The Rangers have dropped two consecutive overtime games on home ice, including squandering a one-goal lead in the final minute of regulation Sunday night against Vegas.
In between lamenting a poor start and some unfavorable calls and non-calls, the Blueshirts mostly chose to view their latest loss as part of a four-game point streak against tough opponents, also featuring a win over Dallas at the Garden, one at Ottawa and Saturday’s OT defeat against Colorado.
The Avalanche, Golden Knights and Stars, after all, sported the top three records in the Western Conference entering Monday’s league action.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed for the players, for the guys, because I thought we competed hard,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said Sunday night. “I thought we’ve had a pretty hard week against some of the best teams in the league and these guys are competing extremely hard, and I think we’ve put a game on the ice that I think the guys should be proud of.”
The Rangers, who will next play Wednesday night in Chicago, came out sluggishly in Sunday’s first period after also falling in OT the previous day to the Avs. But they dominated play in the second period with 17 shots on goal, scoring twice for the 2-1 lead they carried until the final minute of the third.
“We’re starting to do a lot of the right things more on a consistent basis, especially against the top teams in the league,” J.T. Miller said. “We looked at this week as a really good challenge. Dallas, Ottawa and these two [games], eight points were up for grabs, and we got six. I think we’ll take that any day of the week.
“I think we’re getting rewarded by getting team points. We’re hanging in there. It’s a hard part of the schedule, every team goes through it, and we’re trying to grind. I love that we’re playing some of the top teams in the league right now. It’s an unreal challenge for our group to kind of see where we’re at.”
J.T. Miller #8 of the New York Rangers skates against the Vegas Golden Knights. Getty Images
The Rangers are 15-12-4 overall, but that now includes a 5-1-2 stretch in their past eight after opening the season with just 10 wins in their first 23 (10-11-2), including none (0-6-1) over the first seven at MSG.
They also have played the last four games without All-Star defenseman Adam Fox, who is on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
“I think the way we’re playing is positive, and I think for the most part we’re pretty happy with it,” Vincent Trocheck said. “Obviously, losing Foxy is huge, he’s a big catalyst for our team, so not having him hurts. But I think our back end has really stepped up…It’s gonna take everybody to fill those shoes. But the way we’re playing right now, I feel like it’s a step in the right direction.”
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Sullivan, who won two Stanley Cup titles with the Penguins, thinks so, too.
“I’ve had this conversation with the players a lot; when you leave the rink, throw the score out, throw all the numbers out, all the analytics, whatever you want to call them,” Sullivan said. “Players know. When you get in the car on the ride home, you get a feeling about the experience you just went through. And that feeling doesn’t lie. So I think players know, they know when they play well, they know when they compete hard, they know when they’ve left it out there. And I think they have that feeling tonight.
“I think we’re moving towards the identity that we’re trying to build and the game that we want to play. And we’ve just gotta continue to stay hungry and continue to work at it. I think once again, when you play some of the better teams in the league like we have most recently, and the guys perform the way they have, I think it provides a lot of evidence. And I think that reinforces belief in what we’re doing and how we’re going about it.”