The New York Rangers lost night. Again and badly. Blown out 5-1 by their arch-rivals, the New Jersey Devils, the Rangers continued their steep slide down the standings that has head coach Peter Laviolette sounding defensive.
“We’re a good hockey team,” Laviolette said after Monday’s loss and in spite of the apparent evidence. “Right now, we’re not playing very good hockey […] Those answers are in the room. Those are the answers that we need to figure out as a group.”
Laviolette seems to want to keep things inside the proverbial room, dismissing by implication rumors of a pending shake-up: the team is reportedly considering trading 13-year Rag Chris Kreider and human rockslide Jacob Trouba. The latter has been on the ice for a team-leading 23 opponent goals during five-on-five play this season. In HockeyViz’s estimation, he should be buried at a superfund site.
Trouba isn’t alone. The defensive pairing of Braden Schneider and K’Andre Miller were on the ice for three of New Jersey’s five goals on Monday night, starting with this one by Jesper Bratt, which required breakdowns in all three zones.
Meanwhile, Kreider has zero assists and is on pace for about 40 points, just over half his 2023-24 total. Unprosecuted serial Caps killer Mika Zibanejad is struggling as well, placing last among full-time teammates in on-ice shot-attempt percentage (41.7 percent) and expected-goals percentage (41.4).
Along with superstar Artemi Panarin, whose goal rate has fallen back to mortal levels, that makes three big-name forwards earning $26.6 million against the cap and together delivering the team’s weakest five-on-five performances. As a whole, New York allows more opponent expected goals than all but two teams (Anaheim and Montreal, not good company), but they improve to rank 18 when measured by actual opponent goals, thanks in large part to 2022 Vezina-winning goalie Igor Shesterkin, who is still solid.
Shesterkin is joined by 2021 Norris winner Adam Fox and forward Filip Chytill on the good side of the spectrum. When Fox and Chytill are both on the ice, the Rangers are elite: 65.1 percent of shot attempts, 81.1 percent of expected goals, outscoring opponents 4 to 0. When they’re off the ice, yikes.
| On the ice | TOI | SA% | xGF% | Goal diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox and Chytill | 66 | 65.1 | 81.1 | plus-4 |
| No Fox or Chytill | 612 | 43.0 | 43.8 | minus-8 |
It’s a stark drop for the 2024 Presidents’ Trophy winners and their second-year coach. They started the season with wins in seven of their first ten games before derailing. They lost five in a row at the end of November — including a 5-2 stomping by St. Louis. Their only win in the last ten days came against the Montreal Canadiens, who are on pace for 68 points. According to HockeyViz, the Rangers themselves are now on pace for just 89.
“It’s not the best of times right now, losing a lot of games,” Mika Zibanejad said in hushed tones on Monday. “But we still have to battle. We still have to work.”
The Rangers don’t have to work until Friday, when they’ll host the 10-12-4 Pittsburgh Penguins. In the meantime, there will be a lot to talk about at MSG.
