SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Rangers lost three of 4 games on their west-coast swing and were lucky to stay atop the Metropolitan Division standings.
It was rocky and rough, similar to the mountains they flew through to get from city to city, and similar to the last seven weeks have been.
The 2-goal lead the Blueshirts blew en path to Tuesday night’s 3-2 additional time loss to the basement-dwelling Sharks, nevertheless, capped the last long trip of the season in probably the most disappointing fashion possible.
“We desired to close this road trip out strong and didn’t try this,” Adam Fox said. “It’s definitely disappointing. Nobody’s going to be joyful. Two more games here before the break, so got to show it around and get some momentum there.”
Handily defeating the last-place Sharks, who were playing on the second night of a back-to-back slate after beating the Kings in a shootout in Los Angeles, is what was expected of this Rangers team.
However the Rangers have fallen wanting expectations rather a lot recently.
When Tomas Hertl scored 1:29 into the additional period, the Blueshirts lost their seventh game of their last 10.
“We’re going through it slightly bit straight away,” said Vincent Trocheck, who recorded his three hundredth profession assist on the Rangers’ first goal of the sport on the 7:55 mark of the opening frame, when he set Fox up in front of the web to jam it home.
It was a mixed bag of a visit that featured more letdowns than progress.
A 5-1 loss to the Golden Knights and the 2-1 loss to the Kings that followed only piled on to the growing concerns surrounding the Rangers, who’ve now dipped below .500 level hockey since Dec. 5.
Sunday’s matchup in Anaheim first gave the impression to be much of the identical.
That was until the Rangers’ four-goal third-period rally not only stole the sport, 5-2, but reminded the team of their resilient capabilities.
But carrying a 2-0 lead into the third period against the Sharks on Tuesday, on goals from Fox and Artemi Panarin, the Rangers let it disappear in lower than five minutes.
Nico Sturm intercepted an Erik Gustafsson pass behind the Rangers net before the Sharks forward banked the puck off goalie Igor Shesterkin and in to chop the visitor’s lead 2-1.
Just over two minutes later, Ryan Carpenter did what most ex-Rangers do and evened the rating on a deflection with essentially an entire period left to be played.
It was Carpenter’s third goal of the season and his second against the Rangers.
“We made mistakes within the third period and it cost us,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “They were capable of tie it up and push it to additional time. That’s disappointing, just from that standpoint, we were ready to win a game going into the third, and we didn’t get it done.”
There shall be two more opportunities, against the Golden Knights and the Senators this weekend, for the Rangers to complete strong heading into All-Star weekend.
At this point, it’s not nearly going into the eight-day break in game motion on a high note.
The Rangers must alter the downward trajectory that they’ve been on before it’s too late.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Rangers lost three of 4 games on their west-coast swing and were lucky to stay atop the Metropolitan Division standings.
It was rocky and rough, similar to the mountains they flew through to get from city to city, and similar to the last seven weeks have been.
The 2-goal lead the Blueshirts blew en path to Tuesday night’s 3-2 additional time loss to the basement-dwelling Sharks, nevertheless, capped the last long trip of the season in probably the most disappointing fashion possible.
“We desired to close this road trip out strong and didn’t try this,” Adam Fox said. “It’s definitely disappointing. Nobody’s going to be joyful. Two more games here before the break, so got to show it around and get some momentum there.”
Handily defeating the last-place Sharks, who were playing on the second night of a back-to-back slate after beating the Kings in a shootout in Los Angeles, is what was expected of this Rangers team.
However the Rangers have fallen wanting expectations rather a lot recently.
When Tomas Hertl scored 1:29 into the additional period, the Blueshirts lost their seventh game of their last 10.
“We’re going through it slightly bit straight away,” said Vincent Trocheck, who recorded his three hundredth profession assist on the Rangers’ first goal of the sport on the 7:55 mark of the opening frame, when he set Fox up in front of the web to jam it home.
It was a mixed bag of a visit that featured more letdowns than progress.
A 5-1 loss to the Golden Knights and the 2-1 loss to the Kings that followed only piled on to the growing concerns surrounding the Rangers, who’ve now dipped below .500 level hockey since Dec. 5.
Sunday’s matchup in Anaheim first gave the impression to be much of the identical.
That was until the Rangers’ four-goal third-period rally not only stole the sport, 5-2, but reminded the team of their resilient capabilities.
But carrying a 2-0 lead into the third period against the Sharks on Tuesday, on goals from Fox and Artemi Panarin, the Rangers let it disappear in lower than five minutes.
Nico Sturm intercepted an Erik Gustafsson pass behind the Rangers net before the Sharks forward banked the puck off goalie Igor Shesterkin and in to chop the visitor’s lead 2-1.
Just over two minutes later, Ryan Carpenter did what most ex-Rangers do and evened the rating on a deflection with essentially an entire period left to be played.
It was Carpenter’s third goal of the season and his second against the Rangers.
“We made mistakes within the third period and it cost us,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “They were capable of tie it up and push it to additional time. That’s disappointing, just from that standpoint, we were ready to win a game going into the third, and we didn’t get it done.”
There shall be two more opportunities, against the Golden Knights and the Senators this weekend, for the Rangers to complete strong heading into All-Star weekend.
At this point, it’s not nearly going into the eight-day break in game motion on a high note.
The Rangers must alter the downward trajectory that they’ve been on before it’s too late.
