Rangers 2, Penguins 7

The New York Rangers fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight by 7-2 score. For a box score, click here.

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You think the Rangers were bad tonight? How about Anaheim registering just 13 shots on goal all night against Montreal. The Penguins accomplished that in the first 8 minutes in this pathetic excuse of professional hockey. But I digress….

I would also hate to be a NYR fan who traveled all the way out there to watch that mess to take abuse from Penguin fans right from the start. I’ve been out there. The drive to and from Pittsburgh sucks. The only thing worse than traveling to Pittsburgh and the city itself was the performance the Rangers put on tonight.

I’m not even going to single any player out here. It was a disaster from head to toe. The only one that gets a pass tonight is Lundqvist.

AV on the other hand should have his feet set to the fire a little bit. He said after the game (paraphrasing) that he knew that tonight was going to be difficult in part due to the condensed schedule. But to make zero lineup changes, Nash injury aside, is inexcusable. Tonight would’ve been the perfect night to give one of the regulars a night off. It’s also puzzling that the Rangers didn’t make a move before the roster freeze knowing they might need an extra body with all the injuries.

The few quotes that did come from the locker room remind me of the Torts press conference from years and years ago with Tampa Bay, constantly repeating “we know what we did” to a gaggle of reporters before telling Larry Brooks to ‘f off.’ 

I’m not going to waste anymore time attempting to recap this. The Rangers get a couple days off before facing the Minnesota Wild at MSG on Friday.

(Photo credit: Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)