The New York Rangers (26-12-2) lost 5-2 to the St. Louis Blues (21-18-1) on Thursday night at the Enterprise Center where Jordan Kyrou burned the Blueshisrts with a hat trick and eight shots on goal.
The New York Rangers (26-12-2) lost 5-2 to the St. Louis Blues (21-18-1) on Thursday night at the Enterprise Center where Jordan Kyrou burned the Blueshisrts with a hat trick and eight shots on goal.
The theme was the same for the Rangers as it had been at the dawn of 2024. They allowed too many chances off the rush while outshooting their opponent 42 to 20, and did not get desperation plays or goal support to turn the tide.
They are 1-3-1 in January and have lost three straight games.
"One mistake off the rush, and one mistake off the rush on the penalty kill and you find yourself down, " said Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette. "Some of the mistakes we made were, again, were a little too noisy."
The three bell rings at the Enterprise Center were noisy, as Jordan Kyrou scored all three of his goals on the evening with speed-up ice. He entered the contest with nine goals on the season.
"I think you learn a lot about your teammates, the group, and the team we are when you go through things like this," Jacob Trouba told reporters, "Not that it's a good thing, but you want to deal with some adversity and figure out who we are and how we are going to get through it.
"I know what this team is capable of and I think we've proven to ourselves what we are capable of," Vincent Trocheck told reporters after the game. "It's some adversity we are going to have to get through and hopefully it's something we look back on and see this is a positive."
Adding to the sting of the loss, former New York Ranger Pavel Buchnevich recorded three points including an emphatic empty net goal celebration.
The club has skated 13 different wingers on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider since the summer of 2021 when Buchnevich was traded to the Blues.
Will Cuylle would have been the fourteenth winger to skate with the Ranger's top line, but Zibanejad left the ice during warmups too ill to play.
That left a gaping hole in the lineup that already featured Jonny Brodzinski and Jake Leschyshen as plug-ins due to Kaapo Kakko, Tyler Pitlick, and Filip Chytil's injuries.
"It hurts. I mean you lose your number one center which leaves a big gap in the lineup. It's an adjustment," said Vincent Trocheck, "[It] messes with the rotation a bit but you can't make that an excuse."
Brodzinski centered Kreider and Cuylle for the majority of the game, at least when there was no special teams play. That was an issue for the Rangers up a man and down a man again as they surrendered two powerplay goals and one of their own on three opportunities.
The Rangers did push within the game to get even, recording 42 shots on goal compared to the Blues 20.
"We had tons of chances in the whole game in the second and third periods, but the mistakes we were making were a little bit too big."
The Rangers do not want to squander any more points in the standings, as the Carolina Hurricanes sit just three points behind them in the Metropolitan Division.
The Washington Capitals will be licking their chops this weekend with two opportunities to derail the once unbeatable Blueshirts. As for the Rangers, they will have to silence the noisy mistakes and adjust quickly with the looming back-to-back.