Ranger Drought…

Tom Renney's Rangers (photo by Duluoz Cats/Flickr)

By Jon Gabrielle

When we left you late Sunday afternoon, there were a lot of smiles in the Ranger dressing room as they prepared to board their charter for the great northwest.

A win over original six foe Boston, at MSG will do that, even if it was by the scant score of 1-0.

But despite the win, the issue was scoring. One goal doesn’t often win you games in the NHL and if you’re not convinced, a look back at recent history may change your mind.

The Rangers have now scored just one goal in 3 of their last 4 games, losing two, with the lone win coming against the Bruins Sunday. They also lost their other game in that stretch where they managed only two goals. Needless to say, you don’t have to be an M.I.T. graduate to understand those numbers have to improve.

No matter how outstanding Henrik Lundqvist plays in net, the team cannot expect him to have to pitch a shutout every night.  This last little stretch however,  has reminded King Henry of the “old days” under Tom Renney when goals and goal scorers were at a premium. “This is what I was used to last year…the feeling was one mistake could cost us big time,” the Swedish netminder reminisced after Sunday’s win.

Certainly this isn’t the type of hockey head coach, John Tortorella is preaching. After all, he’s the coach who made famous the “Safe is Death” slogan that some say helped propel his former team, the Lightning, to a Stanley Cup championship in 2004.

The fact is though, that after Gaborik, the teams scorers drop dramatically.

Vinny Prospal, off to a furious start this season, has two points in his last 4 games, which is more in line with his career stats.

Chris Higgins, brought over from Montreal, finally got off the shnide, scoring his first goal of the season in last night’s 4-1 loss.  But does anyone think a guy who has a career high of 27 goals, yet scored only a dozen last year, is the answer?

Kudos to Michael Del Zotto for being named the NHL’s rookie of the month. However, his 12 points has him tied for third most on the team and he’s a defenseman!

This lack of scoring prowess hasn’t gone unnoticed by the staff, prompting Tortorella to say, “that’s something that we have to get more consistent at, as far as our forecheck.”

One thing’s for sure. They better find their legs somehwere  along the 800 mile journey north to the Rexall Place in Edmonton. Because that’s where Pat Quinn and a very rested Oiler team that has lost two straight, will be waiting.

And oh yeah…a guy named Tom Renney is the Associate coach.

Posted by Jon Gabrielle on Nov 4 2009. Filed under Atlantic, Eastern Conference, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.