Two Straight Embarrassing Losses For the Blueshirts

In looking at the New York Rangers schedule from December 6 through December 9, the team’s fans were probably more than excited.

The fans looked at the schedule and saw games against the Pittsburgh Penguins (December 6), Seattle Kraken (December 8), and the league’s worst team, the Chicago Blackhawks (December 9). These three clubs are not in playoff spots and are teams that the Rangers should beat, right?

Fast-forward to Monday night, December 9, and the team’s record in those three games was 1-2. After beating the Penguins 4-2 on Friday Night, the Blueshirts lost to the Kraken on Sunday afternoon, 7-5, and then to the Blackhawks on Monday night, 2-1.

The team’s two straight losses are alarming for a few reasons. For starters, there were miscues all over the ice.

This has been a common theme for the Rangers this year: players not being in the right position to break up plays in the defensive zone, not being able to pick up the open man in their own end, or not being able to get their sticks in front of the opposition’s shots.

In their 7-5 loss to the Kraken on Sunday afternoon, they were in a poor position on every one of the Kraken’s goals. Yes, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said they were in the right position, but why did the Kraken score all of those goals if that was the case?

What is also alarming is the Rangers’ lack of energy at important moments of the game. For example, the Rangers had a 3-1 lead over the Kraken and controlled the game.

For whatever reason, the team took its foot off the gas and fell into old habits. They lost their positioning, left their goaltender, Jonathan Quick, out to dry, and looked like a lost team on the ice.

The same can be said of their play against the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are in last place in the league. Instead of doing everything they could to run them out of the building, the Rangers played softly, were lazy, and even outshot 32-30. This means that the game could have been worse had it not been for some solid play from their goaltender, Igor Shesterkin.

Lastly, while it is nice that the team is trying to stay positive in postgame interviews and say all the right things, actions speak louder than words. If the team were truly trying to fix things and get back on track, they would show their fans and the rest of the league. They’d improve their positioning, limit shots against, take away scoring chances and play more urgently.

The Rangers have yet to show any of those things. This team is flawed, and for whatever reason, both the team and Laviolette have not been able to find solutions to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

If the Rangers are not able to turn things around quickly, it will be late, very early.