Ducks Overcome Lundqvist, Rangers

by: Joe McDonald | Publisher and Editor-in-Chief | Friday, February 8, 2008



NEW YORK – With the Giants winning and the Mets getting Johan Santana, it’s easy to overlook what’s bad in the New York sports world.

The Knicks and Nets have both been horrible with little end in sight.

And the hockey teams haven’t been much better.

Even the New York Rangers, who were coming on, but couldn’t follow though this week with two bad games at the Garden, including last night’s loss 4-1 to the Anaheim Ducks.

“You are not going to win games by working hard,” said coach Tom Renney. “You are going to win games by having poise and composure, whether you are winning or losing.”

It was lost poise and composure that cost the Rangers, with the Ducks capitalizing on Blueshirt mistakes and creating odd man rushes, which was too much for Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 15 shots on the night.

“We are just making mistakes and we can’t do that at this time of year,” said center Scott Gomez. “Every mistake we made they capitalized on. I’m not taking anything away from anybody, guys are going hard, but we have to learn quickly. It doesn’t get any easier for us.

“If you look at the goals they scored, we made the mental mistakes. When mistakes were made they capitalized on them. They are a patient team, until the other team makes a mistake. The guys worked hard today, but it’s not good enough.”

Although outshot 33-19, the Ducks were able to take the Ranger turnovers and turn them into points. In the first, former Ranger Mathieu Schneider put one past Henrik Lundqvist, after the goalie was screened by George Parros.

And in the second, Corey Perry was able to get a soft goal by Lundqvist that went through his left arm, trickling into the net.

“The second goal, I should have had it,” Lundqvist said. “When I look at the games, we let up a lot with a lot of odd man rushes. That’s the toughest part of the play when you pick the corners. Parts of your game you have to play better. Right now, the opponents don’t have to work that hard to get their goals.”

And the Rangers have to fight for each score, as well. Their only tally tonight came on a Ryan Callahan score after the Blueshirts crashed the net on Jean-Sebastien Giguere at 7:42 into the second. But those type of chances were few and far between.

Yet Anaheim kept the pressure on. Later in the second after the score was 2-1, Chris Kunitz was able to bank one in off of a sprawled out Lundqvist.

“We need to be a little more intelligent in front of [Lundqvist],” Renney said. “We need to take advantage of our power play and do a little better on the penalty kill. And have a defenseman come down in to pinch and offense his own play.

“Game, set, match.”

It’s easier said than done, but the Rangers, still in seventh place, need to get it fixed quick. With five days off next week, the rest of the league will be able to catch up on games and the Rangers can do nothing but watch.

And have nothing to cheer about.

Notes: Ryan Callahan scored his first goal since his recall from Hartford…This was the Ducks first game at the Garden since Oct. 28, 2003…The Rangers go to Philadelphia and Washington this weekend before their week sabbatical…The Blueshirts remain winless against the west this year going 0-7-2…Their final game will be on Feb. 17 against the San Jose Sharks at the Garden.