New York continued to struggle on home ice, having now lost four in a row with a record of 2–6–1 in their last 9 games. And now, the Carolina Hurricanes have vaulted over them and into seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings after their overtime victory over Buffalo.
After an early goal by Sean Avery and a strong first period, the Rangers were unable to put anything past Minnesota goalie Jose Theodore, who made an amazing 40 saves on the night. Theodore has an incredible record of dominance in the Big Apple (9–0–1 in his last 10 games).
With a four-game losing streak, the Rangers need to find a way to solve their offensive woes at home if they expect to go anywhere in the playoffs—should they even get that far.
Speaking with MSG after the game, winger Ryan Callahan commented on his team’s frustrations, “We’re not going to win games scoring one goal. We’re getting chances, but at this time of the year we have to find ways to bury them.”
Avery added, “We didn’t score on our chances and they did. That was the difference.”
Offensive Issues
Following their early score, the Rangers did a good job defensively on the Wild, holding them to only three shots on goal in the first period.
Minnesota’s fortunes changed in the second period as center Kyle Brodziak lit the lamp at 4:36, beating Lundqvist with a quick shot that skirted past the Rangers netminder.
The Wild scored again at 12:36 as center Casey Wellman skated to the front of the net and redirected a pass by tall defenseman Brent Burns that beat Lundvist on his right side—quieting the home crowd.
Unlike the first period, the Wild spent more time in the Rangers zone and their persistence paid off.
Minnesota increased their lead in the third period as winger Pierre-Marc Bouchard took a quick pass from teammate Martin Havlat on the right side of the net and put a laser past Lundvist at 8:15.
As the game wound down and with less than a two minutes remaining, New York pulled Lundqvist for the extra attacker but were still unable to penetrate the Wild’s defenses, led by the stalwart Theodore.
Tough Road Ahead
As the race for the playoffs heats up, New York (70 points) is hanging on by a thread trailing the seventh placed Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference and just two points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres, who have three games in hand.
Not to be excluded are the Toronto Maple Leafs who have a game in hand and are three points back of the Blueshirts. The Leafs stunned Philadelphia on Wednesday after another solid performance from goalie James Reimer.
The Rangers road to the playoffs won’t be an easy one. Out of their remaining 16 games, at over half of them are against teams over .500 and five of them are against division leaders.
At least they can get away from the Garden now. On Friday, they visit Canada’s capital to take on the last place Ottawa Senators.
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