Rangers Recall: Jacob Trouba puts positive spin on bad night
New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba called himself out for an egregious turnover that set the tone for an awful 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night.
On the opening face-off, Trouba had the puck in his own zone looking to make a play up ice to Vincent Trocheck. Instead, he hit the skate of an oncoming Penguins’ forechecker forcing Igor Shesterkin into a save. However, Bryan Rust’s rebound was in the net just 18 seconds into the game and the Rangers failed to recover.
“Just trying to get it through,” Trouba lamented. “It’s a big mistake that cost us a big goal in the game. That can’t happen. It’s not on anybody but me. It’s something I got to be better at starting the game.”
This was only Trouba’s second game after missing 11 with a lower-body injury. Whether he’s shaking off the rust (pun intended), he refused to give himself any excuses. Since his return on Saturday, in an 8-5 win against the Arizona Coyotes, he’s registered no points and has a walloping minus-5 rating. Meanwhile, his defense partner K’Andre Miller is a minus-3.
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Rangers Recall: Jacob Trouba’s positive spin
Although the 30-year-old defenseman refused to give himself a break, his coach was more than willing to be understanding.
“Somebody comes back from injury it takes a minutes to get up to speed,” Peter Laviolette explained. “For him to say that, it’s taking responsibility for a game. I have no doubt in my mind when it comes to playoffs and we need warriors on the ice, he’ll be there in full force.”
The coach’s words have been the foundation for an extremely confident and upbeat dressing room. It’s played a large part as to why they still lead the NHL for the Presidents’ Trophy by a point over the Dallas Stars (104 to 103 points).
Despite committing the inexcusable turnover, Trouba also put a positive spin on his play.
“It’s a lot of things that are easily fixable for myself that are kind of holding the team back since my coming back,” he said. “I know I can be a better and more impactful player in a positive way on this team. That’s what I want to do moving forward.”
New York will be back in action on Wednesday against another team desperate to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The New Jersey Devils are six points behind the Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings, who are tied for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with 82 points.
The Rangers will need to match their desperation, especially if they want to win the Metropolitan Division, since the second-place Carolina Hurricanes are just three points behind with 101. One thing is for sure, to a man, they were not happy with how they played against the Penguins and it should show on the ice.
“We’re pissed off about this one,” defenseman Ryan Lindgren growled. “We’ll move on … We want to be playing good hockey and win every game we can to feel good going into the playoffs.”
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