It may be a little early in the season to hit the panic button, but the New York Rangers understand how quickly things can slip away, so getting their fingers ready is probably not a bad idea right now.
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| The Rangers have felt the absence of Henrik Lundqvist, who is sidelined with a bad case of the flu. (AP) |
"We're all worried," admitted defenseman Darius Kasparaitis after the Rangers collapsed in the third period Thursday and blew a two-goal lead to the Florida Panthers.
For good reason. Up to the final period of the Florida game, New York had been showing signs of emerging from its recent funk, playing the kind of safe and disciplined game that teams generally find success with on the road. But in the space of only 21 seconds, the Rangers committed a series of avoidable gaffes and let it all slip away.
"We fell asleep, and it was costly," said goaltender Kevin Weekes.
An ill-advised penalty here, a defensive-zone giveaway there and then finally a blown coverage assignment, and halfway through the period, the Rangers found themselves down a goal and in a position they could not recover from.
"When you back on your heels early in the third period, it kind of shakes up a little bit, but the sign of a mature team is when you let things roll off your back and we didn't," said defenseman Aaron Ward. "Teams that win can't afford to compound their mistakes like that, so yeah, there's a huge level of frustration in here right now."
It hasn't helped that New York has been without some key players -- starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist and No. 1 center Michael Nylander are down with the flu and defenseman Marek Malik has a groin problem -- but even when they've been a full strength, the Rangers have struggled.
New York won five games in a row before hitting its current skid, although most of the players concede those wins were more the result of some good fortune and stellar goaltending than of any true merit. And then it all came apart last weekend when the Rangers were manhandled in a 9-2 loss at Toronto before dropping a 6-1 decision to the Devils at home the following night.
The Rangers didn't look much better a couple of nights later in losing to the Islanders, and after extending their slide against the Panthers -- exposing the weakness they have in the back end and a power play that has gone ice cold -- New York is starting to see the high hopes it had for this season falling into jeopardy.
"We're not going to go there," said coach Tom Renney. "It's never good when you lose, no matter how you try to dress it up.
"But we're a good team, and I think we're going to be even better as we move through this over the second half of the season because of what we're going through and the mistakes we've made and how we've had to, quite honestly read about them, like it or not.
"I think that serves as pretty good impetus to avoid that going forward."
A contrarian view
The NHL's director of hockey operations, Colin Campbell, expected an earful from goalies this week when he suggested the league re-examine the issue of enlarging the nets, but no doubt he was surprised to hear idea's merit being questioned by someone from a group it should naturally appeal to, the goal-scorers.
When asked for his take, Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla, who played goalie when he was a kid, found common cause with the guys between the pipes, saying that making the cages bigger should only be done as "a last resort."
"It changes records and things," said Iginla, the 2002 scoring champ who ranks seventh in points this season.
Campbell wasn't adamant that changes should be made, but with goal-scoring trending slightly downward this season, he said the notion should be given careful consideration. Through nearly 500 games, there has been an average of 5.8 goals scored per game, down from about 6.1 at the same point last season.
It's not the first time the notion of making nets bigger has been raised -- it was discussed at length during the lockout -- but Iginla says he is still a traditionalist.
"They did show us the nets and they don't look any different when they originally brought them out, but as a player and a fan, I would hope that we can find other ways first (to increase scoring)," he said. "Hopefully there are some other things you can adjust in the game without changing the nets."
False star
Phoenix Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky, who knows a thing or two about All-Star Games, thinks something is wrong with the way voting is going this season.
The NHL's career scoring leader doesn't mind that fans get to vote for the starters; he just thinks that there has to be a bit of common sense thrown into the process because of the way things are shaping for the 2007 game slated for Jan. 24 in Dallas. As things stand now, Canucks defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick will be one of the starters for the Western Conference, thanks to an Internet campaign started for him by Vancouver fans.
What started off as a joke has taken on a life of its own, and Fitzpatrick finds himself ahead of such luminaries like Chris Pronger, Nick Lidstrom and Sergei Zubov, despite having no goals or assists in 19 games.
"From what the All-Star Game is about, it's 100 percent wrong," Gretzky told the Arizona Republic.
They said it
"We were making plays we probably wouldn't have made in October or November and it's resulted in some positive things for us. We have a little more freedom out there, which is great for a young team. You can't play the game knowing one mistake will be the end of your game. We have a little more freedom (to make mistakes). Everyone loves him, everyone loves to play for him." -- Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp on the difference in Chicago since Denis Savard became coach in late November.
