Some 70 feet across the ice from where Michael Grabner burst across the line on the left side, Kevin Hayes had the best look of all as the Austrian Express left a pair of Maple Leafs in his exhaust fumes before snapping a drive past Frederik Andersen at 12:09 of the third period that seemed to lift the Rangers into a tie.
Unfortunately, and for no discernible reason, Hayes was standing a few inches on the wrong side of the blue line admiring Grabner’s unworldly acceleration. Toronto’s Mike Babcock exercised his slam-dunk coach’s challenge, the score came off the board and the Rangers never did catch up.
Still down 3-2 with just over a minute-and-half to go in regulation and desperately trying to get Henrik Lundqvist — who just a minute or so earlier had made a pair of breakaway saves against James Van Riemsdyk and Patrick Marleau to cap yet another superlative night in nets — the Rangers were hit with a too-many-men penalty as, for no discernible reason, Jimmy Vesey jumped on as a fourth forward in addition to the Chris Kreider-J.T. Miller-Pavel Buchnevich trio.
Details, folks, details that damned the Rangers to this 3-2 defeat Saturday at the Garden in this final game before St. Nick (no, not Holden) shimmies down the chimney. And no, after Thursday’s 4-3 defeat in New Jersey in which Lundqvist represented the sole reason the team picked up a point, the Blueshirts have little to chim-chim-cheree about heading into the NHL’s most civilized three-day Christmas hiatus.
Let’s rewind to midway through the second period of this one. It was 2-1 Toronto when Ryan McDonagh battled William Nylander for the puck on the low left wing boards. Holden, his partner, was close by, pulled to the circle. Those of you who can add one-plus-one might deduce that left no defenseman in front.
Holden exacerbated matters by joining the battle. One-on-two, Michael’s son won it and got the puck to Zach Hyman. And there alone was Auston Matthews, who in the first period of his first game back after missing a half-dozen due to a concussion, gave the Leafs a 1-0 lead to conclude a shift on which the Rangers did not have control of the puck for 1:03 following a left wing faceoff in the wake of an icing.
But anyway. Hyman spied Matthews at the doorstep and zipped a pass his way. Lundqvist managed to get a stick on it, but the puck settled at Matthews’ feet. Soon enough, with his assigned check, Hayes, a few feet away, the Scottsdale Kid slipped a backhand through the King at 11:22 for the eventual winning goal.
You could say that Holden had no business joining McDonagh in the battle and you would be correct. But it seems as if Rangers defensemen are instructed to attempt to outnumber opponents at trigger positions in the defensive zone, no matter if that leaves the front unattended or the responsibility of the center.
It happens all time. Two defensemen behind the net. Two defensemen chasing the puck carrier on a wide entry. It makes no sense. If anyone can tell me what impact first-year assistant coach Lindy Ruff is having on the team’s defensive structure, I’m all ears.
The Rangers did charge at the Maple Leafs throughout the third period. They did not give up. They get some credit for that, but not as much as they want to heap on themselves. The Blueshirts were outskated in New Jersey and they were outskated for 45 minutes in this one, both times by teams with exceptional speed and skill. The Rangers like to think of themselves as a speed and skill team. They might want to reassess that.
Vigneault cut down to three lines in the third, sitting Mika Zibanejad, who was just unable to keep up with the pace in his third game back after missing just over three weeks following a concussion. J.T. Miller, who had an unconscionably bad game against the Devils, took No 93’s spot between Kreider and Buchnevich, scored the goal that made it 3-2 and had his best period of the year
Still it was not enough, just as another brilliant performance from Lundqvist was not enough.
Details. Damn details.