The New York Rangers have struggled mightily this season, and the latest comments from one of their top stars has raised major concern among fans.
This season has been up-and-down for the New York Rangers, and in one of their most important games of the year on Tuesday against the Calgary Flames, they came up short in an embarrassing performance.
As a result, they've now fallen out of the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference once again, but it was their performance that has raised many concerns as the team were outshot 35-13 in the game, with only Igor Shesterkin that gave them any hope.
After the game, concerning comments from Mika Zibanejad have infuriated fans, as he made it clear that he doesn't care if the team plays that bad as long as they win, with the standards in the Big Apple clearly slipping.
'It's frustrating. Really frustrating. I don't care if we play like that and we win. If we lose and we play like that, it's not acceptable'
Unsurprisingly, fans were not happy with his comments at all, with one summing it up in the most simple way possible:
Sure, winning ugly games are sometimes a positive for good teams that have been going through periods of struggle, but for a team that's been struggling all season long, this is just a very strange comment for Zibanejad to make.
In recent years, Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and the veteran group have been thriving in front of Shesterkin in net, but now, it seems as though no one comes to play on a consistent basis beyond No. 31, and it's starting to cost them.
With less than a month left in the regular season, we will see if they can turn it around, but with their recent performances combined with Zibanejad's comments, it's safe to say that if they miss a Wild Card spot, things could change in a big way this summer.