BUF 4 NYR 1

Game 40: BUF 4 NYR 1, "Bad mistakes, I've made a few..." Philly tonight January 4, 2017, 8:10 AM ET [573 Comments] Jan Levine  New York Rangers Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT

"And bad mistakes ‒I've made a few," so sang Queen in We Are the Champions. Last night at MSG, we all wish there were only a few bad mistakes. Instead, turnover after turnover was coupled with mental and physical mistakes, the end result of which was a 4-1 loss to the 28th place Buffalo Sabres.

From reading the quotes after the game, you get a good sense that everyone to a man realizes just how bad they were yesterday. However, it's great that each player and the coach recognized it. But why in god's name did the mistakes happen initially and then continue to happen if you recognize while the game is going on that they are occurring? 

“I don't want to take anything away from the opposition but there's no doubt we didn't do a good enough job in preparing our team for tonight's game. I've mentioned it many times there are no easy games in this league. We weren't ready when the game started."

"Our execution was nonexistent,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “We didn’t have a [defenseman] that could make a pass and our compete level was not good enough. I haven’t said this very often about this group since I’ve been here, but this was a very bad game where we got outworked badly and we’re going to need to respond here.”

“It was an awful game from us. Just an awful game,” Derek Stepan told The Post. “We’d better digest this, learn from it and correct it. It’s happened a lot lately. We have to figure out what’s going on and we have to do it now.”

“You could tell the first 10 minutes of the game, they were hungry,” Henrik Lundqvist said. “They came with a lot of speed and desperation in their game. A lot of times, that’s what’s going to win you hockey games. It kind of set the tone.”

“They outworked us there in the first, no question about it,” Ryan McDonagh said. “There’s no excuse for that. We owe it to ourselves as players, our linemates and d-pairs, to prepare yourself for every game so you can go out and execute and give ourselves a chance. For whatever reason we didn't do that tonight. It’s a lesson learned.”

When asked about the Flyers, who the Rangers play tonight, McDonagh responded: "They're going to put on a good test for us. They play really well at home. Same way if we come out like this we're going to get embarrassed once again. Hope our group really takes this to heart. Be professional about it here and get yourself ready to play. Recover and get your mind in the right state of frame to go out there and do what's needed of you." 

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It was almost like New York forgot there was a game last night. No shots for almost the first 10 minutes of the game and even worse in the third period. An inability to execute even the simplest of passes or plays. A failure to move their skates, as they look as if they were moving in quicksand or at quarter-speed. Players left wide open in front. One decent shift followed by two bad ones. Outhustled, outworked and outefforted. Hard work beats talent when the talent doesn't work hard, that was the case last night.

I can deal with errors and mistakes if you are playing hard, because can occur due to over-effort. That wasn't the case last night. The mistakes were far from too much effort, I only wish that was the case. If you are going to half-ass is, then sit on the bench and let someone else play. Up front, the 12 we saw Tuesday will be the same 12 in tonight due to injuries, though the combinations may change. The blue line, well, most of them should sit. It only one will. It should be Kevin Klein, let's see if AV makes the right call or for some reason pins the blame on last night on Brady Skjei.

We have discussed that some - if not most - goals are scored due to a mistake. But usually, they are not as egregious as the ones we saw last night. The first goal of the game by Zemgus Girgensons was a miscommunication by Stepan and Skjei, leaving the front of the net open. Gee, where have we seen that before? I thought they had cleaned up those errors of lack of communication, yet there it was once again in game #40. 

After a decent four minute stretch, the Rangers gave up a back breaker with 38.1 to go in the period. Evander Kane scored thanks to a neutral zone turnover by Klein, who made a bad pass to Mats Zuccarello, combined with a poor line change. The end result was a 2-on-1 where Lundqvist makes the first save but can't stop the rebound. Instead of going into the first intermission down 1-0 with momentum, it was 2-0 and the life was sucked out of the building.

The piece-de-resistance was the third goal and first of Justin Bailey's career. Kane pressured Klein, who attempted a horrible cross ice pass in his own zone that was picked off by Bailey, who dangled the puck past a snow-angel by Klein and beat Lundqvist five-hole. Bad hustle and read by Klein, who wasn't bailed out by his goalie. Just like 3-0 down

A one-timer by Nick Holden made it 3-1 at 15:55 of the second to give the Rangers a bit of life. But a Jimmy Vesey 18 seconds into the third resulted in a power play for Buffalo. Jack Eichel scored after McDonagh cleared the puck off of his own skate and right into the slot. Turn out the lights, 4-1, game over, start prepping for Philly.

The Rangers had two stinkers against Pitt and Minnesota two weeks ago. After the break, a listless start against Ottawa at home but they recovered for the win. A pretty solid game against Arizona but a 1-0 early deficit against Colorado. But, New York had won their last three games. Maybe facing the 28th team in the league after beating the 29th and 30th team caused the Rangers to come out slow. That's no excuse. In this league, the spread between winning and losing is so small, that if you don't play with effort and heart, most nights you will lose.

Last night, as I noted above, the Rangers were outworked, outhustled, outmuscled, and just completely outplayed. Effort beats talent when talent doesn't show effort. This team has been a pretty resilient group. If they don't show that resilient and heart tonight and Saturday, both games could get ugly. Philly will play hard tonight, that we know. In the game the day after Thanksgiving, the Flyers fell behind big early in the second but rallied and outplayed the Rangers the last half of the game. Lundqvist stole that game for New York. If the Blueshirts play tonight as they did last night, they will get wiped off the ice and manhandled. If the same happens Saturday, coach John Tortorella will have that smirk of his working all night.

Show us what's inside you tonight New York. Because right now, your heart and your will are in question. Let alone your mental and physical capacities on the ice.[/size]