The New York Rangers have not gotten the start to the season that they wanted. They’re just 3-6-2 to start the year with only eight points to their name.
It’s harder to have a worse first period than what the New York Rangers just had in Montreal
The Rangers went down 3-0 after 20 minutes and were outshot by the Canadiens, 19-2.
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Coming into Saturday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Rangers had allowed the fourth-most goals for on the season with 38. In the opening 20 minutes of their game on Saturday? The Rangers and goaltender Ondrej Pavelec allowed three goals to a Montreal team still struggling for offense.
And the Rangers did so while allowing 19 Montreal shots and getting their own pucks on net just twice.
No, that’s not an error. Here’s how things looked for the Rangers after just one period of play in Montreal.
Safe to say, it wasn’t the most impressive period of play for the Rangers. Much like their start to the season.
A lot has gone wrong for the Rangers this year. Their center depth has left a lot to be desired, and prospects like Filip Chytil are still sitting in the minors despite their potential to kickstart the team. Henrik Lundqvist may still be a top-class goaltender, but at age 35, he doesn’t move like he used to. It doesn’t help either that the Rangers defense hasn’t given him much assistance.
On top of that, their backup Pavelec has been a downgrade in net after they shipped Antti Raanta to Arizona. Coming into Saturday, Pavelec had a .889 save percentage in three games played. Add in his performance in the first period of his start on Saturday, and the Rangers are facing down a tough road for their fourth win of the season.
There’s already chatter for the Rangers to fire head coach Alain Vigneault, as the bench boss has yet to make the necessary adjustments to the team to keep them afloat. However, that wouldn’t necessarily solve the Rangers’ long-term problem, but would just put a band-aid on it.
It is, for sure, not an enviable position to be in. If this effort from the Rangers continues, we could see changes behind the bench for the team sooner rather than later.
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