A Saturday afternoon in Boston will be no walk in the park for the Rangers.
But they had better not be "walking" through the motions against a Bruins team that's virtually asking to be beaten.
The Beantowners 6-2 loss last night in Winnipeg proves that – new coach and all that – we're talking about a club that's falling apart like a wet Kleenex.
"There's been inner turmoil on the Bruins," says The Old Scout, "but the same thing is happening to the Rangers."
Finger-pointing from New York home town broadcasters cannot be ignored. Certainly not when slip-sliding Mika Zibanejad and sloppy Breadman Panarin are the overpriced culprits.
After Panarin blew a first-minute play against Carolina one local broadcaster said, "Get him off the ice."
Meanwhile, coach Peter Laviolette has stubbornly kept Mika on the power play despite week after week of failure.
"It's a measure of where the team is now that the best line is the fourth line," says Blue Collar Blue Line columnist Sean McCaffrey, "while the highest-paid forwards are atrocious."
That said, the Rangers still are smack in the playoff race with plenty of hockey to be played between now and April. Author hockey-critic Alan Greenberg is hopeful.
"This team is too good not to make the playoffs," says Greenberg. "It's essentially the same team that captured the Presidents' Trophy last year."
Greenberg rates Laviolette, "OK as a coach but not great. A recycled coach is good for a year until the players stop listening."
Drury as GM?
"He's made some horrendous deals and non deals," Greenberg adds. "Goodrow, Trouba and Kakko were an embarrassment. More important were deals he didn't make.
"He needs to take a lesson from Florida's GM Bill Zito on how to take a Presidents' Trophy team and make it into a Stanley Cup team."
What's ironic is that – despite non-Vezina numbers -- Igor Shesterkin has not failed his club in goal. He's simply not getting adequate protection nor – as the Canes game proved – goals.
Greenberg: "I hope Drury can pull the trigger on some grit players at the Trade Deadline."
Who knows? One of those grit guys still could be J.T. Miller of Vancouver.
"I'll only want J.T.," McCaffrey concludes, "if Zibanejad goes the other way!" A win in Boston and the Rangers could be back on the right way!
