Cost of free agents signed over the summer: $67 million. Cost of the 1999-2000 team payroll: $58.815 million.
Ranger effort last night: worthless.
Which is to say that if there are times you don’t get what you pay for, last night’s 5-2 Garden defeat to the Penguins represented one of those nights. Bad from the start, bad in all three zones, the new Rangers looked suspiciously like the Rangers of last year and the year before that, which is nothing but nothing to boast on.
“We can’t look like that out there,” said Brian Leetch, for once no less a culprit than most of his teammates. “We can’t look like we haven’t played hockey [together].”
It all broke down last night on a Ranger team that had entered the match with three straight victories. The team that hadn’t allowed more than two goals in any of its first six games surrendered three in last night’s first 12:24, a barrage that drove Kirk McLean from the nets. The goaltender, while not as sharp as he had been in his four prior starts, was hardly alone in his travail. Indeed, he had company; plenty of company.
“It wasn’t the goalkeeper’s fault; it was everybody’s fault,” said John Muckler. “We had nothing going all night long.”
On Sunday afternoon, the Rangers recovered from a dozy Garden first period to defeat the Coyotes. Perhaps that fused the team with a false sense of security. Whatever, the Rangers came out last night with virtually no emotion-save for Todd Harvey, who did try to ignite things early-against one of the league’s most talented teams.
“I don’t know if we were overconfident, not focused, or what, but we were flat,” said Muckler. “It wasn’t just the first period. It was three periods; we had three bad periods tonight.”
It was 1-0 at 6:25 when Alex Kovalev ripped one past McLean off a dancing move from the right circle to the slot. It became 2-0 at 10:26 when Ian Moran drove a 60-footer into the back of the net through traffic. And it became 3-0 at 12:24 when Robert Lang gained position in front to slide the puck past McLean, replaced by Milan Hnilicka, only to return for the start of the third after it became apparent that the 26-year-old rookie netminder was overmatched in his NHL debut.
And while the Rangers were falling down by three, Muckler was switching up his combinations. It hardly helped that Theo Fleury missed the final 16 minutes of the period after taking a Kovalev elbow to the face, but thankfully, no one would use the little big man’s absence as an excuse for the team’s odious performance.
“I’d like to be able to use excuses, but we can’t,” said Muckler. “There is no excuse.”
When Fleury returned for the second period, he skated with Adam Graves and center Mike York, while Petr Nedved found himself flanked by wingers Kevin Stevens and John MacLean. Tim Taylor, experiencing problems with his foot after taking a slash on Monday at the Coliseum, sat most of the second, with Manny Malhotra moving between Harvey and Mike Knuble.
Of all the Rangers, Nedved might have been least to blame for the debacle. He played with emotion, and did his best to carry his teammates. Unfortunately, even after he scored late in the first to pare the deficit to 3-1, he found few able to follow his lead.
“Petr put in a heck of an effort,” said Muckler. “He showed leadership.”
The Rangers hung around at 3-1 through most of the second, but once Hnilicka blew a pair of long ones in a span of 1:47 late in the period, the jig was up.
All that was left was for the team to respond when someone named Andrew Ference smashed Nedved from the blindside with 54 seconds remaining in the match. Stevens and MacLean jumped into the fray, and, though our eyes may have deceived us, it seemed as if Kevin Hatcher actually hit somebody for the first time in his even-game Ranger career.
Unfortunately, the Rangers deceived no one last night, in a performance that was absolutely worthless.