Rangers own up to ‘sh***y feeling’ with playoff hopes just about at end
If the reality that they’re not going to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs wasn’t already settling in on the New York Rangers, it sure smacked them in the face Wednesday night.
Playing a last-place opponent and in desperate need of points in the standings, the Rangers allowed six goals in the third period and lost 8-5 to the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden.
That leaves the Rangers with no wiggle room with four games left in the season. They must win out and need the Montreal Canadiens to lose each of their remaining games in regulation. That’s New York’s only path into the postseason.
Highly unlikely, to say the least.
“It’s a shitty feeling in here for sure,” Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said postgame. “We’re hanging on by a thread at this point, but we’ll show up tomorrow and try and win a game. That’s pretty much all we can do right now.”
If the Rangers (36-35-7) lose in any fashion Thursday to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena, their season is over.
It’s hard to believe, but not long ago the Rangers held sole possession of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. However, they’ve lost three in a row and are 3-7-1 in their past 11 games, all while the Canadiens righted themselves to win six in a row.
That’s a bad combination for the Rangers.
“We haven’t really helped ourselves, let’s be honest. We’ve been given some chances,” Mika Zibanejad said. “I felt like it was in our hands, still, take care of the games we had. We haven’t been able to do that, and that’s why we’re in this position … It’s frustrating.”
The Rangers’ meltdown against the Flyers embodied their struggles as of late. J.T. Miller gave New York a 4-3 lead with their second straight goal at 7:01 of the third period; they had the game in their hands, and all the Rangers had to do was finish strong, close it out.
They did the opposite. The Flyers scored one minute later, part of three straight goals to flip the Rangers’ one-goal lead into a two-goal deficit with less than five minutes to play. Chris Kreider scored to bring New York within one at 18:10, but it was too little too late. Philadelphia put the game away with two empty-netters.
It’s a stark turnaround for New York. On April 15 of last season, the Rangers clinched the Presidents’ Trophy for being the top team in the NHL regular season, finishing with a franchise-record 114 points. As of April 10 this year, the Rangers are on the verge of being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
“I’m trying to come up with something else to say, I just feel like I repeat myself every time we have these [media] scrums after a loss. Today, it’s just not good enough, obviously,” Zibanejad said in frustrated fashion.
Related: Jonathan Quick, Mika Zibanejad among winners, losers from lates distasteful Rangers defeat
Rangers will ‘play for pride’ down stretch even if eliminated
Even if there’s no point in holding on to the playoffs pipe dream, all the Rangers can do at this point in the season is try to finish on a positive note.
First up are the Islanders (34-32-11), who are also moving closer to elimination. A regulation victory for the Rangers would put the Islanders on the brink of elimination as well. With little to play for, the chance at playing spoiler for a rival should be enough to get the Rangers up for the game on Long Island. Though, of course, the Islanders have the same motivation.
Unsurprisingly, Will Cuylle, the reigning Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award winner, plans to play hard right through Game 82 no matter what.
“It’s an honor to wear the Ranger jersey every night, Cuylle explained. “Whether that’s the last game of the season that doesn’t really matter for standings or a Stanley Cup Final, you gotta approach it all the same way, play with pride.”
Cuylle still has something personally meaningful to play for; the 23-year-old forward currently holds the record for most hits in a season in Rangers history. He entered Wednesday night tied with Ryan Callahan at 285, then laid five hits on the Flyers to set the new record. With four games remaining, Cuylle can make a push for 300 on the season. He’s also two goals shy of 20, a nice-round number if he can reach it in his second NHL season.
Unlike some of his teammates, Cuylle can be reasonably confident that he’ll be back with the Rangers next season. But the reality of change also hovers over the Rangers in the final days of this season.
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