Déjà vu is the best word to describe the New York Rangers’ 5-0 home loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
While the Rangers’ 7-1-1 record on the road is one to marvel at, their 0-5-1 home record going into this matchup was a big topic of conversation and concern.
Confidence at home, specifically in the scoring department, had been a major problem, as the Rangers were shutout in four of their previous six home games.
The Rangers came out of the gate firing on all cylinders, generating a couple of high-quality scoring chances in the first few minutes of the contest.
However, adversity struck when Bo Horvat scored on a two-on-one chance to put the Islanders up 1-0 at 10:29 into the period.
The energy was completely deflated from both the crowd and the home team after Jonathan Drouin scored with 33 seconds remaining in the first frame, giving the Islanders a 2-0 lead.
Every Rangers game played at Madison Square Garden this season seems to follow a common trend.
The Blueshirts start off strong, but as the chances continue to pile up without a goal, they grow more and more frustrated, which causes their game to become increasingly sloppy.
That’s exactly what happened against the Islanders. Defensively, the Rangers collapsed, giving up one too many odd-man rushes and turnovers.
Sullivan feels it was the Rangers’ lack of defensive awareness that led to their downfall.
“For me tonight we beat ourselves,” Sullivan said. “We beat ourselves in a lot of ways… I thought tonight, for whatever reason, we were doing things that were uncharacteristic of the group. I don't know if we were chasing it because we want to have success at home, but we were doing things that I think were uncharacteristic of the group.”
The Rangers have now surpassed the franchise record for the most games without a win at home.
At first, the team did not acknowledge their home struggles and portrayed it as more of a coincidence that has no meaning.
Now, as boos continue to come from the crowd each and every game and the Rangers aren’t getting results, they simply can’t ignore their woes at the world’s most famous arena.
The thing is, there’s no clear explanation for the Rangers’ problems at Madison Square Garden, and they don’t really have any answers.
“I wish I could put my finger on the struggles we've had at home to this point,” Sullivan said. “What I do know is that we've got to work through it together and we'll certainly do that. I think it starts with just having an inner belief as an individual and as a group.
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“We've got to put a game on the ice, like we do when we go on the road, put the same game on the ice, and if we do that, I believe we're going to score goals and we'll have a chance to win.”
It’s beginning to become more of a psychological problem than anything for the Rangers; there’s no other explanation for their home struggles.
J.T. Miller was blunt about not making excuses for these problems while also stating the importance of remaining mentally strong through it all.
“That's the part where we say all the right things about trusting the process, trusting the process, but the longer you go without getting the results, it becomes a very hard thing,” Miller said. “We need to be mentally tough. Don't point fingers, it's on us.. We need to be mentally tough and regroup.”
The Rangers will be back in action on Monday night against the Nashville Predators.