Rangers offense stifled again in Game 4 loss
Held to 1 goal for 2nd straight game against Devils in Eastern 1st Round
"Not good," the New York Rangers coach said. "Not good enough. Not even close to good."
Gallant had a lot more to say in a telling three-minute press conference after the Rangers lost 3-1 to the New Jersey Devils in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Madison Square Garden on Monday, their second straight home loss scoring one goal after back-to-back 5-1 wins at Prudential Center in Newark Games 1 and 2.
The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2. Game 5 is at Prudential Center on Thursday.
"Tonight was a close hockey game, but we didn't show up," Gallant said. "We didn't play hard enough. We didn't compete hard enough. All we did was yap at the linesman for getting thrown out of face-offs. A lot of bad things."
The Rangers went down 1-0 on Jack Hughes' breakaway goal at 2:50 of the first period, a bad break after they nearly scored on an Alexis Lafreniere deflection that got through Devils goalie Akira Schmid's legs.
Jonas Siegenthaler flipped the puck off the goal line with his backhand right to Hughes, who was alone in the neutral zone, white ice and goalie Igor Shesterkin in front of him.
RELATED: [Complete Devils vs. Rangers seriescoverage]
The Rangers didn't give the Devils much after that, but they didn't take anything either.
Pucks were flubbed. Passes were missed. Breakouts were a chore. Wall battles were lost.
"Offensively, not competing and doing the right things," Gallant said. "And the neutral zone again too. I mean, the first two games we chipped some pucks, we got the pressure coming across, and tonight our weakside winger was a little bit lazy and he stayed on the other side of the ice and watched the play instead of supporting it. How many times did you see us whipping pucks across and them picking them off in the middle? When you look like you're tired or a little bit lazy that's what happens. We didn't have the support in the neutral zone like we usually do."
Lazy. That's not a word used lightly.
How about this:
Was there any desperation from the Rangers to tie the game after Siegenthaler scored at 8:22 of the third period to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead?
"Didn't see it," Gallant said. "Didn't see it."
What about getting more traffic in front of Schmid, funneling more pucks at the net? That was the message after Game 3, the one adjustment the Rangers were looking to make after losing despite playing a strong game.
"It was better the last game," Gallant said.
The Rangers had 36 shots on goal and 69 total shot attempts in Game 3 and felt they should have had more and had to get more in Game 4.
They had 23 shots and 54 attempts.
"We asked for something and sometimes when you ask it doesn't happen," Gallant said. "But it was real disappointing to watch that."
Especially since the puck seemed to be bouncing off Schmid, particularly early in the game, and had the Rangers gone to the net they might have been able to get some rebound chances.
"There's some opportunities that pucks are just lying there," center Mika Zibanejad said. "We've got to be maybe more desperate in front of the net, a little bit of hunger in front of the net and just overall do a better job."
And then there's the power play, 0-for-3 with four shots on goal after going 0-for-5 with six shots in Game 3, a 2-1 overtime loss.
Gallant actually felt that was the Rangers' best area Monday.
"That was the only time they really competed I thought, and not all the time," he said. "On loose pucks we lost those battles, but when we had a chance to move it around and get some shots, I thought we did a decent job with that. But again, all the loose puck battles, reaching with hands instead of bumping people. We didn't show up well enough to win a hockey game. Even though it was close, we didn't show up well enough."
Gallant was particularly upset that the Rangers' top players seemed to struggle the most with everything listed above.
Zibanejad had one shot on goal and three total shot attempts. Artemi Panarin had two shots on goal and four attempts. He was also credited with three giveaways.
Neither Zibanejad nor Panarin have a goal in the series.
Chris Kreider, who had five goals in the first three games, four on the power play in the first two, had one shot on goal and two attempts. Adam Fox had two shots on goal, his only two attempts at the net.
Vincent Trocheck scored New York's goal at 1:42 of the third period on his only shot on goal of the game. Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko each had three shots.
Gallant even switched Trocheck and Zibanejad in the first period, changing the look of each of the top two lines.
"Trying to wake something up," he said.
It didn't work. Nothing did.
"It might not have looked like it, I think we're overworking in a few situations," Zibanejad said. "I think we're trying to do it all in one play and not just chip away and get into the game and earn our chances. When that happens, then I think we might wait for someone else to do it. We've got to get back to playing the way we played all year. We've got to trust ourselves. The way we want to play, I don't think we need to change any of that. Just reset. It's a best out of three now and we've just got to get ready."
