Soft Served

Before I skewer the Rangers, I wanted to say a few words about the dismissal of Barry Trotz. While the news took a lot of people by surprise, if you examine the history of Lou Lamoriello, it really fits a pattern. In his 28 year run as President and GM of the New Jersey Devils, he fired eleven coaches, three of whom won Stanley Cups for him. Stability and loyalty are not part of his vocabulary.

But while Lamoriello certainly has the right to fire anyone he wants, Trotz was not to blame for what happened to the Islanders. The culprit here is Lou himself. As I wrote last month, "there is a staggering dearth of elite-level talent on the roster." Seriously, take away Brock Nelson, Anders Lee and Mathew Barzal and you've got the Arizona Coyotes. If anything, Trotz probably got more out of this bunch than most coaches would've been able to get. Good luck replacing him.

Now onto what happened last night in Pittsburgh.

The good news for the Rangers? They scored the first goal of the game. The bad news for the Rangers? The Penguins scored seven of the next eight.

This was a total embarrassment. Larry Brooks of The New York Post, summed it up best. The Rangers "dishonored themselves with a humiliating effort." This is eerily starting to look like a repeat of the 2016 series against the Penguins: a split in the first two games, followed by three woeful losses in which the Blueshirts were outscored 14-4.

Gerard Gallant said his team was "soft all over the ice," and called the 7-2 loss "a team effort." Somehow that word "effort" seems strangely out of place given what we witnessed on the ice. If anything, it was disheartening to watch athletes who get paid a lot of money phoning it in like this.

How bad was it? Of the five goals the Penguins scored in the second period, four of them came in under a minute: two in a span of 24 seconds at the start of the period, and two in a span of 35 seconds to close out the period. Four goals were deflections that took place without a single Ranger anywhere in sight; two directly from face-offs in the defensive zone that were cleanly won by the Pens. Igor Shesterkin should sue for abandonment.

The Penguins were allowed to skate into the defensive zone virtually unimpeded. Sidney Crosby, who was fairly contained in game three, put on a clinic in game four. When the Rangers did have the puck, which wasn't long, they were unable to establish, much less sustain, a viable forecheck. And for the second consecutive game they lost the special teams battle.

I don't wanna hear anything about playoff inexperience, or about how this team is still one of the youngest in the NHL. Artemi Panarin is 30, as is Chris Kreider; Mika Zibanejad and Ryan Strome are both 28; and Andrew Copp, Frank Vatrano and Jacob Trouba are all 27. By any standard that is hardly young. They, along with Adam Fox (23), might as well have been in the witness protection program for all the good they did last night. Indeed, the only players who put in even a modicum of effort was the kid line of Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere. It was, by far and away, Gallant's most effective line all night.

I have been a fan of this team since I was ten years old and I have never seen a lay down like this. Not even the four game sweep at the hands of the Devils in '06 comes close. That team at least had an excuse: Jaromir Jagr injured his shoulder in game one and was never the same afterwards. This team, apart from Ryan Lindgren and Barclay Goodrow, is fully healthy. They have no excuse for the way they played last night. Frankly, I was embarrassed by what I saw. Every player in that locker room should be ashamed of himself.

Consider that of the seven series that were 2-1 going into game four, the Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, St Louis Blues, Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings all took care of business and evened things up. Only the Rangers failed to win and are now on the verge of getting out their golf clubs.

The only question that remains to be answered is whether this Rangers team can summon enough pride to stave off elimination and extend the series to a game six back in Pittsburgh, or whether this improbable season will come to ignominious end. One thing is for certain: if they play like they did last night, they will be mercilessly booed off the ice.