3 New York Rangers takeaways after awful start leads to 5-1 loss to Kings
There weren’t many happy faces among the 18,006 fans streaming out of Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
The New York Rangers have played some stinkers during a slide that has seen them go 3-9-0 in their past 12 games. Their Garden matinee against the Los Angeles Kings was among the worst. The Rangers watched the Kings do anything and everything they wanted during the first half of the game, and by the time the home side showed any interest, the only thing they were able to do was spoil Darcy Kuemper’s shutout bid in a 5-1 loss that left boos ringing in their ears.
“We started poorly. We didn’t have what it took to start a hockey game, to be successful,” coach Peter Laviolette said.
The stat sheet says the Rangers were credited with 39 hits. But when it came time to play physical in key spots, they were MIA. Time after time, they were in the right position to make a play defensively but opted to watch rather than take the initiative. The compete level that’s needed to win in the NHL wasn’t there – again.
“It’s getting outworked, out-competed, losing those 50-50 battles,” a frustrated defenseman Ryan Lindgren said. “That can’t happen. Turnovers, mistakes — those are going to happen inside a game. Those you can live with. But when it comes down to a 50-50 puck, you’re competing against someone else. You’ve got to come away with those, and we’re not right now. We’re too easy to play against, and we’ve got to be a hell of a lot better.”
That goes double at home.
The Garden was a happy place for the Rangers last season; they were 30-11-0 in their own building. But home has been a horror show this season – the loss to the Kings dropped them to 7-8-1 at the Garden, including three losses in the past seven days. They are 3-9-0 in their last 12 games overall and 3-7-0 in their last 10 at MSG.
Maybe it’s a good thing that the next three games and four of the five before the Christmas break are on the road, beginning Sunday in St. Louis.
Related: New York Rangers get embarrassed at home in 5-1 loss to Kings
3 takeaways from Rangers 5-1 loss to Kings
Here are three takeaways from the Rangers loss on Saturday.
1. Another bad start, another loss
No team thrives when it’s playing from behind, and the Rangers are no exception.
They allowed the first goal for the 10th time in their past 16 games on Saturday and lost for the eighth time in those 10 games. This first period was especially bad; the Kings skated off after 20 minutes with a 2-0 lead, a 17-8 margin in shots in goals and a 31-15 lead in shot attempts. It was as bad a first period as a team could play, especially at home.
Coach Peter Laviolette sounded exasperated after the game.
“It was a horrendous first period,” he said. “The first period needs to be a whole lot better than what it was with regard to our energy, out execution, our speed, our attitude – all of that needed to be a lot better.
“To start a game like this in our building after some of the games we’ve played in this building – it’s bad. A bad start right from the very beginning. … It’s frustrating and disappointing to start a game like that.”
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2. Kings played; Rangers watched
The Rangers have become an easy team to play against, and it showed against the Kings – especially in the second period. There were plenty of Rangers back on defense, but no one was banging bodies or tying up sticks. Warren Foegele’s goal, which made it 4-0, came when he knocked in his own rebound with a host of Rangers around him watching.
Philip Danault’s goal 24 seconds later was similar; he was all alone to put home Brendt Clarke’s rebound after Clarke was unchecked in the slot.
“We need to knock some people down,” Laviolette said. “We do have the people there, not on the first (goal), but on others after that, we’ve got enough guys in there that we should be able to defend in an area – and it wasn’t a priority. It needs to be a priority.”
3. Is this rock bottom?
The Rangers certainly hope so. It’s hard to imagine a worse performance that the one that earned them oceans of boos from the sellout crowd at the Garden. It’s now nine losses in 12 games, and this one was over before the first media timeout of the second period.
“I can’t answer for them,” Laviolette said when asked if there was a lack of focus among the players.
The gloom and doom in the locker room was palpable. The Rangers look like a team that’s no longer slumping but in a freefall.
When asked what was said in the locker room after two periods, center Vincent Trocheck was succinct.
“What we say in here stays in here,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that you can say, but at the end of the day, you need to perform on the ice. You need to make sure you show up and give it your all every shift. Right now, I feel like we’re not doing that.”
That’s an understatement.
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