NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Simply if you suppose the Rangers have hit all-time low, the staff proves that new depths can all the time be reached.
The Blueshirts suffered their second loss to a last-place membership in simply over every week Tuesday night time at Bridgestone Area, the place they had been shut out the primary time this season in a 2-0 loss to the basement-dwelling Predators after dropping one in opposition to the then-Thirty second-ranked Blackhawks on Dec. 9.
“It shouldn’t be hard to keep our focus right now,” Ryan Lindgren mentioned. “We should be driven to get out of this. We should be doing whatever it takes every single game to get out of this. Battling like hell to get out of it. You saw that tonight, I thought we battled, but it’s just not going our way right now. It’s our job to just keep getting back to work and doing what we can.”
Previous to Tuesday’s win, the Predators had not solely misplaced 9 of their previous 10, however they’re nonetheless the one remaining NHL staff that hadn’t reached double digits within the victory column but.
Nashville is on a really quick record of groups in worse form than the Rangers proper now, and but, it was the identical outdated, usual for a Blueshirts staff that may’t appear to rise up for any sport proper now.
This defeat formally tipped the Rangers right into a shedding document at 15-15-1, which is a mark that’s beneficiant for the membership’s physique of labor this season.
“We’re in the business of winning,” head coach Peter Laviolette mentioned. “So when you’re not winning, it’s frustrating. Everybody’s irritated by the whole thing. We’ve got to find a way out, and we’ve got to do it quick.”
The discontent within the Rangers locker room has been enjoying out on the ice this season.
Tuesday was simply one other occasion, after Kaapo Kakko unleashed his frustration with serving as a wholesome scratch within the earlier sport in St. Louis. The 23-year-old Finn basically expressed that he didn’t imagine he deserved to be the odd man out, noting that it’s simpler to scratch a younger man like him slightly than a struggling veteran.
Kakko might grow to be the second disgruntled participant to be traded from the Rangers this season, after captain Jacob Trouba was shipped out regardless of the captain blocking a commerce within the offseason for household causes.
Laviolette has actively tried to divide the ice time up in another way, however the second-year Rangers bench boss has not gotten the outcomes he’s searching for.
Somewhat over midway by way of December, Laviolette is already fielding questions on his job safety.
The 60-year-old veteran coach of 1,543 NHL video games didn’t flinch on the inquiry. It’s one thing that must be requested amid all of the dialog surrounding what the group goes to do, however there isn’t any indication that modifications are being contemplated behind the bench or in administration.
“Those are things that I can’t control,” he mentioned. “I’ve been in this a long time.”
The Rangers got here out looking pucks, however their pursuit diminished as the primary interval wore on.
Chad Ruhwedel’s keep-in try then deflected off Jonathan Marchessault to spring his line — with Steven Stamkos and Filip Forsberg — for a rush alternative earlier than he completed a reasonably passing sequence to take a 1-0 lead.
From there, the free-for-all that has been the center of the Rangers zone continued.
Outshooting the Rangers 14-8 within the second interval, the Predators additionally benefited from some sturdy goaltending from Juuse Saros, who recorded his third shutout of the season with 25 saves on 25 pictures.
Adam Wilsby later gave Nashville some insurance coverage with eight minutes left in regulation, when the Predators ahead scored his first NHL objective from the excessive slot to double the house staff’s rating.
The Rangers have been operating out of solutions as their season slips additional and additional away.
Losses to 2 of the worst groups within the NHL will simply be a footnote to this 2024-25 marketing campaign if it continues to go additional off the rails.
The one path for the Rangers to go is up, however it’s only a matter of after they’ll begin on that trajectory.
