The New York Rangers had an opportunity to break out of their slump against a struggling Nashville Predators team, but couldn’t take advantage en route to a 2-0 loss on Tuesday night.
The Rangers had an overall strong start to the first period. Unfortunately, it was short-lived.
One sloppy defensive breakdown led to a Jonathan Marchessault goal and the Rangers were ultimately not able to recover from it.
While New York played a more structured game and had their moments offensively, they were not able to generate enough high-quality scoring chances and the team felt a little bit disjointed in a way.
In the third period down by one goal the Rangers didn’t show a sense of urgency, which frustrated Peter Laviolette.
“What I didn’t like was the third period,” Laviolette said. “I thought they had the edge on us. We needed more in the third when you are down 1-0. That’s when you got to find your way out of something and that’s where we are not getting it done right now.”
The Rangers have now lost 11 out of their last 14 games. The frustration continues to build with these losses piling up.
“We are in the business of winning, so when you are not winning it’s frustrating,” Laviolette said. “We gotta find our way out and we gotta do it quickly.”
Laviolette took more of an aggressive tone postgame while the players conveyed a positive message.
Chris Kreider feels the Rangers have to start simplifying things if they want to get back on track.
“I think the most important thing is to take it one game at a time,” Kreider said. “Win one game. Take some of the things we did well, learn from mistakes and build.”
“If we keep talking about it we are going to stay in it. We are not the team we were yesterday, we are not the team we were two days ago, we have an opportunity to win the next game, so take what we can from this game, move on, and win the next game.”
The Rangers will be back in action on Friday night against the Dallas Stars.
