There is trouble on the island … of Manhattan.
For this was another night on which Henrik Lundqvist was not only not at his best, but clearly was outplayed by the goaltender at the other end of the ice, in this case Jaroslav Halak.
And it was another night on which the Rangers lost a key player — and quite clearly their best forward — when Rick Nash went down with a groin pull early in the second that is likely to sideline No. 61 for a spell.
Not to mention — well, OK, we’re mentioning it — another Battle of New York in which the Islanders raised their level of play to heights the Rangers could not match, the Blueshirts losing their eighth of the past 11 in the series, this one by 4-2 at Barclays Center.
The Rangers competed. They put pucks to the net. They were punished physically for much of the contest by a more physical team that played with a growl, but never backed down. And yet, the Blueshirts made critical mistakes in the neutral zone and in front of the net.
They also could not capitalize on a majority of even-strength zone time (50-40 attempts) or on sustained power-play pressure during a four-minute advantage in the first period that produced nine shots, all sent on Halak with purpose. Not only were the Rangers kept off the board by Halak, they yielded a two-on-one immediately thereafter when Brock Nelson — who had concussed Matt Puempel to draw the double-minor — joined the rush on which Jason Chimera scored for a 2-0 lead at 17:24.
Puempel never returned. Nash left the game for good at 6:38 of the second cutting short his shift after nine seconds. The Rangers, who started the game without Michael Grabner (attending his grandmother’s funeral in Austria) were down to 10 forwards. They competed, but could not get it done.
And so, the wave of enthusiasm generated by that unexpected 13-4 bolt out of the gate is in the past. The Rangers are in deep, maybe in deep trouble, having won just four of their past 10 (4-5-1) and facing life without their prime difference-maker up front and with their prime difference-maker, period, struggling in nets.
“I think every team we play now is going to raise their level,” said Lundqvist, who never quite seemed set or in command. “It’s important for us not to look for excuses and try to be there every night, both myself and the group. We’re going to have to dig a little deeper.
“You need a lot from everyone to win in this league, myself included.”
The Rangers haven’t gotten enough since Mika Zibanejad went down on Nov. 20. The depth that produced an explosion of balanced scoring has evaporated. The top players haven’t done enough to pick up the slack created by Zibanejad’s and Pavel Buchnevich’s twin absences.
Mats Zuccarello, stoned three times by Halak on that first-period power play, has gone 10 straight games without a goal. J.T. Miller, who battled throughout in 21:42, has one goal in the past 10, though he has been bounced all over the place in the lineup. Neither Chris Kreider nor Derek Stepan has been remotely productive enough.
Marc Staal had a big-time game on Tuesday and Dan Girardi was just fine. (Sorry, veteran-bashers.) But Brady Skjei had a dreadful night, Ryan McDonagh’s game suffered, and Kevin Klein continued his blah season.
Indeed, while the first period two-on-one out of the box was a tough one, the Rangers did cut the lead to 2-1 56 seconds into the second when Jimmy Vesey went to the net to bury Nash’s rebound.
But they gave it up just 1:22 later when Klein’s outlet up the middle into neutral-zone traffic did not connect with Marek Hrivik and the Islanders swept the other way, converting when Andrew Ladd put one into an empty net after Lundqvist had poked the puck off Shane Prince’s stick (after he had beaten Skjei wide) into the slot.
It was a frustrating night for the Rangers, who were better in this one than in both of their victories last week against the Hurricanes, but came away with nothing. But did they deserve better? Not especially.
“It’s not about frustration,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “It’s about wins and losses.”
Somehow, with two-thirds of the season in front of them, the Rangers are just five points clear of a playoff spot, and having played two more games than the ninth-place Devils.
The difference-maker up front is down. The difference-maker in nets hasn’t gotten his game to a high enough level on any sort of reasonable basis. Yes sir, there’s trouble on the island of Manhattan.