Rangers coach disgusted with everything after brutal loss: ‘Got what we deserved’
Peter Laviolette didn’t need much time to air how disgusted he was with the New York Rangers performance Saturday in a brutal 8-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center in their first game after the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
The Rangers coach spoke with the media postgame for all of 90 seconds. In that short span, he found a way to express his anger and disappointment with every aspect of his team’s performance.
“We weren’t good as a team and we got what we deserved,” he said.
The Sabres scored 1:46 into the game and then blitzed the Rangers for four more goals later in the period putting the visitors in a 5-0 hole at the first intermission. It was stunning to see a team fighting for its playoff life be so uncompetitive coming off a two-week break and against the team with the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
“It wasn’t good,” Laviolette said. “There was nothing that was good about the game. Terrible start, terrible first period. It didn’t get much better from there. It was not the game we were looking for coming out of the break. That’s it in a nutshell.”
Igor Shesterkin returned not only from the break but from an upper-body injury and didn’t make it through the first period. He allowed five goals on 16 shots in fewer than 19 minutes. Laviolette refused to discuss Shesterkin’s performance individually, focusing more on the collective mess the Rangers were.
“There’s systems to the game, there’s details to the game, there’s execution with the puck. There’s also speed to the game, compete,” Laviolette explained. “There’s a lot of things that needed to be elevated to a much higher level. And like I said, they weren’t.
Related: Rangers must pay pending RFA K’Andre Miller on track record, not potential
Peter Laviolette wants Rangers to be ‘more determined group’
This is the second time in the past three games when Laviolette was so disgusted that he cut short his postgame session with reporters. He also did so Feb. 7 after an unacceptable 3-2 loss at home to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were playing without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin that night.
In a touch of irony, the Rangers try to rebound Sunday when they visit the Penguins in Pittsburgh.
Laviolette juggled line combinations against the Sabres and could do so again against the Penguins. But unless reinforcements are brought up from Hartford in the American Hockey League, Laviolette only has forward Jimmy Vesey or rookie defenseman Matthew Robertson at his disposal to move into the lineup Sunday. Neither is hardly a difference maker.
Shesterkin could get the start again, since he played so few minutes Sunday. That’s the likely call considering how Shesterkin historically bounces back well from poor starts, though not as well this season it should be pointed out.
The Rangers enter Sunday 11th in the Eastern Conference, four points out of the second wild card with 26 games to play.
The Penguins are also coming off a brutal loss, losing to the Washington Capitals at home 8-3 on Saturday. They are next to last in the conference. On paper, this should be a soft landing spot for New York. Then again, so, too, should have been the game Saturday in Buffalo.
“This is not going to get us where we need to go,” Laviolette summed up. “We have to digest this tonight. We’ve got to wake up [Sunday] and be a determined group.”
More About:New York Rangers News