‘It stings’: Rangers looking for answers after blowing lead in latest loss
The New York Rangers are running out of answers after finding yet another way to lose.
Two days after being embarrassed in a 10-2 road loss to the Boston Bruins, the Rangers grabbed a two-goal lead in the first 5:31 against the Seattle Kraken at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, an NHL game is 60 minutes.
The Kraken tied the game by scoring twice early in the second period, took the lead on Berkly Catton’s goal with 7:58 remaining in the third and added an empty-netter, handing the Rangers a 4-2 loss that dropped them to 20-21-6 – including 0-3-1 since starting the new year with a 5-1 win against the Florida Panthers in the NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 2.
It was the first loss for the Rangers this season in a game they led by multiple goals, as well as the first time they lost when leading after the first period — they had been 12-0-0.
There were no smiles in a somber Rangers locker room after this one.
“It stings, obviously,” said center Mika Zibanejad, who extended his goals streak to three games and his points streak to six when he opened the scoring 3:08 into the game. “It’s not fun to lose. Trying to look for answers, trying to find answers. Maybe it doesn’t look it at times — I understand — but try to do everything we can to try to get a win.
“When you’re fragile as a group, in a way where things haven’t gone your way, I’m not standing here trying to make excuses for us but it’s trying to also explain what goes through your mind when things are not going for you. Maybe at times we’re looking at someone else to solve the problem. Four guys may be looking. That doesn’t work in this league.”
Rangers look for answers after blowing lead in loss to Kraken
Captain J.T. Miller, whose accountability outshines his on-ice performance this season, had no answers this time after the Rangers lost for the seventh time in eight games (1-5-2) since the Christmas break.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said postgame. “I mean, we’re gonna try to have a good practice tomorrow and get ready for the next game.”
That “next game” is Wednesday, when the struggling Ottawa Senators come to the Garden. After that, they go to Philadelphia for a Saturday matinee against the Flyers that precedes a three-game California trip — one that includes a back-to-back against the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings on Monday and Tuesday.
Coach Mike Sullivan said all they can do is go back to work and try to keep things simple.
“You’ve just got to keep digging in,” he said Monday night. “This game isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a hard game, and when you go through circumstances like this, my experience is that you have to try to simplify the game.
“I think that’s always part of the solution; it’s simplifying the game out there, not looking for the next play, shooting the puck more, going to the net, trying to create off the shot a little bit more, defending hard and staying in the moment. We can’t get overwhelmed by the circumstance.”
The Rangers spent most of the first period playing a north-south game that yielded two goals. They reverted to the east-west style that has marked most of their season during the final 40 minutes; it led to them being outshot 21-10 and a 10-2 margin in high-danger chances for the Kraken, according to Natural Stat Trick.
At times, their futility led the sellout crowd of 18,006 to chant “Fire Drury,” referring to general manager Chris Drury, who got a vote of confidence from owner James Dolan last week.
The Rangers aren’t helping each other enough, according to Zibanejad, and that’s led to a lack of confidence in their play
“Obviously whatever you want to say about it, but confidence is maybe not as high — and when things don’t go our way, I don’t know if we’re helping each other out as much as we should,” he explained. “From that, the execution becomes harder because you have to make a harder play and you get stretched out where you can’t defend because guys are everywhere.
“I think the intentions of battling and trying to work hard, I don’t think that’s the problem. But I think just execution. It comes down to that and helping each other out. Especially when things are not going our way, we have to be even closer.”
There’s still time for the Rangers to turn things around, but it’s getting late earlier and earlier, especially at the Garden, where they’re 5-12-4 this season.
“This is a good group of guys, and they care a lot about what’s gone on,” Sullivan said. “And when you don’t have success, nobody feels it more than us. I understand the circumstance that we’re in, but the answers are inside our locker room — and that’s where we have to look for them.”
