Rangers forward breaks down outlook for final 5 games of season: ‘It sucks to be in this position’
Jonny Brodzinski is an anomaly on the New York Rangers. On a roster full of players who’ve underperformed this season, Brodzinski is the rare case of one who’s exceeded expectations and earned a regular role in the lineup lately.
The 31-year-old forward also is a straight shooter — and he didn’t sugarcoat their situation for the final five games of the regular season following a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
“I think we just need to win out now. It’s no longer kind of a waiting it out kind of thing where we win a game and wait to see what they [the Montreal Canadiens] do. We have to win out and we need some help, too,” Brodzinski explained. “It sucks to be in this position. None of us wanted to be in it. It definitely sucks.”
The loss left the Rangers (36-34-7) six points behind the Canadiens for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference — and it’s now eight points after Montreal downed the visiting Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday night. The Rangers host the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday and visit the Islanders at UBS Arena on Thursday.
Brodzinski’s not kidding when he says the Rangers need to win out, which would get them to 89 points, and then need help. Montreal’s magic number is three — any combination of three points earned by the Canadiens or lost by the Rangers will eliminate the Blueshirts.
It’s a far cry from where the Rangers were a year ago at the time — surging toward the postseason with the most wins (55) and points (114) in franchise history. Moreover, that was a resilient team which consistently fought back to overcome deficits and adversity.
In other words, the exact opposite of the current Rangers.
“Last year, we’d be going into the third periods down two, three goals and we were coming back to win those games,” Brodzinski noted. “That’s the difference between last year and this year. Bottom line is just putting pucks in the net.”
Well, it’s more than that. But, yes, the Rangers are 17th in scoring this season (2.97 goals per game) and were seventh last season (3.39). Their power play dropped from third in the NHL in 2023-24 (26.4 percent) to 27th this season (17.4 percent).
But it’s how the Rangers appear to fold that’s most worrisome. They are very fragile collectively. Monday, they allowed three goals in a span of 1:45 in the first period. A scoreless game turned into a 3-0 deficit for the Rangers in an eye blink. The game before it was two goals given up in 1:27 against the New Jersey Devils. Scoreless to down two. Lights out each time.
Here are some numbers to chew on: The Rangers are the only team in the NHL not to overcome a multiple-goal deficit and win at least one game this season. Also, they have surrendered multiple goals in less than two minutes 23 times. That’s sixth-most in the NHL — and the other five teams are out of the playoff race.
Related: 3 Rangers takeaways from latest loss, including 1st period meltdown against Lightning
Artemi Panarin admits Rangers truth: ‘This year, everything is harder for us’
Maybe it’s the ignorance of youth. Or perhaps Will Cuylle is just a really positive guy. The 23-year-old forward was trying to sound optimistic after the loss Monday, but he did share some similar thoughts to Brodzinski’s.
“We need to win games. We need to get two points every game,” Cuylle stated. “You never know what can happen in the standings. Obviously, it’s tough right now where we are, but we’re not mathematically eliminated by any means.”
Artemi Panarin, who rarely speaks with the media, said ” no one gives up and tries every minute.”
That may be true, but there are times when it doesn’t look that way.
“It’s terrible … If we keep playing like that, we’re going to miss the playoffs,” Panarin said.
New York’s leading scorer then added, with a nod to last season, “This year, everything is harder for us. In both zones, O-zone, D-zone.”
Yes, he would be correct on that front. Nothing looks easy for the Rangers this season. As a result, nothing comes easy for them. But when they need to overcome this, they don’t. It’s a massive difference from how they handled adversity last season.
Coach Peter Laviolette is out of answers right now. That much is clear.
This was his latest stab at it in his brief postgame presser Monday.
“We needed to win a game tonight and we didn’t win,” Laviolette explained simply. “There’s been a lot of that throughout the course of the year.”
Yes. Yes there has.
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