The King Chokes In 4-3 Loss To The Blues

Rangers goalie #30 Henrik "The King" Lundqvist has been playing horrible in close games this season.

Henrik managed to allow 4 goals on the first 13 shots he faced in the game as New York went on to lose by a score of 4 to 3.

This picture belongs to ESPN.com

Right off the bat you have to take in how talented H. Lundqvist is that is something that can never be ignored.

There has been many times that this man has been dominant in games, but for some reason he manages to always lose the big games.

Look at tonight not every goal was his fault he made some excellent saves, but he has to always let the puck past him when the game is on the line.

It has to be frustrating when you are in a tight game you do everything you can to tie it then your goalie lets in the go ahead goal within minutes.

Its great to have ability but you have to know when to get tough, and when you give up goals in key spots like that then you are only going to bring your team down.

It is sad for me to have to write all of that about a goalie that I have been cheering for since he arrived to the NHL.

Every part of me hopes that he can get it together and be clutch because as far as talent goes he may be in the top 3 of the league.

When you have a team that doesn't have very many goal scorers and they put out 3 goals before the end of the 2nd period, then you have to do a better job if you want to have a slot in the playoffs.

Personally I know it sounds crazy because of how talented Henrik is but tonight was a night that I would have yanked him after he allowed the 3rd goal.

You have to light a fire under your start players especially if you want to get things rolling as a unit.

Another coaching mistake that I saw from Head Coach John Tortorella that has been present throughout the season is his fixation with keeping the captain #23 Chris Drury out there majority of the game.

New York had a major advantage with a 5 on 3 power play to kick off the 3rd period and for whatever reason #17 Brandon Dubinsky, and #16 Sean Avery rode the bench the entire time while Chris Drury did nothing but clog up space.

When you have a two man advantage and your unable to get a real shot off then that means that the 5 players you had out there the whole time do not click together.

You cannot have 3 guys looking to set up a play while Chris Drury stands in front of the goalie and misses the net by 40 feet any time the puck reaches his stick.

Its simple knowledge Brandon is having one of the better seasons of his short career while C. Drury is on the decline fast.

The referees once again were not much help which I'm sure is never a shock to any New York Ranger fan out there.

The first mistake I noticed tonight was right before St Louis scored their 3rd goal of the game on the power play an obvious penalty that should have resulted in New York's favor was missed.

Rangers #24 Ryan Callahan was help for at least 4 to 5 seconds behind his own net which would eventually turn the play to the other end where the Blues would score less than a minute later.

Now if the officials are doing their job then the power play would have been over and we would have gotten to see some 4 on 4 Hockey.

Who knows if that penalty is called then New York could have won the game.

During the 2nd period there was a spot where the Rangers had a wide open net if not for a very quick whistle which seems to happen a lot.

One to many times this year I've seen an official stop play with a quick whistle I know you are trying to protect the goal tenders, but you have to do a better job of being aware of your surroundings.

As a professional there job is to get in the best position that they can and for some reason unlike other sports they get it wrong more times than not.

In the 3rd period as it grew closer and closer to the end the moment the Rangers gave up the go ahead goal to make the game 4-3 they were penalized for one of the worst calls I've ever seen.

#6 Wade Redden who was playing like his old self scoring his first goal in over 58 games, got a bad break has he made absolutely no contact on the play, and this was another example of how poor the referees have been.

#10 Marian Gaborik as usual found the back of the net in the game for his 37th goal in his first season as a Ranger combing with his two assists for a 3 point night.

R. Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky have been two players that have really flourished at the higher level both coming up from the Hartford Wolfpac years ago.

Ryan Callahan again stands out to me in another hard working performance, there seems to be no quit in this guy.

Ryan scored his 19th goal coming close to the 22 that he scored at the end of the 2008-09 season.

On the other hand B. Dubinsky is having a career year with 16 goals as he had to deal with a family tragedy before the year kicked off as well as having to recover from a broken hand.

It would have been nice to see Brandon out there when New York had the 5 on 3 advantage, there is nobody who can tell me that right now at this time he is not a better player than Chris Drury.

Sean Avery is another hard worker who plays his hardest game after game, and never sees even close to the amount of time that he deserves on the power play.

Sean is another player who could have belonged in that slot over C. Drury, if you are going to argue with me on who has been the better Ranger then you have no brain.

As inconsistent as S. Avery's numbers have been this year overall if you take his stay in New York compared to the captain's then he comes out on top by far.

Sean has 93 points in 168 career games as a Ranger which is by no means impressive, but he has been a big part of a lot of huge wins in his 2 stints in New York.

Chris is a player who is supposed to provide you with a lot of offense along with being one of the higher paid players on the team, and he never does anything with the puck.

I am sick of watching him stay in front of the net and fail to get a shot through, at least if you put Sean Avery on the power play unit you know he will get the puck on net.

It doesn't matter how pretty it is as long as you get shots on goal that is key when you have the opposing team on the pk unit.

Time is running out for New York they do not have a lot left and will have to get it together quickly as they will have to travel to Boston to take on the Bruins at 12:30 pm eastern time for a Sunday afternoon game.