It is now just silly.
Rooting for a New York Rangers team, of any era or year, is the most frustrating course of action.
There is never a time that one can relax and just watch a game and not think about the loss that is to come. They are the New York Giants of the NHL.
On Friday Frederik Andersen started his ninth straight game and made 19 saves in a relatively easy 6-3 win for the Toronto Maple Leafs in New York.
William Nylander broke out of a slump with goals for the Leafs.
For good measure, Mitchell Marner added two of his own to the sheet.
“We’ve seen progress for sure, and I like that,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Even at times when it hasn’t looked the greatest we’re still seeing progress. Today was a different type of game. We score early again and the game gets away from us. It’s even going to the third period, then we get the lead and I thought we did a good job of taking care of it, so there’s progress and that’s really what you’re looking for.”
Progress, that’s a word or characteristic that eludes the Rangers’ franchise.
The Rangers have lost three straight, 0-2-1.
“This league can be streaky and we don’t get a point in our last two games, all of a sudden you spiral a little bit,” Rangers head coach David Quinn said. “We’ve got to be ready to play on Sunday afternoon [against the Anaheim Ducks].”
There’s nothing sneaky about the NHL, lose and you drop in the standings like a rock while all around you win.
Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchnevich and Brady Skjei kept the Rangers in the game through the second period, but the Leafs scored three times i the third to erase any good feelings from the first 40 minutes.
“We didn’t have the right mindset coming into the third period,” the Rangers’ Marc Staal said.
Sorry, but how the hell is that an answer?
“We’ve been a good third-period team this year and we certainly weren’t tonight,” Quinn said. “So as I stand here in front of you it’s tough to like anything about our game tonight.”
There is no push back from this team.
“I just thought our attention to detail against this team really was poor,” Quinn said. “Just really sloppy. Not recognizing situations, turnovers, really playing east-west more so than we have been lately. In my mind one of our poor performances in a while.”
Poor, sloppy, disengaged, listless, take your pick.
Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev also scored for Toronto.
[WATCH:Â All Maple Leafs vs. Rangers highlights]
Alexandar Georgiev, the Rangers best goalie, made 34 saves in the loss.
“I’m frustrated,” Georgiev said. “A couple goals in the third, I need to be better on those. I’m just frustrated about that.”
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