There must be more than meets the eye – or perhaps, in this case, heard – for David Quinn’s explanation of why the Rangers went with Alex Georgiev in networks on Saturday against the Penguins instead of returning to Igor Shesterkin for his strong performance in victory Thursday’s overtime in Buffalo.
“Obviously, circumstances have changed here since last year, without Hank [Lundqvist] here, ”said the coach. “I just thought that in the short term, we’re going to go all the [game] with these guys for a while, and see how it goes regardless of how they play and give them a clearer picture and maybe a little more comfort in what the schedule is and who is going to play.
“So, I don’t know how long we are going to do this, but that will be the approach in the short term.”
Georgiev was not up to the task in this case, losing five goals in 38 shots in a 5-4 defeat in the Garden overtime, in which he may not have been the main culprit, but could not do enough to beat him. The Bulgarian netminder recorded three consecutive starts with 0.800, 0.875 and 0.868 saving percentage, respectively.
Here they are, 2-4-2 in their first eight games, unable to protect opportunities in the third period, and behold, Rangers do not have a number one goalkeeper. At this moment, and it is still very early, even with the coach pointing out that the club has “two good goalkeepers”, there is no apparent heir to the king.
Georgiev conceded the equalizer at 9:20 in the third on a rebound placed in a second attempt at the post by Jake Guentzel. There were many loose rebounds produced by Georgiev, who seems unstable and random rather than economical and in charge.
“I’m sure Georgie would like one or two back,” said Quinn in what is becoming a familiar chorus.
Rangers maintained the lead in the third period in four of the last five games. They exploded the lead in each one, managing to win one in overtime while losing one in regulation and two in extra time – this one coming in Sidney Crosby’s slot race at 2:27 with Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad working in two minute shifts.
The Blueshirts also failed to score a goal in the third period in the last five games, with 5-0. The team may not have the mental discipline or commitment to execute their plan for 60 minutes. Perhaps they are not getting enough critical interruptions to save the game, which have been so routine for most of a decade and a half. The Rangers are not playing winning hockey.
This was a complicated case with piles of open ice. Perhaps it seduced the Rangers to try to survive on a lake hockey brand in the third period, and not a very good one. The Penguins, who played with five defenders after Kris Letang left the game in the middle of the first period, were in control for the last 20 minutes of regulation time, after resisting for much of the first 40 minutes.
This display seemed to enrage Chris Kreider, who made his game more impressive than the year.
“We show what we can do in outbreaks, we understand what we need to do to be successful, and then they increase the intensity a little bit in the third period and suddenly we move away from it and start east-west instead of advance zones,” said the No. 20. “You don’t win at the NHL level by doing that.
“No league team can just throw their sticks out there, play east-west and try to steal their way to victory. You have to go north at some point. There is not enough space, there is not enough time, you have to make the D curve and dig the disks in the curves. It seemed like a lot of fun to them in the third period. “
Brendan Smith – who accompanied partner Tony DeAngelo through Pittsburgh’s first three goals against five, including one in which Kasperi Kapanen supported him for an escape – was not sniffed in the third period.
DeAngelo, incidentally, is somehow on the ice for nine of the 16 goals allowed by Rangers in 82:50 of uniform strength work. We already recognize how the absences of Lundqvist and Jesper Fast impacted the team. Is it possible that Marc Staal, partner of No. 77 for a year, also misses so much?
The Rangers did not get any traction. They were unable to build their game. But building a game usually starts with nets. Uncertainty abounds in the ice.
But there is one thing that we can be sure of. Shesterkin will be the goal on Monday for the rematch.