Rangers Fell at Home — Again

The New York Rangers played one of their worst games of the season Sunday, falling 2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings. Coming in off one of their better defensive contests, New York needed Jonathan Quick to stand on his head for the game to even be close. Despite Quick’s best efforts in making 40 saves, his heroics were not enough. Quick also was one of the few who showed heart and annoyance in the loss, which was manifested in a post game brouhaha.

New York fell to 1-7-1 at home, compared to a league best 9-1-1 away from MSG. If there is any good news, it’s that the Blueshirts head west for three games, though their opponents – the Knights, Avalanche and Manmoth – are amongst the best in the league. A massive challenge but one the team has been up to all season, at least when wearing their road whites. (As a side note, how awesome was the color on color jersey look on the ice. The NHL also took note and has recommended that teams potentially utilize this approach in the future)

Game recap:

Rangers lines against the Red Wings:

Cuylle-Zibanejad-Miller
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Sheary-Laba-Brodzinski
Edström-Carrick-Raddysh

Gavrikov-Fox
Soucy-Schneider 
Robertson-Morrow 

Quick
Shesterkin

A few thoughts on Sunday’s Loss:

1) Remembering Larry Brooks at MSG: a nice touch by the Rangers remembering Brooks, both in the press box and on the scoreboard. 

2) Ugly numbers: if you didn’t know the final score, looking at the numbers from the game you would have thought the end result was much worse. Thank Quick for keeping it close – and if it wasn’t for a late defensive breakdown on Lucas Raymond’s game-winning tally  – New York might have earned a point. The fact that this nightmarish performance came on the heels of one of their better defensive efforts is mildly surprising and somewhat concerning. Obviously, the hope is that it’s an aberration, though their offensive issues remain in effect at home. 

The Rangers were credited with 19 giveaways. They were outshot 42-19 and out-attempted 76-59. 

During five-on-five play, the Rangers had 46.33 percent of the expected goal share, according to Natural Stat Trick. All of those numbers are ugly. 

2) Quick – Quick made 15 saves while the Rangers were shorthanded as sixteen of Detroit’s 42 shots came on the power play. The Red Wings put more shots on net just at even strength than New York had for the game. Unlocking the team’s home scoring issues remains a challenge. 

For all those calling for Quick to play more than Igor Shesterkin, just stop already. We went though through the same argument in 2023-24, but then it made more sense as Igor was struggling mightily. That’s not the case this year. I could see giving Quick a few more starts while he is hot but the team needs to be careful not to overuse him. 

3) Inability to rally – remember when the Blueshirts were the Cardiac Kids. In 2023-24, no lead was insurmountable as New York consistently rallied. Now, a one goal deficit seems like Mount Everest looms. 

The Rangers’ most recent tying goal with less than three minutes remaining came on March 2, 2024. In total, they scored three goals in those circumstances in the 2023-24 season, as well as three the season before. Last year’s team failed to score a late tying goal with its own net empty. Let that paragraph sink in. No late comebacks in well over a year, it’s almost Mets like. 

4) Mike Sullivan missed the game – Before the game, it was revealed that Sullivan would miss the game due to a family matter. No specifics were provided, though the hope / likelihood is that his absence was to visit son-in-law Charlie McAvoy, who lost a tooth when he took a shot to his mouth on Saturday night. The injury looked nasty and concerns about mouth damage and a possible concussion is warranted. 

David Quinn, who was the team’s coach for three years, and Joe Sacco, who also has head coaching experience, split duties with Sullivan out. As Peter Baugh noted, Quinn, who coaches defensemen, said he managed which pairs went on the ice, and Sacco, the assistant focusing on forwards, handled which lines went over the boards. No word if Sullivan will be behind the bench tonight in Vegas. 
5) Scott Morrow made his debut – Will Borgen missed his second straight game. Morrow was promoted and made his Rangers’ debut Sunday. He finished with 9:56 while paired up with Matthew Robertson with Urho Vaakanainen surprisingly sitting. Morrow didn’t stand out positively or negatively. If Borgen can go tonight, Morrow will likely sit as will Robertson for Vaakanainen. 

In little surprise, Quinn and Sacco leaned heavily on Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov with both going over 24 minutes. Braden Schneider and Carson Soucy also saw an increased role on the second pair. Soucy made the defensive mistake on Raymond’s goal, failing to pick him up as he went around the net, allowing free access to the slot. He wasn’t helped much by JT Miller or Artemi Panarin, each of whom did little to get back in the play.

5) Protocol – all hell broke loose late. A second or two after the buzzer sounded, Mason Appleton fired the puck into an empty net. No one on the ice reacted, but Quick, already frustrated by the loss despite his brilliant performance, came off the bench and went after Appleton. He was intercepted by Dylan Larkin and then joined by the rest of his teammates. 

Substantive criticism has been levied against Quick’s teammates on the ice when the play occurred for their failure to react. This gets into protocols. It’s an unwritten rule not to shoot the puck into the net after the buzzer sounds. If that protocol is breached, a reaction is expected. Quick’s reaction, as I noted above, was likely partially triggered by the score despite his best efforts. Beyond the protocol issue, he was attempting to kick his teammates in the rear end so that they had a bit more fire and effort, each of which was lacking.