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Game of the Week preview: Rangers need to find their offense fast

New York Rangers v Washington Capitals

<> Washington Capitals New York Rangers at the Verizon Center on February 25, 2011 in Washington, DC.

Rob Carr

The Rangers at one point in early January appeared to be poised to go on a tear that would see them emerge as championship threats in the Eastern Conference. They had won four out of five games and were building off a 1-0 win over Vancouver. Things were looking well for the Rangers and with Marian Gaborik then returning to the lineup to help them score more often, the positives were booming.

Of course, all good plans never quite play out the way you hope they will and for the Rangers, the offense never arrived. Gaborik came and then went out of the lineup again with a concussion but his offensive impact was never felt while he was in. The rest of the Rangers, including new arrival Wojtek Wolski, haven’t filled the net with goals and with that Henrik Lundqvist’s ability to win games has been tested. Lundqvist has to be flawless virtually every night for New York to win games.

The Rangers have fallen as far down as eighth in the Eastern Conference but are currently seventh. They’re just one point ahead of Carolina in eighth two points ahead of 9th place Buffalo. With Toronto and New Jersey streaking in behind them, things could get dicey.

Finding it hard to believe? You shouldn’t.

Since beating Vancouver on January 13th, the Rangers have gone 8-13-1 since then. In those 22 games the Rangers have been as offensively dismal as you’d think. In their eight wins, they’re averaging 3.875 goals per game. In the NHL scoring nearly four per game with Henrik Lundqvist in goal should win you plenty of games. In those 14 losses, however, the offense puts out an average of 1.642 goals per game. Scoring either one or two goals a game is extremely poor and even the greatest goalie in the world would have a hard time making that stand up night in and night out.

Seems like these are obvious observations to make, more goals mean more wins and the like, but the inability of the Rangers to generate offense during this run of games lately is startling. Only seven times over that 22 game span did the Rangers score more than two goals. They had two games that were runaway blowouts, a 7-0 thrashing of Toronto in January and their 6-0 romp over Washington just last week. Everything else has been a nail-biter and coming back from deficits is a major problem for the Rangers.

With the supply of offensive talent the team has in Brandon Dubinsky (in the midst of a career scoring year), rookie Derek Stepan who’s had a lot asked of him in his first season, Ryan Callahan, and Wolski there shouldn’t be these problems. The Rangers have been getting the defensive responsibility that John Tortorella demands of all his players, but the lack of fire on the offensive side is troubling.

Gaborik may be back soon for New York as he’s been skating without concussion symptoms for a few days now. If he can jump back in the lineup and get his touch back scoring that’s been absent for most of the season then it’s the thing the Rangers have been dying to get from him all year.

If he continues to be out and they don’t get improved performances from Vinny Prospal and Wolski this Rangers team will continue to struggle and that playoff spot they thought was automatic just a month ago might turn into a battle that goes down to the last day. Considering how things went down last season, the Rangers would be happy to not let it get to that again. If the wins don’t come more consistently, they may not have a choice in the matter.