{"id":399057,"date":"2026-01-09T06:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T06:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/399057\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T06:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T06:25:10","slug":"vincent-trocheck-loses-cool-in-rangers-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/399057\/","title":{"rendered":"Vincent Trocheck loses cool in Rangers’ loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vincent Trocheck\u2019s frustration boiled over in the second period of the Rangers\u2019 5-2 loss to the Sabres<\/a> on Thursday night at the Garden, but head coach Mike Sullivan supported the center after he picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.<\/p>\n

In the moments leading up to the Sabres\u2019 second goal, Trocheck got tied up with Sabres center Josh Norris, grabbed his stick and chucked it toward the benches as play continued down the ice \u2014 seemingly wanting a penalty called. <\/p>\n

But Bowen Byram dropped a pass to Alex Tuch from behind the net, Buffalo took a 2-0 lead and Trocheck was penalized following the sequence, putting the Blueshirts in a dangerous spot while already trailing by a pair of goals.<\/p>\n

\"VincentVincent Trocheck (left), who picked up an unsportsmanlike penalty earlier in the game, was all smiles after celebrating his goal with J.T. Miller during the third period of the Rangers\u2019 5-2 loss to the Sabres on Jan. 8, 2025 at Madison Square Garden. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d prefer him not to get a penalty,\u201d Sullivan said, \u201cbut I think for me, when Troch is at his best, he\u2019s in the middle of that stuff. He\u2019s a fierce competitor, and he tends to draw the ire of opponents when he\u2019s at his best. And I thought he did that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mika Zibanejad also became frustrated with the Rangers on the power play near the end of the second period, when they had a chance in front but the net became dislodged when a cluster of players kept swinging at the puck \u2014 trying to push it past Sabres goaltender Colton Ellis. <\/p>\n

A goal would\u2019ve allowed the Rangers to pull within 3-2 entering the final frame.<\/p>\n

But even with their glimpses of frustration, Zibanejad and Trocheck accounted for the Blueshirts\u2019 pair of goals, with Zibanejad snapping a one-timer past Ellis in the second period. <\/p>\n

Trocheck\u2019s tally ignited the Rangers at the start of the third period, though their bid for an equalizer ultimately fell short.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re aware of the record at home,\u201d Zibanejad said. \u201cWe\u2019re aware of the struggles at home. \u2026 I\u2019d be more worried if we don\u2019t show any frustration honestly. If we\u2019re not showing any emotion, then I\u2019d be worried. I\u2019d question it. But I don\u2019t mind the frustration at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MikaMika Zibanejad celebrates with teammates after scoring a second-period goal during the Rangers\u2019 loss to the Sabres. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

The Rangers finally got captain J.T. Miller back in their lineup after he missed the previous seven games with an upper-body injury, but he admitted that he needs \u201cto be careful\u201d after suffering the same injury twice in about a month. <\/p>\n

Miller missed the Blueshirts\u2019 Nov. 22 and 24 games, and he was injured again Dec. 20 after absorbing a hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to get back as soon as I can,\u201d Miller said of his rehab process. \u201cTrying to be smart about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even while he tried to operate with caution, the Blueshirts immediately felt his presence.<\/p>\n

Miller picked up where he left off with his production by picking up the primary assist on Trocheck\u2019s goal 51 seconds into the third period. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

He also collected three shots and two hits in 20:24 of ice time.<\/p>\n

Sullivan is still stuck at 499 career wins after the Rangers\u2019 latest loss. \u2026\u00a0Winger Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re, who missed Wednesday\u2019s practice with an illness, was in the lineup Thursday but committed a brutal turnover that led to the Sabres\u2019 insurance goal. \u2026 Center Noah Laba participated in the Rangers\u2019 morning skate while wearing a red noncontact jersey. He remains week to week with an upper-body injury.<\/p>\n

The Rangers held their latest centennial theme night, this time celebrating fan favorites. Nick Fotiu, Don Maloney, Jan Erixon, George McPhee, Pierre Larouche, Tony Granato, Chris Nilan, Tie Domi, Darren Langdon, Jeff Beukeboom, Colton Orr, Brandon Prust, Sean Avery, Ryan Callahan, Adam Graves and Henrik Lundqvist were all in attendance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vincent Trocheck\u2019s frustration boiled over in the second period of the Rangers\u2019 5-2 loss to the Sabres on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5100],"tags":[1107,229,5133,5,160,2310,35,4,1108,43,3042],"class_list":{"0":"post-399057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-sabres","8":"tag-buffalo","9":"tag-buffalo-sabres","10":"tag-buffalosabres","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-mika-zibanejad","13":"tag-mike-sullivan-nhl","14":"tag-new-york-rangers","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sabres","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-vincent-trocheck"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115863717699494748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}