Rangers must ‘learn how to win’ as they head west after OT loss to Sharks
It’s probably a good thing for the New York Rangers that they’re heading to Western Canada and Seattle for their next four games.
The Rangers finished October with no wins in five games at Madison Square Garden after an embarrassing 6-5 overtime loss to the previously winless (anywhere) San Jose Sharks. The Blueshirts (3-4-2) weren’t ready to play when the puck was dropped for the opening face-off, allowed goals in the final 10 seconds of the first and second periods, and ultimately lost on Will Smith’s goal at 1:38 of OT.
Rest assured they won’t be listening to “Baby Shark” on that flight to Calgary for a date with the Flames on Sunday.
The Rangers did score five goals, four more than they’d managed in their first four home games combined. The problem was that they gave up six, more than they’d surrendered (not counting empty-netters) in their five previous games at The Garden combined. The 0-4-1 start at MSG marks the second time in team history the Rangers are winless in their first five home games; the other was 1943-44, when a World War II-depleted team was 6-39 with five ties.
“We obviously have to learn how to win,” an understandably unhappy coach Mike Sullivan said after watching his team get torched by San Jose’s kiddie corps. Smith, a teammate of Gabe Perreault, the Rangers’ top prospect, at Boston College, had two goals and two assists but played second fiddle to Celebrini, who had a hat trick and two assists. A third “kid,” William Eklund, had three assists.
Perhaps most galling to Sullivan were the goals scored by Celebrini with nine seconds left in the first period and six seconds remaining in the second. The one at the end of the middle period derailed the momentum of a three-goal burst that put the Rangers ahead 4-3.
“It’s just a lack of awareness, situational play, managing the game the right way,” Sullivan explained. “Controlling those situations is how you win.”
The Rangers hung goalie Igor Shesterkin out to dry for much of the game. Unfortunately, they did it on a night when No. 31 was OK but nowhere near as good as he had been in his first six starts.
“It was just unacceptable,” defenseman Adam Fox said of his team’s performance. “We got better as it went along, but we can’t come out like that and expect to win. And I don’t know, maybe we underestimated them as a team, but we got what we deserved.”
Rangers head west after embarrassing OT loss to Sharks
The Rangers could have written off a couple of their early losses to tremendous play by an opposing goaltender. But they were outplayed badly in the opening period of a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Monday, then negated a hat trick by Taylor Raddysh by playing easily their worst defensive game of the season Thursday.
Were these games a wakeup call?
“It should be,” Sullivan said. “It should be because I look at our last two outings and that’s not the game that we want to put on the ice every night that we think will give us a chance to win, that’s for sure. You can’t play two thirds of the game or half of the game and think you’re going to win consistently. The last two games that’s what we did.
“I thought we played hard. We didn’t play smart.”
Captain J.T. Miller was equally direct
“Just not good enough,” he said. “Not the identity we’re trying to build here.”
Forward Mika Zibanejad, who scored a power-play goal that triggered the three-goal second period, said their best offensive game on home ice this season meant nothing.
“We didn’t win, so it doesn’t really matter right?” he said.
Having lost to the team that entered the night last in the 32-team league, they’ll play the new bottom-feeder when they visit the Flames after a two-day break. The Flames (1-6-1) have an NHL-low 19 goals and haven’t won since rallying for a 4-3 shootout victory against the Edmonton Oilers on opening night. It’s another must-win game for the Rangers against a team that’s still looking for answers.
After that, they play every other day next week, visiting the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, the Oilers on Thursday and the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
The good news is that the Rangers are 3-0-1 on the road this season. They hope to continue that Road Warrior success and bring it back to MSG, when they host the first-place Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 4.
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