Rangers woes on more than just goaltending
The New York Rangers were able to keep their hot start to the season rolling for a while even after losing all-world goaltender Igor Shesterkin to a season-ending injury, but it seems like the Blueshirts may be running out of steam.
With the newly signed veteran James Reimer in net last night to give new starter Dylan Garand a rest after some tough outings, the Rangers lost 6-3 to the Los Angeles Kings, and Garand didn’t end up with much of a rest at all, as head coach Mike Sullivan pulled Reimer after a first period that saw him surrender three goals.
New York has now dropped each of its past three games and gone from being right behind the Carolina Hurricanes in second in the Metropolitan Division to having been caught by both New Jersey and Washington in terms of points percentage.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed why the Blueshirts’ recent issues extend beyond Shesterkin’s absence and its ripple effects between the pipes.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s kick things off in The Big Apple. It’s kind of, you know, a way to transition out of yesterday’s show, because we ended it talking about James Reimer in New York, and he makes his debut for the Rangers, his ninth NHL team, 38 years old. It’s a great story, but then Reimer and the Rangers kind of really struggle. They lose their third straight, Reimer gets yanked after the first period, Mike Sullivan after the game saying that he did not put James Reimer in a good spot. He said, “That’s on me.” And I would go ahead and say the players in front of James Reimer didn’t really put him in a great spot either, Hutts. At minute 15 in, Taylor Ward gets a breakaway. The second one was, you know, maybe a bad bounce on Reimer’s part, but it’s a delayed penalty where the Rangers couldn’t get possession. The third goal was bad on Reimer. That’s the one that got him yanked. I don’t think these Rangers issues, or maybe this is the question I want to pose to you, as the Rangers dropped their third straight, allowing 18 goals over that stretch, is it as simple as just saying “goalie problem” or is there more that’s wrong with the Rangers?
Carter Hutton: Well, I think it’s a mix of both, right? Like, this is obviously a tricky situation when you pull a guy in like James Reimer and he just gets fed to the wolves like that, being thrown out. And then the fact you give up a breakaway right away and the wheels kind of fall off in that sense. But you would hope from that standpoint the Rangers would rally around him, right? Like, “He’s getting the start, let’s answer the bell, let’s be structured, let’s work hard.” And it starts to get a bit concerning when you’re talking about three straight losses and 18 goals against in those 3 games, where Dylan Garand had been good, but it’s kind of the wheels seem to be falling off in a little bit of a sense too. And as we start to see the Metro teams collect points and the Rangers slipping in the standings, it’s concerning now. How do you bridge that gap without Shesterkin to get back to a time when you need Korpisalo or someone to fill in some games? So it is a tricky time right now, and I think for the Rangers it’s about answering the bell. And like Mike Sullivan said, he didn’t really put him in the best spot, but you kind of knew what you were doing. Did they expect James Reimer just to come off the schneid and just be absolutely rock solid?
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…