Lately, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how the Rangers are doing a lot of things right. Much better possession team, seven out of nine wins; all reasons to be happy. In this game? None of that. The appropriate word tonight, quite frankly, is embarrassing. The Rangers were embarrassed in New Jersey.
The final tally of shot attempts comes in at 38-32 in favor of the Devils. Certainly not the worst at first glance. What makes it a problem, is the fact that the Rangers started this game off with a 15-6 advantage at the 13:00 mark of the first period. Over the final 47 minutes of the game, it was 32-17 New Jersey. The Rangers attempted just 17 shots over 47 minutes of hockey, doing next to nothing positive after the game went 2-1.
In the 2nd period it was a ruthless barrage, with the Devils out-attempting the Rangers 17-6, including seven odd-man rushes. Seven! The defense just totally collapsed for the Rangers, in embarrassing fashion.
In the 3rd period, it was the offense collapsing. Sure the Rangers were shorthanded for a long time, but they still spent 13 minutes at even strength in the 3rd, and despite being in a desperate situation, down by one goal, the Rangers managed just nine shot attempts in those 13 minutes, and I recall just one that would count as a scoring chance.
47 minutes of embarrassing hockey. But what about the first 13? What about the 13 minutes at the start where the Rangers looked fantastic, scored twice, dominated play, and produced more scoring chances than they did the remainder of the game? That’s what I don’t understand. How could the Rangers come out looking awesome and just hit a wall like that? I very, very rarely question a team’s effort, but looked to me like the Rangers went up 2-1, the Devils didn’t go away despite being down and outplayed, and the Rangers wanted no part of that. They didn’t want to work for this one.
There’s almost nobody I’m happy with tonight. Lundqvist for keeping this game from ending 13-2. Skjei for being one of a couple of Rangers who had a good game tonight in his 3rd NHL games. Moore for scoring a sick goal. That’s about it.
Now many will want to talk about the JT Miller incident. I really want to get into that because it’s probably the most bizarre rule I’ve ever seen in sports. And I hate talking about these things, especially on a night when the team got humiliated, because you can’t blame the officiating, and I’m not. But I feel I need to at least bring this up, because it was almost comical. First thing is, you can’t blame the referee: the rule is pretty clear, and he called it that way. But it’s an awful rule. Basically, what we know now is that Miller and Kalinin both had their hands taped up (which is a silly thing to penalize to begin with) and only Miller was penalized and not Kalinin for one simple reason – Kalinin was bleeding. Who writes these rules? By that logic players should be allowed to slash opponents in the face at will as long their opponents don’t bleed. See how that doesn’t work? It’s awful way to enforce a rule. Just extremely bizarre and disgraceful from the NHL. The rule should be reviewed immediately.
That of course was an elephant in the room, but let me be clear: this is about the Rangers. There’s nobody to pin this on but the Rangers, not the rulebook. The Rangers are solely responsible for the disgusting mess that took place on the ice tonight. The one positive from all of this is that it’s only one game and the Rangers can easily move on and get back to winning. They better, because that was embarrassing.
Three Stars
1)Henrik Lundqvist
2)Brady Skjei
3)Dominic Moore
Was there pizza? There was nothing! Pizza record: 32-22-6
6GoalieDefense 
Let me explain the background of the rule and maybe it will make sense. The rule was put in place when shields and visors were added to the helmets. Players with shields would start fights and the pother player would end up punching the shield tearing up their hands. SO, the players (fighters) would tape their hands so they would get them torn up and with that would punch down on the shields and drive them into the other players nose etc. and cut them. so the league ut in the rule that if you tape your hand and get in a fight and the other player gets cut or hurt you get the match penalty. Hence Miller Taped hand – Kalinin gets cut (exactly why the rule was put in place), Kalinin Taped hand – Miller not injured Kalinin gets no penalty. The rule once you understand the background and the reason the rule was put in place makes perfect sense and this is a text book example. It is enforced from Juniors althe way to the NHL
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I understand the reason for the rule, but the rule should still simply be a penalty for taping your hands, not for cutting the other player. You tape your hands, that’s it – penalty. It shouldn’t come down to blood. Like I said, players are punished for slashing, not for cutting opponents with a slash. The action should be penalized, not the result.
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It should be a minor either way and a major if there is an injury. like a high stick minor or a double minor if there is blood etc. I think a match is overkill. So I do agree with you but I think the rule needs to exist.
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Well I totally agree with you, it was an embarrassing game. It was like they showed up for part of the game and then they left the game. I think you bring a very good point up , why wait for blood.
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