This was a performance that was not even worth a 24-hour wait, let alone the 313 days between presentations at the Garden by the Rangers.
But then, that wouldn’t even count as an appearance by the Blueshirts – who didn’t show up for the season opener, losing 4-0 to an Islanders’ team that basically took a 60-minute walk through the park on Thursday.
If you’re looking for an excuse for this disaster – where Igor Shesterkin allowed goals in the third, fifth and seventh shots he faced while his teammates choked – don’t worry.
There are no excuses for the Rangers, spared the indignity of being thrown out of the building just because customers are not allowed in the Garden. It was an amateur performance by a team that was not prepared to compete with the finalists of the conference.
Check this out. The Rangers were not prepared to compete, period. If you don’t believe me, you might prefer to hear from David Quinn – who, on second thought, has a lot more responsibility for this than I do.
“I thought we were back to doing some of the things we were doing in the bubble,” said the coach, issuing a major accusation. “Cheating the game… there are no shortcuts in this game, no shortcuts. We were playing hockey for hope.
“We were not prepared to play in the right way. We allowed them to stay in position all night because we didn’t skate. We don’t play with the right intentions. There wasn’t much good tonight, for sure. “
It is almost impossible to assess the structure or system of the Rangers or the desire to play hockey simplified and direct from this fiasco – through which one player after another made the most fundamental mistakes.
Failed passes on the ice, careless spins, failure to compete for lost records, inability or unwillingness to win one on one and lack of discipline were routine in what became the first tiebreaker on opening night since the terrible 1998-99 team dropped a 1-0 match for the Flyers
Shesterkin hesitated in the first period, perhaps without guilt for any of the three who beat him in a 10:58 interval, but unable to make a great save after Brock Nelson scored in the power play slot at 2:33. It was followed by a two against a 1:19 later, in which Anders Lee scored a goal from the left in a play that started behind the Islanders’ net. And then the splendid Mat Barzal beat the goalkeeper over the right side, making his way through an escort.
An empty building meant that Shesterkin, the apple of everyone’s eyes during his debut season last season, did not have to suffer what would have been the inevitable chant of “Henrik … Henrik”. But the 25-year-old Russian showed courage during the final 40 minutes and asserted himself with a handful of wonderful stops. That was one of the few bright spots of the night, although it must be assumed that Alex Georgiev will receive approval for Saturday’s rematch on Broadway.
K’Andre Miller went through a very nervous period in his first professional competition in addition to a fight between the teams. Alexis Lafreniere was not exposed as much as his new buddy and played at an encouraging pace, even taking a few turns with Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin when Quinn mixed his line combinations and started moving Kaapo Kakko.
But don’t make the mistake of believing that youth and inexperience were the main factors in the fiasco in which Semyon Varlamov was tested so rarely that there was no reason to name the Islanders’ goalkeeper by the end of the report.
Panarin and Strome were totally ineffective, except for a few power plays in which the first unit controlled the puck and zoomed through the offensive zone for a good minute or more, although unable to really create a golden opportunity. Chris Kreider was not a big factor. Jacob Trouba, caught on the blue line in the odd men’s race in the first period in which Lee made it 2-0, seemed to be between the two. Adam Fox had a rough night.
So did Tony DeAngelo, who aggravated his problems by serving a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in addition to a holding infraction. Brendan Lemieux played just one round in the first period and was replaced by large samples from the second after being responsible for an infraction by many men. The Rangers have been shorthanded eight times.
Mika Zibanejad may have been the best of the Blueshirts. Pavel Buchnevich worked a lot. Filip Chytil had a few moments. Okay, we’re clinging here to find a fragment of positivity in a forest of frustration and failure for 60 minutes.
It was just one night, of course it is true. But it is also the only night that the 2020-21 Rangers can be measured. The Blueshirts waited more than 10 months to return to the Garden. They shouldn’t have bothered.