The New York Rangers are struggling with their attention to detail lately, especially with their defensemen.
With three lopsided losses in their past four games, the Rangers will focus on their recent defensive woes Friday night when they play host to the skidding Anaheim Ducks.
New York vaulted to the early lead in the Metropolitan Division by getting off to a 12-2-1 start. The torrid opening was highlighted by an 11-game points streak from Oct. 21 through Nov. 18.
Since then, the Rangers are 7-5-0 in their past 12 in a stretch when they have allowed 44 goals (3.7 per game). Each of their past three losses have been by four goals as the Rangers were outscored 17-5 and never led in losses at Ottawa and Washington along with Tuesday’s 7-3 home loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On Tuesday, the Rangers got within one score twice on goals by Blake Wheeler and a power-play tally by Mika Zibanejad but gave up four goals in the first period and three more in the third. New York allowed the game’s first two goals in a span of 75 seconds and the third and fourth goals in a 21-second span.
“I think it’s pretty rare to go through the first (part of a season) without really facing any adversity and with things kind of going our way,” Wheeler said. “I think it’s whatever we make it out to be.”
Igor Shesterkin allowed six goals Tuesday to tie a career-worst total. Since the Rangers are visiting Boston on Saturday in the second night of a back-to-back, Jonathan Quick might get the start in goal Friday.
Quick is 8-0-1 with a 2.20 goals-against average while Shesterkin has a 3.02 GAA, including a 4.67 GAA in his past three starts, with several of those goals coming on defensive breakdowns in front of him.
“You know there’s (goal scoring) chances, and then there’s breakaway chances, and three-on-one chances,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said Wednesday. “And we’ve got to just clean some of that up.”
Anaheim’s struggles are far more severe than those of the Rangers. The Ducks are 1-12-0 since Nov. 15 and have been outscored 53-27, although their past five losses have been significantly more competitive since an 8-2 setback at Edmonton on Nov. 26.
During their current four-game losing streak, the Ducks saw a comeback from a three-goal deficit fall short against Colorado. They also took a 1-0 loss at Chicago and blew an early two-goal lead in the third period Sunday before allowing four goals to Winnipeg in the final 18:02.
On Wednesday, the Ducks saw their road losing streak reach six games with a 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders. Anaheim allowed two goals in the first 6:32 before scoring the next three to take a one-goal lead early in the third period.
After Troy Terry, Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick scored, the Ducks allowed a tying power-play goal and a go-ahead shorthanded goal with 93 seconds left.
“Lately we’ve been kind of finding a way to shoot ourselves in the foot and lose games, so we’ve got to tighten it up and find a solution,” Anaheim’s Ross Johnston said.
Making it even more frustrating was that the Ducks allowed a power-play goal for the first time since Nov. 30 and gave up a shorthanded goal for the first time all year.
“We’ve got to do a better job of holding on to (leads), whether it’s staying out of the (penalty) box or playing just as hard as we did when we were trailing a game,” Carrick said.
The Rangers are 12-3-1 in the past 16 meetings and have won the past seven home encounters.
–Field Level Media
