The Daily Review: Rangers vs Red Wings

The Rangers suffered yet another loss and it seems like they might be trying to find every way possible to lose a game. A two goal lead turned into a disgraceful 3-2 loss. The Rangers' performance was encouraging in the first period but it slowly but surely decimated. After almost a week of rest, I expected a much better performance than that,  but we were not so lucky.

As the game began, the Rangers seemed to have an advantage, as they were able to kill a 4 minute major penalty assesed to Carl Hagelin for high sticking and bleeding. This was encouraging, as the pentaly kill was able to stop a top scoring offense. As the period progressed, the Rangers were able to get chances and finally score. Midway through the period, the Rangers scored as Kevin Hayes centered a pass in front of the net and Kevin Klein was able to score a back hander after having his first attempt saved. This was Klein's 5th goal of the season which is a career high. Towards the end of the period, Derrick Brassard led Rick Nash with a beautiful pass for a breakaway goal, his 17th of the season. The Rangers ended the period with a 2-0 lead. A great period for the boys, as they were firing on all cylinders. The pentaly kill was dominating, the fowards were putting shots on goal and Talbot was on fire. This was a promising period, but sadly it did not last.
As the second period began, it looked as if the Rangers had fallen asleep. With 5:49 left in the period, Cam Talbot surrendered his first goal in 159:48. It was a spinning back hander by Riley Sheahan. It was assisted by Stephen Weiss and Johan Franzen. A mere sixty one seconds later, Luke Glendening scored an equalizer and it was truly deflating. The Rangers looked to be in disarray and this goal just sucked all of the life out of them. The period ended with a 2-2 tie, but it could have been much worse. 

The third period brought more heartache, as 7:40 into the period the Red Wings took a 3-2 lead with a breakaway goal by Darren Helm. This goal happened as a result of a brutal defensive lapse in the offensive zone. This cannot happen and the lack of hustle to get back into the play just showed an uninterested team. This was a very embarrassing performance and to learn that Chris Kreider will be day to day adds insult to injury. The Rangers lost the game 3-2 and will lose Kreider for the next game at least. 

This was a truly disappointing performance and I will not expect a decent performance against a top Pittsburgh team. I believe that this team needs a culture shock in the sense of a trade. I believe that the Callahan trade last year and the Michael Del Zotto trade woke the team up and showed them that they can be out as well. This is a tactic that needs to be executed as well as better defensive training. This team looks bored and tired too often and something needs to change. Any way, the team will play the rival Penguins again but do not expect anything positive from this game.