Wendell Cruz-Imagn ImagesDespite conveying a positive message and confidence in their overall performance on Thursday night, the New York Rangers still suffered a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres, marking their fifth loss in six games.
Going into this matchup, the Rangers received gut-wrenching news with Adam Fox landing on long-term injured reserve and Igor Shesterkin being placed on injured reserve, as both players suffered lower-body injuries during Monday night’s loss to the Utah Mammoth.
“It hurts. It sucks not having them out there, but we gotta try and keep pushing forward,” Braden Schneider said. “Our team still has a belief that we're a good team and that we can win games.”
On the flip side of things, J.T. Miller returned to the lineup after missing the past seven games due to an upper-body injury.
Miller recorded 20:24 minutes in his first game back.
“Just (was) trying to get back as soon as I can,” Miller said. “The same injury now twice in six weeks or a month, try to be careful.”
The shot totals through two periods were even at 18 shots apiece, but the Sabres held a commanding 3-1 lead.
Why is that?
The Rangers largely found themselves in a two-goal deficit due to unnecessary turnovers, which could only be described as lackadaisical and sloppy play.
You can say the Blueshirts generated some chances throughout the first 40 minutes of play. However, their offense just felt stale, and there wasn’t much sustained pressure from New York.
To start the third period, the Rangers came out with a strong push, dictating the pace of play through their control of the puck and physicality.
Vincent Trocheck’s goal less than one minute into the final frame brought much-needed life into Madison Square Garden, and they came pretty close on numerous occasions to tying up the game.
“I thought the third period, that's been our best period in a while,” Mike Sullivan said. “Just the push, the energy, the willingness to compete, the physicality, both offensively and defensively, getting inside at the net, all the things we're asking them to do, I thought were there.”
Toward the end of the contest, the Rangers were rewarded with a 4-minute power play and a golden opportunity to even up the score, but a costly turnover from Alexis Lafrenière led to a Mattias Samuelsson shorthanded goal, putting New York’s momentum to a screeching halt.
“I just think it boils down to decision-making,” Sullivan said of Lafrenière’s turnover. “They have a game plan going in, so they have an understanding of what they're up against. At the end of the day, it's a player's game, and it boils down to decision-making and execution.”
Rangers’ players were pleased with their performance from an effort standpoint and feel they did enough to win, but the story of the season continues to be their inability to capitalize on their scoring chances.
"We're not going to play a perfect game. I thought we got better as the game went on,” Miller said. “Played a good game… I think our intentions were in the right spot, we had a lot of energy today. We had our looks. Just didn't go in tonight for us.”
Regardless of their effort, the results are simply not coming for the Rangers, and with just 11 games remaining before the Olympic break and 16 games before the trade deadline, the team is running out of time to show Chris Drury they can be a playoff-contending team.
Each loss at this point in the season carries more and more magnitude, as the direction of the franchise is on the line.
As these defeats continue to pile up, the reality of the current state of the Rangers has become clearer than ever: It's time to sell.