CHICAGO — Captain J.T. Miller had talking points he wanted to hit. In a two-minute media scrum after a 3-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday, he mentioned the New York Rangers getting outcompeted four times.
After a strong week that made a playoff push feel possible, one loss shouldn’t be cause for mass hysteria. But Miller’s message is concerning. Thirty-two games into the season, the Rangers should know they aren’t talented enough to win without the right work ethic or structure. They are seventh out of eight Metro Division teams in total points and last in point percentage. They’re in no position to coast or take an opponent for granted, especially a Chicago team hungry to get back on track after a 2-6-2 stretch.
The ideal the Rangers are shooting for — being hard to play against — is possible only if the team is willing to do hard things on the ice. Compete. Play responsibly. Come to the rink with urgency.
“It’s disappointing because we just go through a stretch where we play what we would deem some of the best teams in the league, and we put a game on the ice that’s pretty damn competitive,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’ve got to be able to do that consistently, night in and night out. That’s our challenge.
“We took a step back tonight.”
Igor Shesterkin kept the Rangers in the game in the first period, but the game slipped away in a disastrous second period. New York allowed a short-handed goal, perhaps marking the end of its five-forward power-play experiment, and got bit by Blackhawks star Connor Bedard, whom Sullivan had said before the game the Rangers needed to be aware of whenever he was on the ice. New York could’ve headed to intermission down three if a Colton Dach hand pass hadn’t wiped another goal off the board.
Igor Shesterkin with another terrific save early in the first period, this time on Connor Bedard. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/Y9tbOreEZw
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 11, 2025
The third period brought more of the same. New York allowed a backbreaking goal early in the period when Tyler Bertuzzi won a rebound next to the net and scored. Vincent Trocheck slammed his stick on the ice in frustration. The Rangers responded by managing only four shots all period — two in quick succession by Noah Laba — despite getting two power plays in the frame.
“We have wasted energy on the forecheck where we have one or two guys going and the third and fourth aren’t there, or three guys and the fourth’s not there, or (only) one guy going,” Trocheck said. “It’s just inconsistent with playing a team game for a full 60 minutes.”
“Tonight wasn’t up to the standard that we expect out of ourselves,” Miller added. “Not the end of the world. We’re going to right the ship and be better next game.”
Not many Rangers can walk away from the night feeling proud of their performance. Let’s further dig into some takeaways.
Power-play woes somehow get worse
The Rangers are now 0-for-11 on the power play in their first five games without Adam Fox this season. For the first nine power plays, Sullivan went with a five-forward top unit. He moved away from that after the short-handed goal.
The Rangers were more than 1:30 into their first power play of the game when Louis Crevier struck. Mika Zibanejad lost a puck at the top of the offensive zone, and Ilya Mikheyev tried to find a surging Crevier with a pass in the neutral zone. The two couldn’t connect, but the puck eventually bounced to Matt Grzelcyk at the blue line. Crevier was at the opposite blue line by then, and Grzelcyk fed him. Crevier cut to the net and scored on a partial breakaway. Zibanejad and Trocheck, who had been on the ice since the start of the power play, were the two players trying to chase him.
Shorthanded goal alert! 🚨
Louis Crevier scores first for the @NHLBlackhawks!
📺: @NHL_On_TNT & @StreamOnMax ➡️ https://t.co/4TuyIATi3T pic.twitter.com/5PY1nJg4Gl
— NHL (@NHL) December 11, 2025
“I think the biggest thing is we stayed out there too long,” Sullivan said. “We didn’t change. We had opportunities to change. We had tired guys on the ice, and when you’re tired, your decision-making gets compromised and the quality of execution gets complicated. I think we’ve got to play a smarter game.”
Zibanejad acknowledged the power play was poor against Chicago — it had only one shot on three tries — but also felt the Crevier goal might have been “more of a flukey thing.” If the loose puck had gone to the Rangers in the neutral zone, he thought the Rangers would have had numbers going on offense and would’ve had a good scoring chance.
On the Rangers’ next power play, which came in the third period, Sullivan sent out defenseman Scott Morrow as the quarterback, bumping Will Cuylle to the second unit. But the Morrow-led group didn’t have any more luck. It generated nothing, and though the Rangers did not allow a short-handed goal, they did turn the puck over to Frank Nazar, who had a golden chance all alone in front of Shesterkin but ended up fumbling the puck and failed to get a shot off.
“We’re not executing well enough,” Trocheck said. “Frustration kicks in, you try to force plays, and then you end up getting three, four regroups per power play, which is not the recipe for success.”
“We knew they were an aggressive penalty kill,” Sullivan added. “They pressure hard. If we were sharp we could make the puck work and we could use their aggression against them, but we weren’t sharp. So we didn’t get the puck to the net nearly enough.”
Though the five-forward unit has struggled, New York’s six-on-five group — which has used six forwards with Fox out — scored at the end of both of the recent games against the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche.
“On six-on-five we’re getting pucks to the net and having more of a five-on-five mentality, and I think that’s what we need to get to on the power play,” Trocheck said.
Sullivan said postgame he doesn’t know if the Rangers will return to a five-forward top unit or use Morrow as the quarterback.
Lack of finishing
The narrative around the game could have been a lot different had the Rangers finished some of their chances. Miller hit a post trying to redirect a Morrow shot in the first, and Zibanejad couldn’t beat Spencer Knight on a Will Borgen-sprung breakaway. In the third, Knight stonewalled Laba on two chances in front of the net. Alexis Lafrenière hit iron after a nifty toe drag shortly after.
Natural Stat Trick’s metrics reflected a fairly even game. Chicago had 51.44 percent of the expected goal share at five-on-five and 52.09 percent in all situations. Had some bounces gone the other way, it could’ve been much closer.
“We just didn’t earn the bounces,” Trocheck said.
Bottom six caved in
With the Rangers’ top players struggling on the power play, the bottom six had a rough night at five-on-five. Both the fourth line (Jonny Brodzinski-Sam Carrick-Jaroslav Chmelař) and third line (Cuylle-Laba-Brett Berard) had zero shot attempts at five-on-five when fully together, per Natural Stat Trick. Sullivan tinkered with his combinations, which made sense given the struggles.
The Rangers had seven shot attempts with Laba on the ice at five-on-five. That was the high-water mark for the bottom six. Chicago is a young team that had lower expectations entering the season than New York, so the fact its depth forwards outperformed the Rangers’ is not desirable.
To make matters worse, Adam Edström is now on long-term injured reserve after failing to progress as the team hoped while dealing with a lower-body injury. Matt Rempe has resumed skating, so he could rejoin the fold. Taylor Raddysh could also be an option to draw in after getting healthy-scratched the past two games.
Shesterkin not to blame
The first period served as a reminder as to why the Rangers made Shesterkin the highest-paid goalie in the world.
The Blackhawks, particularly Bedard’s line, were dangerous from puck drop. Early on, Artyom Levshunov fired a shot on net, and Shesterkin allowed a juicy rebound to a waiting Andre Burakovsky. The winger sent the puck back toward the net, but the goalie recovered in time to get across his crease and make the save. Shortly after, Bedard nearly scored off a pass through the offensive zone, but Shesterkin moved to his left to make an impressive pad save.
what a save from Shesterkin pic.twitter.com/9IZFnrYjea
— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) December 11, 2025
In total, the Shesterkin made 10 first-period stops. He kept the Rangers within reach of Chicago for more than enough time for his teammates to find the necessary focus and competitiveness. The skaters just weren’t able to get the job done.