Rangers legend Mark Messier was already saying the team was playing “too careful” and “too conservative,” and that was before the Blueshirts dropped Game 1 to the Panthers.
The 3-0 loss on Wednesday night surely won’t change his opinion that the Rangers need to put Matt Rempe back in the lineup for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday night back at Madison Square Garden.
Speaking during the second intermission on ESPN, Messier explained why the Rangers needed to insert the popular bruiser back into the lineup.
“They gotta get themselves emotional,” Messier started to say. “Maybe they should think about having [Matt] Rempe in the lineup. … I’m not questioning the coach, but I am saying he does get in on the forecheck. He does ground and pound. He does get the crowd involved and the players seem to follow that kind of mindset.
“Right now they’re playing, in my opinion, they’re a little too careful.”
The Rangers had not played since Thursday night, when they defeated the Hurricanes to advance to the conference final, and they looked like it for most of the game on Tuesday.
The Blueshirts were limited to 12 shots during the first two periods of the game and gave up an own goal in the third that essentially eviscerated any hope of a late-game comeback.
Rangers’ Game 1 loss to the Panthers. NHLI via Getty Images
“I think we feel like we have better in us and I think first and foremost we look at ourselves and what we have to do better. There’s room for, not improvement, but to raise our level,” Mika Zibanejad told reporters.
The ugly night was the first time the Rangers had been shut out at home dating back to the first round of the playoffs in 2016, when the Penguins defeated them 5-0 in Game 5 of that series.