3 Rangers takeaways after 4th straight loss to close out 2024
This is where we are now with the New York Rangers. We judge their losses on degrees of how poorly — or not so — they played.
Such is the case with their latest defeat, 5-3 to the Florida Panthers on Monday at Amerant Bank Arena. They closed out calendar year 2024 with a fourth consecutive loss, their seventh in eight games and 15th in 19 (4-15-0).
This was one was different from most of the others in the past two months. The Rangers (16-19-1) competed hard, had a 62 percent expects goals share 5v5, per Natural Stat Trick, were excellent on the penalty kill and actually controlled play for large swaths of this game against their nemesis and defending Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers.
It was the second straight game — and loss — when the Rangers could take away positives, following a weird 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning out of the holiday break on Saturday.
“It’s a lost four points on this trip, so it’s not that positive,” Filip Chytil said postgame. “We have another day tomorrow and we play a game in three days, so we’ve got to focus on that now.”
The calendar flips to 2025 midnight Tuesday. There are positives to take from this latest loss. The Boston Bruins are next on Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Perhaps, the tide is turning.
But that’s what this season has come down to right now. Rating defeats, instead of counting wins and points, and looking ahead to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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3 takeaways from Rangers 5-3 loss to Panthers
Here are three takeaways from the Rangers loss on Monday.
1. Flying Fil
This kind of sums up how things are going for the Rangers these days. Chytil was far and away their best forward against the Panthers, generating prime scoring chances, playing with purpose, noticeable on each shift. But he finished minus-2 and was on ice for three of Florida’s five goals, including the game-winner by Jesper Boqvist in the third period.
But to accentuate the positive here, Chytil was flying Monday, pushing the puck up ice, a consistent threat off the rush, as well as a workhorse down low in the offensive zone. The 25-year-old hit the crossbar on a breakaway and was denied by Sergei Bobrovsky off an early 2-on-1 rush. He had an NHL career-high seven shots on goal.
And he scored his first goal in seven games, seventh of the season. He started the second-period comeback leading a rush into the Panthers end, and finished it by burying a rebound between Bobrovsky’s pads.
“I thought he played really well,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “He was attacking the middle of the ice with speed. We talked to him about finding more speed in his game and I thought he did that tonight.”
The one question was, why wasn’t their best skater on this particular night on the ice in the closing minutes when the Rangers had a 6-on-4 power play trailing by one goal?
2. Not so happy birthday
Igor Shesterkin turned 29 on Monday, but there wasn’t much to celebrate. He finished with 21 saves, saw his goals-against average balloon to 3.10 on the season, allowed four or more goals for the 10th time this season and lost for the fifth time in his past six starts.
It wasn’t all on Shesterkin, of course. Mika Zibanejad’s weak, blind clearing attempt led to Florida’s first goal just 3:04 into the game. Florida’s first two goals were deflections in front. The Panthers outworked the Rangers down low on Boqvist’s first goal that made it 3-2 late in the second period, plus the Rangers believed there should’ve been a quicker whistle by the officials to blow that play dead. And then Boqvist blew past K’Andre Miller on the rush for a great scoring chance that eventually led to a wide-open Boqvist potting a rebound later in that shift for the game-winning goal at 11:38 of the third.
Like how we talked about in rating Rangers losses these days, we can pick out a string of great saves Shesterkin made, especially in the moments right after the Panthers surged to a 2-0 lead just 5:21 into play. But it was another game when Shesterkin failed to make that game-saving stop or game-altering save, or two or three. Shesterkin wasn’t the difference maker he was, say, in the playoffs last spring or even earlier this season, when he bailed the Rangers out game-in and game-out for a stretch.
3. Zibanejad, Lafreniere struggles continue
Though they swapped spots on the power play, it was another pointless night for both Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere, two of New York’s most struggling forwards. Zibanejad dropped to the second PP unit; Lafreniere bumped up to PP1, and was on ice for Chris Kreider’s goal that tied the game 3-3 early in the third period.
But neither really stood out. Lafreniere did have four shots on goal and seven shot attempts, logging just over 20 minutes TOI, including 6:40 on the power play. He also took two minor penalties and was held without a point for the sixth straight game. His goal drought stands at 10 games, and he has just nine on the season, though his xGF 5v5 was 0.88 Monday, foe what’s that worth.
Zibanejad made the crucial turnover which led directly to Florida’s first goal and forced the Rangers to chase the game all night, once again. He logged just 9:16 TOI at even strength, though did receive more than seven minutes of special-teams play between the power play and penalty kill. The 31-year-old center was pointless for the eighth consecutive game, recorded one shot on goal and missed the net from in close twice during the 6-on-4 power play in the final minutes with the Rangers trailing by one.
To close on somewhat of a bright note: Kreider potted his first goal in 10 games and Ryan Lindgren scored his first in 28 games.
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