Rangers can’t break bad Hab-its

January 8, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

So there they were locked in a tight checking game against a shorthanded opponent right next to them in a crowded standings.

Truthfully, the Rangers had played a solid 40 minutes yet were tied 2-2 with the Canadiens, who were getting better goaltending from backup Jaroslav Halak. He had struggled coming in with Eastern All-Star starter Carey Price out with an injury.

But none of that mattered during last night’s disappointing 6-3 home loss to Halak, Alex Kovalev and third period star Robert Lang who spoiled the fun with a hat trick.

It’s hard to believe the Blueshirts lost their brains but that’s exactly what happened when an unpenalized game suddenly saw Glen Sather pet project Aaron Voros get a needless hook leading to an unscreened Andrei Markov blast past a pedestrian Henrik Lundqvist, who had the kind of night he’d rather forget responsible for the first two Habs goals off the sticks of Kovalev (giveaway) and Guillaume Latendresse (awful rebound).

Then came two more mistimed penalties including a Scott Gomez hold handing the Habs a 5-on-3 which didn’t take long for Lang to bury for the first of three in a memorable third for the 37 year-old veteran Czech.

Suddenly, despite outplaying Montreal with a solid forecheck and coninued good play by Petr Prucha (assist) and Nigel Dawes (assist), they were down a pair due to a loss of discipline in their final home game before a make or break five-game road trip that starts in Buffalo tomorrow with a stop at Ottawa where they never fare well. Did we mention they also have to face the Blackhawks as well?

Trailing by two, the Rangers didn’t quit when the streaky Nikolai Zherdev  actually did something finding the resurgent Michal Rozsival at the doorstep for his fifth goal in seven slicing it to one.

But on a night they only received one power play while the Habs somehow got five with a blatant slash of Paul Mara missed which would’ve meant a 6-on-3 with Lundqvist pulled, the Rangers saw Marc Staal get taught a lesson by the tricky Lang during a four-on-four when he faked to the right and went inside and then did what most shooters do against Lundqvist these days- go high to the glove side for his second.

He completed the hat trick scoring into an open net which meant No.13 allowed shorthanded. Well, the good news is at least it came on an open net.

The Rangers seem to be chasing history. The 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche gave up the most shorthanded goals in league history yet somehow won the franchise’s first of two Cups.

Now, nobody would argue that this Jekyll & Hyde Ranger club is in the same company as a team which boasted Joe Sakic, a healthy Peter Forsberg, a prime Valeri Kamensky, Sandis Ozolinsh and legendary Patrick Roy.

However, you gotta wonder sometimes with this team which even has gotten to Tom Renney, who for once critiqued the officiating and indicated for the second time in two weeks a need to be more tough on his club.

That wouldn’t be a bad thing for a team which seems to need tough love to perform. Nothing Sean Avery couldn’t muster. You know. The unliked teammate who was seen hanging out with former ‘mates at a NYC club.

Just how unloved was he? Paging the GM! Which reminds us how exactly does Voros get back in the lineup after missing two games for ineffectiveness at the expense of a hardworking former No.1 pick Lauri Korpikoski who did nothing wrong?

Is this really the coach’s call? A look at the lame excuse used on conditioning just ain’t cutting it or making a whole lot of sense.

What can be taken out of last night is that Wade Redden had one of his best games playing solid defensively while Rozsival continued to work well with Staal, who was the one who got victimized at a key moment.

So, is the blueline coming together? They sure need it to with what’s coming up.

They also need the franchise netminder who gets paid very handsomely to start playing consistently.

It’s time to deliver!