Panthers beat Rangers, 3-2
They are adrift, these Rangers, and their coach can't seem to steer the ship away from the shoals. With this frustrated crew, all John Tortorella can do is ask them to stay the course.
No one is scoring besides Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal, who provided the only goals in last night's 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers, the Rangers' fifth loss in their last seven games at Madison Square Garden. They have scored two or fewer goals in eight of the last 10 games and are 3-7 in that stretch.
"You just have to keep on trying to battle through this," Tortorella said. "Just keep on banging away at it, get a bounce. I wish I could tell you. The team has to stay together. It --. It's a miserable time for us."
The bounces, at least a critical one, went the Panthers' way to snap a 1-1 tie in the second period.
A high, seemingly harmless backhanded floater from the right point by defenseman Jordan Leopold bounced through a nest of players and under Henrik Lundqvist just 2:23 after the Panthers tied it on Steven Reinprecht's low wrister.
"I just lost it," Lundqvist said. "Guys were waving their sticks and it just bounced in front of me. Instead of going down to block it, I went down on one knee."
From there, the Rangers (11-10-1) pressed but could find the net only once against goaltender Tomas Vokoun, who made 32 saves, and dropped their fourth game in the last five. After 22 games last season, the Rangers had 30 points. They are seven points behind that pace.
"We're missing something," said Chris Higgins, who had four shots. "We had plenty of opportunities; we're just lacking that extra finish. If we had played the first part of the game like we did the second half [the Rangers outshot the Panthers 27-16 after the first period], it might be different."
Any thought of a comeback seemed to vanish 2:35 into the third period when Gaborik's pocket was picked at center ice and Nathan Horton fired the rebound of Stephen Weiss' shot past a diving Lundqvist for a 3-1 lead.
Gaborik scored his 16th goal of the season at 6:01 of the third on a rush, off short passes from Prospal and defenseman Michal Rozsival.
"There should have been more urgency because it wasn't getting done until that point," said Prospal, who had an unassisted goal in the first period and won 16 of 23 faceoffs.
The latest No. 1 line, with Ales Kotalik moved up to skate with Prospal and Gaborik, was ineffective and on ice for the first two Panthers goals. Tortorella declared that the one-game experiment is over.
"I don't think he [Kotalik] can play with the top two guys," said Tortorella, who will look for another left wing from within or in Hartford. One possibility is Sean Avery, with a team-high five shots and grit in front, moving to the first line.
"I still think we can take pucks to the net; I still think we can get pucks to the net more consistently," said Tortorella, who is discouraged if not desperate.
Through the first 20 minutes, Lundqvist, making his fourth consecutive start, was sharp. But he wasn't perfect, and these days, for the Rangers to get a point, he almost has to be.
