Rangers' Playoff Hopes Take Another Hit With Loss To Jets

The New York Rangers left some critical points on the table once again as they lost 2-1 to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night. 

Going into this matchup, the Rangers were coming off of a difficult weekend where they failed to beat the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets, two of their top competitors competing for the wild card. 

While the Rangers played a much tighter game from a defensive standpoint compared to their weekend blunders, offensively New York couldn’t get anything going. 

There’s a reason the Jets are the best team in the NHL right now. The Jets are so defensively sound, which makes it difficult for the opposition to generate high-quality scoring chances. 

That’s exactly what happened to the Blueshirts. Winnipeg blocked 22 shots and did not give New York any room to operate in the neutral zone. 

The Jets’ game-winning goal in the second period came from Gabriel Vilardi on the power play stemming from a questionable goaltender interference penalty on Matt Rempe. 

Rempe seemed to be pushed into Connor Hellebuyck and Peter Laviolette was furious with the call.

“I didn't agree with it,” Laviolette said. “They're saying they want to protect the goaltenders, but I just didn't agree with it.”

Nonetheless, the Rangers still couldn’t get it done when push came to shove and the overall feeling among members of the team was disappointment. 

“There’s no consolation at this point in the season,” Laviolette said. “We need wins, we need points. It’s frustrating for sure. Our guys did play hard tonight, but we couldn’t get it to swing our way.”

The Rangers now find themselves two points out of the second wild card and five points out of the first wild card. 

Time is running out for the Rangers with their playoff hopes deteriorating after each losing game. 

“It sucks,” Will Borgen said on missing out on getting points. “We’re in a playoff fight right now. We’re battling for every point. When you don’t get the outcome you want, it sucks. That’s part of a long season too, you’re going to go through these droughts, but we gotta string along some wins if we want to make playoffs.”

The Rangers will be back in action on Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild.