Home cooking is what slumping Rangers need
Carl Hagelin of the New York Rangers and Marek Zidlicky of the New Jersey Devils skate during the first period. (March 6, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
If the Rangers could ever use some home cooking, it's now.
Having lost three consecutive games in regulation for the first time all season, the Rangers host the Islanders Sunday night to open a seven-game homestand, the longest of the year.
Points are at a premium for the Rangers, who have collected just one in the last four away games (an overtime loss to Tampa Bay) and came up empty on their three-game road trip, with losses to the Devils, Senators and Blackhawks, all playoff-bound teams.
Not much is going right.
Consider: The Rangers were outscored 8-1 (including three empty-netters) in the third periods of those games. They were a combined 0-for-8 on the power play, although the units had six shots and some good chances on two power plays against the Blackhawks. They scored the first goal in two of the three games. And check out these plus-minus stats: Ryan Callahan (minus-6 while recovering from a bruised foot), Marc Staal (minus-5), Derek Stepan (minus-4) and Marian Gaborik (minus-4).
"The third period's going our way, we're doing fine," coach John Tortorella said Friday when a 2-1 lead was blown apart with three Chicago goals in 6:05. "We have a defensive mistake, someone [Brian Boyle] falls down and they end up scoring, and they get another one after that."
So, as of Sunday, the Rangers' once double-digit lead in both the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division, is down to four over the Penguins, who host the Bruins Sunday.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a race.
How did the Penguins close the gap so quickly?
Pittsburgh, which is still without Crosby, has won eight in a row starting with their 2-0 win over the Rangers on Feb. 21. The Rangers have just nine points in the last 10 games. And Crosby, who has been practicing again, is considering Thursday's visit to the Garden for a return after missing the last three months with concussion symptoms.
But first, the Rangers have to contend with the Islanders tonight, presumably with injured forward Brandon Dubinsky and defenseman Michael Del Zotto back in the lineups. The Rangers are 3-1-1 against the Isles this season. After the Islanders won 4-2 on Oct. 25, the Rangers won the next three, in November and December, before the Islanders' 4-3 shootout victory at the Coliseum on Feb. 24.
The scoring for the Rangers has been spread out in those five games: Marian Gaborik has four goals and Carl Hagelin two; 10 other players have one each. Henrik Lundqvist (2-1-0), who is expected to start, has allowed just four goals in three games against the Islanders.
So perhaps the Rangers, who are 22-7-2 at home, fourth-best in the league, and have played fewer games in friendly confines than the other teams with the top five home records, can return to top form in Manhattan over the next 13 days. If not, a first-round postseason matchup in April could be far tougher than once imagined.
Torts: Shootout is "silly"
Don't bother to ask John Tortorella about the shootout anymore. He's repeatedly called it a "gimmick" and "silly." So the coach probably would support Detroit general manager Ken Holland's pitch to fellow team executives in their semi-annual meeting Monday. Holland is proposing that if a club doesn't score in the five-minute, four-on-four overtime, triggering a shootout, another five minutes should be added, but with teams playing three-on-three, when a goal is more likely to be scored. The idea is to reduce the number of shootouts; about 13.5 percent of games this season have been decided with the one-on-one sessions.
Henik, Boyle part of You Can Play
Henrik Lundqvist, Brian Boyle and about 30 other NHL players are lending their voices to a project for tolerance called You Can Play, an initiative that advocates "equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation." Patrick Burke, the son of Leafs GM Brian Burke and a scout for the Flyers, leads the project, which has filmed public service announcements to "change the sometimes homophobic culture of locker rooms with a message that athletes should be judged on athletic skill and ability." Brian's late son, Brendan, died in a car accident in 2010. He had announced he was gay while working as team manager of the Miami University hockey team.
No bounties in the NHL
Bounties in the NHL? Nah. "I've been around a long time and I've never heard of bounties for injuring someone," said 15-year veteran Martin Biron. "Sure, you'll have coaching sending guys out to pick a fight, but there's no money involved. The only time I know money's involved is when a player will put "money on the board [as an incentive for his teammates to win] when he's going back to a former team or his hometown."
