Reeling Rangers lament latest loss to Kings: ‘It gets tiring’

The New York Rangers continue to do just enough to stay in the playoff race, but they never seem to win the big one that would better their situation.

That trend continued once again on Tuesday night; after a spirited third period fueled a 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, the Rangers lost 3-1 to the Los Angeles Kings to open a three-game road trip. A win against Kings would have put the Rangers in sole possession of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

“It gets tiring because it feels like over the past two weeks we’ve been playing some good hockey, still losing. We find a way to lose,” forward Mika Zibanejad said after the loss in L.A.

Once again, New York started slowly in the first period, testing Darcy Kuemper with just two shots on goal. The Kings controlled the period, but Igor Shesterkin kept the Rangers in it, stopping all eight shots he faced. The Kings dominated, holding a 14-1 advantage in scoring chances 5v5 in the first period, per Natural Stat Trick.

“It goes kind of unappreciated because you almost expect it every night out of him, but he’s obviously a world-class goalie and shows it night in and night out,” Vincent Trocheck said about Shesterkin, who finished with 30 saves.

The Blueshirts bounced back from their poor first period, and J.T. Miller netted the game’s first goal at 2:10 of the second period, after a review from the situation room in Toronto.

“From the second period on, I thought we were doing a really good job playing that game and we walk away with nothing,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said in his 30-second postgame media scrum. “It’s disappointing, its frustrating. You can’t take anything from that, so it’s tough.”

Before the period ended, the Kings hammered home two power-play goals – only the second time all season they’ve scored multiple power-play goals in the same game. The Rangers failed to tie it in the third period, and Kevin Fiala put the game away with an empty-netter to give the red-hot Kings their ninth win in the past 10 games.

Rangers must get hot in a hurry, but can’t get ahead of themselves: ‘We first gotta win a game’

The Rangers lost no ground in the wild-card race Tuesday, but time is ticking; they only have 10 games remaining in the regular season. 

Occupying the second wild card, one point ahead of the Rangers (but in two fewer games), the Montreal Canadiens lost 6-1 to the St. Louis Blues earlier in the night. New York had the opportunity to make up some ground on the West Coast, but failed to do so in their regulation loss to the Kings.

Additionally, the Detroit Red Wings’ 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche also looms large for the Rangers. Had Detroit picked up two points, they would have tied the Rangers at 74 – making the already complicated playoff race even more convoluted. 

There is not much the Rangers can do other than turn the page to Friday. They missed an opportunity to make up important ground on Tuesday night, but now have two days off before back-to-back games against a couple of bottom-feeders in the Western Conference: the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks.

“We need to grab every point, put a streak together, but we first gotta win a game. Reset and get ready for Anaheim,” Zibanejad explained.

On Wednesday, the Rangers will keep an eye on the Islanders game against the Canucks at UBS Arena. The Islanders are tied with the Rangers for ninth in the conference and this will be one of their two games in hand.

There’ll be plenty to watch Thursday, when the Canadiens visit the Philadelphia Flyers, and the top wild card team, the Ottawa Senators, travel to Detroit to play the Red Wings.

Wait. Watch. Hope.

Then the Rangers must take care of business Friday in Anaheim and Saturday in San Jose.