Rangers’ power outage threatens to spoil a good start

NEW YORK, NY – How many times in sports has it been said that for want of a few runs or TD’s or goals the season might have been so much different?
A 6-0-2 start to the NHL season has been washed away with a mediocre offense that has failed to pressure the opposition since early December. The offense is scoring just north of 2.0 goals a game, good enough to rank near the bottom of the NHL. Things are not all bad though for the blueshirts. In the off season the Rangers picked up the much maligned Nikolai Zherdev from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Zherdev sparkled on the ice as soon as he skated for his new club. The Blue

Jackets were pleased to send Zherdev packing, and the Rangers’ GM Glenn Sather was just as pleased to pick him up. His early season success in putting the puck in the net has tailed off dramatically, but Zherdev leads the club in points with 13 goals and 28 assists. His play-making ability has been solid throughout the season, if not his goal scoring touch. The bigger disappointment on the offensive side has been the captain, Chris Drury, who has 15 goals and 32 points on the season. It has been one drought after another for Drury, and his offense will need to be found quickly before the Rangers find themselves in a late season tailspin. Markus Naslund leads the team in goals with a paltry 16, one better than Drury, but six better than Scott Gomez, an equally disappointing forward this season. On defense, the Rangers spent major cap space on Wade Redden, who came over from the Ottawa Senators. After a dismal 2007-08 season with the Senators, it was thought that a change in scenery would improve Redden’s numbers and play.Well, someone needs to find Redden a better motivator. Redden is a -8 in plus/minus on the season, and has not held up on his end of the ice. The one place the Rangers remain strong is in net, obviously. Henrik Lundqvist and Steve Valiquette have been exceptional at times, and just great the rest of the season. Lundqvist has two shutouts on the season and Valiquette has one. But as the analogy goes, unless the goalies get some support, it will be hard to win anything this season let alone a bright, shiny Stanley Cup. The team’s recent 5-game losing streak (004-1) left them near the 7th spot in the east.  A shootout win at home over the Capitals kept them in the 5th seed. Contact the author at lm.davis@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer at lisa.murphywood@prohockeynews.com.