Back To Back Shutouts!

The powerhouse New York Rangers followed up Saturday's 1-0 shootout loss to Boston with a 1-0 loss to Pittsburgh tonight! In fact, I just checked and in addition to having been shut out 3 times already in their first 8 games now, they've only scored in 6 of the 24 periods (not counting the 5:00 Overtime period in Saturday's game, during which they also tallied zero goals)! How could the team possibly have fallen this far from how they finished in the Spring (both the regular season and playoffs)? This is extraordinary!

And also of interest are the "next games" for teams that have beaten them recently. After their 2-1 win over NYR a couple weeks ago, the Islanders proceeded to get smoked by Toronto to the tune of 8-1! So the Rangers struggled to net a single goal over 60 minutes, and then the Leafs put 8 of them behind the Islander netkeeper! Similarly, Boston's impressive shutout on the weekend was followed up last night by a 6-1 loss to the Habs!! And finally, after the Thrashers earned their first win (against 6 losses) by beating the Rangers 5-3 (a veritable explosion of goals by the boys from New York, although they all came in the 3rd period, after Atlanta had gotten up 4-0), the lowly Thrashers proceeded to lose 6-2 to the Lightning! Notice a pattern there, anyone?

I suppose a better fan than me would take solace from the total of 1 goal given up over the past 2 games - which is admittedly something - but I'm sorry: if you can only keep the GAA down by not scoring any goals yourself, then you're going to spend the entire season in the basement, like they're well on their way to doing! This 2-5-1 start is beginning to look a lot like how the team played between 1997 and 2004, when it missed the playoffs seven straight years. Someone stop the bleeding!