Rangers star said what (!) after shameful home-ice loss to Flames?
There’s really not any excuse for the New York Rangers shameful no-show against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night at Madison Garden. In a disappointing season full of poor performances, New York’s 2-1 loss at home to Calgary was among its worst, if not right at the top.
The effort was so bad that Rangers coach Peter Laviolette conceded after the game that “[the compete] was not there. There was nothing there.”
That’s a damning statement from the coach about his team.
And it makes the shocking postgame comment from Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad stand out even more.
“I don’t care if we play like that and we win. If we lose and we play like that, it’s not acceptable,” Zibanejad told reporters.
Wait, what?
Don’t care if you and your teammates put forth an uncompetitive effort? That’s OK, as long as somehow you win?
That seems pretty tone deaf considering how rightfully furious the paying customers were at MSG on Tuesday.
Effort is the one thing players can control. Outcomes? Not so much. But effort? You bet that’s in their control. And the Rangers didn’t compete nearly enough against the Flames. Just as the coach stated.
So, no, the result doesn’t justify the means if you win — which they almost did, thanks to the heroic one-man performance by goalie Igor Shesterkin.
Now, to be fair, Zibanejad did lay out all the areas where the Rangers were deficient Tuesday in his postgame meeting with the media. He was often spot on in his assessment of why the hungry Flames were like pit bulls and the Rangers played with passive resistance.
But to even suggest a half-hearted effort is OK as long as you win is not the path to take.
Perhaps the alternate captain meant that the Rangers could live with a poor showing as long as they snag two points in an ultra-tight Eastern Conference playoff race. His comment still misses the mark but does provide some context, if that’s what he meant. All we can go by is the words he chose.
Related: Winners (hello, Igor!), losers (everyone else in blue) from Rangers atrocious 2-1 loss to Flames
Rangers star believes lates painful defeat ‘on us’
The Rangers managed 13 shots on goal all night. They had 11 giveaways and not a single takeaway in the first period. Scoring chances were 35-17 in favor of the Flames, the lowest-scoring team in the NHL. High-danger chances were 16-6 Calgary, per Natural Stat Trick.
It was embarrassing.
“No execution. I thought we were slow. I think we got away from the things that we did well in the previous games. We were just slow executing, slow moving the puck, slow getting open,” Zibanejad explained. “We’re just standing still in the neutral zone, we get pucks deep, we have one guy going. Just break it out, very, very easy. We can’t get anything going and that’s on us.”
Zibanejad’s teammate Artemi Panarin, who scored his 30th goal 1:13 into the game, was asked if anyone other than Shesterkin came to play Tuesday.
“Uhhh, probably not,” he replied.
Zibanejad was tossed a softball question about if the Rangers can feel good about showing some signs of life in the third period, when, it should be noted, they recorded five shots on goal trailing 2-1. To his credit, he swatted any positive notion away.
“I don’t think we had that good of a push in the third either,” Zibanejad said.
Their loss coupled with the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators dropped the Rangers out of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers trail the Canadiens by one point, but Montreal has two games in hand.
It was that kind of night for the Rangers.
“It’s concerning for any time of year when you don’t play a game that you’re proud of,” Laviolette said. “It was not a good showing.”
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