Rangers Caught Staring Up At Those Dazzling California Stars

By Rich Baiocco

The offensive wave of Blueshirt goals swelled up from Ottawa, through Philly and finally spent itself out on the shores of Anaheim with a Brandon Dubinsky tally on a pretty pass from Ryan Callahan. From there the Rangers surrendered 4 unanswered goals to the Ducks and could never seem to dig their skates into frozen Pond and implement their usually bankable road game tenacity. Part of the problem was obviously bad luck, and for anyone following New York's injury report or Shots-On-Goal/Goal ratio this season it is painfully clear that if they didn't have bad luck they'd have no luck at all. 3 opposition goals deflected in off Ranger bodies in front of the net and quickly the Blueshirts found themselves in an insurmountable hole before the first 20 clicked away. Missed wide open nets and shots off the post haunted them in the next 40. Most notable was Dubi's early third period bid where a diving Dan Ellis paddled a puck headed to the back of the net and a 1 goal game with over 15 minutes to play, then the play pushed the other way and Bobby Ryan netted a perfectly executed 2-on-1 pass from Corey Perry to stretch the Ducks lead to 4-1.

But bad luck was not entirely to blame, and nobody in a Red White and Blue jersey was willing to accept the loss as anything other than a lack off the necessary effort it takes to win in this league. A more accurate assessment of the tilt was that the Rangers simply could not contain the talented top line of Perry, Getzlaf and Ryan who played bigger, better and more skilled than any Blueshirt and combined for 8 points. They seemed starstruck by the Anaheim top line to the point of paralysis. The Duck trio controlled the puck in the offensive zone, forced turnovers (of which the Rangers uncharacteristically had many, especially in the defensive zone), and exploited the road team's inability to capitalize offensively by being patient with the puck and absolutely terrorizing the Rangers in their Defensive zone. At one point Ryan Getzlaf skated through the crease and kicked out the Henrik Lundqvist's skates and on a subsequent play Saku Koivu chased down a 50/50 puck behind the net with and elbowed the King in his crown. Neither play yielded much in the way of retaliation from the Rangers, who seemed a step behind and a foot too short against the bigger and faster Ducks.

Gaborik jumped on the board halfway through the third period on a great feed from Prospal (who continues to mount points after returning from injury), salvaging a relatively quiet personal game but he also missed a wide open chance to bring the Rangers within one a few shifts later when he weakly one-timed an off wing chance into the waiting stomach of Ellis. As guys like Callahan and Girardi iterated in post game interviews it was our game to win and our game to lose.

Though it hasn't happened very often, there have been a few occasions this season where the Rangers just get dominated by the talent of an opposition's top line. Tampa Bay did this to us when Stamkos, Lecavalier and St. Louis were able to pick apart all our weaknesses, and at one point when the Avalanche were good and healthy the Duschene line more or less dismantled our game plan. To the Rangers credit though, those losses were few and far between and our ability to compete is our strength.

This road trip is a strange one, and perhaps not optimal for the Rangers who will spend a week in California more or less practicing and relaxing while only playing 2 games. I'm sure everyone wanted to jump right onto the ice after the back-to-back Ottawa/Flyer wins but instead the Blueshirts try to remain focused in the Golden State while Star-laden NHL rosters, palm-tree lined Golf courses and 'In N Out Burger' attempt distraction. A quick look at the the tight playoff race in the East should keep the Rangers on track and though the task in San Jose may be even greater than in Anaheim, the Rangers have been resilient all year to back-to-back losses and by all accounts cannot afford one Saturday night.