PITTSBURGH – The cliche ‘a win is a win’ almost always applies, but it doesn’t feel right for the Rangers.
Not for a team that gave up eight goals in an embarrassing loss on the first night of a back-to-back slate, only to follow it up with a slow-starting empty-net abetted 5-3 win over the Penguins that they were more than lucky to come away with after getting outshot 38-16 Sunday evening at PPG Paints Arena.
A 60-minute inspired and hard-fought defeat may have even been more preferable.
The cliche ‘beggars can’t be choosers,’ on the other hand, certainly does apply to this Blueshirts team.
Splitting their first two games after the 4 Nations Face-off break, 1-1, should hardly matter to the Rangers hierarchy that watched the team get destroyed in Buffalo and barely escape Pittsburgh with a win over the last-place club in the Metropolitan Division.
These first games out of the break were always going to be about assessing where the Rangers are truly at and game planning for the trade deadline.
Almost nothing about the Rangers’ first two performances, however, should incite president and general manager Chris Drury to make moves in the name of winning the Stanley Cup this season.
