In what was an emotional game with the return of Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba, the New York Rangers suffered a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.
Going into this matchup, the storyline was centered around Kreider and Trouba, who were both set to play at Madison Square Garden for the first time since being traded from the Rangers.
Kreider played 13 seasons with the Blueshirts, cementing himself as one of the franchise's greatest players, while Jacob Trouba served as captain of the Rangers from 2022 to 2024.
During the first period, Kreider and Trouba received tribute videos and standing ovations from the crowd.
“It's hard to put into words what the experience was like for 13 years, what that experience was like tonight,” Kreider said. “I don’t know. It kind of leaves you speechless.”
Kreider may have been back on the Madison Square Garden ice, but his former partner in crime, Mika Zibanejad, was notably absent.
Mike Sullivan confirmed that Zibanejad violated a team rule by missing Monday morning’s team meeting, which resulted in him being scratched out of the lineup on Monday night.
While not diving into specifics about whether or not Zibanejad had missed more than one meeting leading up to this decision, Sullivan doubled down on his choice to scratch Zibanejad after the game.
“Listen, I'm not going to get into l specifics on why we make decisions the way we made them, OK? We believe strongly in a process that we've put in place here for our team, and it's as simple as that,” Sullivan said.
From a game perspective, the Rangers’ downfall came on special teams. With the game scoreless in the second period, the Blueshirts were awarded a 5-on-3 opportunity, but it ultimately ended in disaster when they gave up an odd-man rush, leading to a goal from Jackson LaCombe.
Since Adam Fox was placed on long-term injured reserve, New York’s power play has struggled mightily especially the five-forward unit, who are prone to giving up odd-man rushes and high-quality scoring chances.
“Ever since Fox has gone down, we've had a lot of moving parts there to try to find some consistency in it, where we're comfortable with a group of five,” Sullivan said of the power play. We've had a lot of different people and a lot of moving parts. Obviously we like to settle on something until Foxy gets back in the lineup that gives us more of a semblance of consistency, that gives us a chance to build some chemistry. For obvious reasons, we haven't established any consistency, because we don't think that we built any traction with what we've accomplished to this point.”
The Rangers responded late in the second period with a goal from Matthew Robertson, but the game-winning goal came from Cutter Gauthier 5:51 into the final frame at the tail end of a power play.
New York struggled to sustain pressure and generate consistent offense late in the third period.
“We didn't seem to have the push that we had hoped for down the stretch to get that goal back,” Sullivan said. “We were hoping we would get a little bit more push there.”
The Return Of Jacob Trouba And Chris Kreider To New York Deserves A Deep Rewind
It has been over a year since New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers">Rangers</a> president and general manager Chris Drury sent out a league-wide memo stating he is interested in making moves and shaking up their roster, with Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba’s names being indicated.
On the bright side of things, Matt Rempe returned to action for the first time since Oct. 23 when he suffered an upper-body injury after a fight with Ryan Reaves.
Rempe confirmed he suffered a broken thumb, which is what kept him out for multiple weeks. In his return, Rempe logged 9:01 minutes, while also serving a role on the second power-play unit.
“I thought Remps played well under the circumstances,” Sullivan said. “I thought he kept his game simple. The one thing about Remps is when he's in the lineup, he makes an impact. I think he creates anxiety for our opponents. I think that's an area where I think he can help us. He gets it on the forecheck, he leans on people. He goes to the netfront. He makes it hard on people. He makes an impact on the game with the way he plays.”
The Rangers will have an opportunity to bounce back on Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks.