule is certainly no reason to panic. Last season, the Rangers started 3-7, dropping games by scores of 9-2 and 6-0.
Accordingly, no one in the Rangers dressing room was particularly distraught about Sunday's result.
'We're still trying to find our identity, with a lot of new players,' Martin St. Louis said. 'We're learning along the way.'
McDonagh added: 'We've learned the hard way about not being sharp 100 percent of the time. We've got to change that.'
SLAP SHOTS
Both teams used two goalies. Cam Talbot blanked Toronto after replacing Henrik Lundqvist in the second period. For the Leafs, Jonathan Bernier gave up one goal playing the last 13 minutes after the starter James Reimer was shaken up in a goalmouth collision. Reimer underwent concussion protocol, but told reporters after the game he was all right. ... The Rangers had not expected Rick Nash to play because his wife was getting close to delivering their first child. He left after two periods to go be with his wife at the hospital.
Post a Comment for "Garden Lifts Curtain, and Rangers Flop"