{"id":406280,"date":"2026-01-14T01:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T01:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/406280\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T01:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T01:18:16","slug":"rangers-searching-for-answers-as-noise-around-them-grows-louder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/406280\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers searching for answers as noise around them grows louder"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re looking for the Rangers to totally change course coming off a fourth straight loss \u2014 and seventh in eight games \u2014 that didn\u2019t happen Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead, there was a fairly physical practice in Tarrytown as the team prepared for Wednesday\u2019s game at Madison Square Garden against the equally inept Senators, who are also in the middle of a four-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to the guys this morning, \u2018We\u2019ve got to bring an unwavering level of enthusiasm into what we do every day if we\u2019re gonna ultimately pull ourselves out of this,\u2019\u201d coach Mike Sullivan said. \u201cIt starts with our attitude, a strong practice [and] competing hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a team that is searching for answers, none have become apparent as they fall further down the Eastern Conference standings with the Olympic break approaching and the March 6 deadline the next milestones on the schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to take it one day at a time and try to have some enthusiasm out there and jump in our step,\u2019\u2019 Vincent Trocheck said of the team\u2019s mentality following another ugly loss, this one featuring a blown two-goal lead at home on Monday against Seattle.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck (16) tries to maintain possession during the first period when the New York Rangers played the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday, December 16, 2025 at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

After the latest defeat, more than one Ranger player called the team \u201cfragile,\u201d and that came two days after Trocheck said the team needed a \u201creset\u201d in the wake of their blowout loss in Boston on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to work through it,\u2019\u2019 Trocheck said of the team\u2019s downward spiral. \u201cThere\u2019s no answer, really. You try to come together as a group, try to have fun with the game and get better at the things we\u2019re doing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those mistakes are especially glaring when the team is stumbling through another ugly part of their season.<\/p>\n

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

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

With Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox out<\/a>, as well as Conor Sheary and Adam Edstrom, the Rangers are relying on lesser players to get them out of this rut.<\/p>\n

That can lead to more miscues on the ice, as Sullivan noted Tuesday, when he was asked about a disorganized line change that helped result in Seattle\u2019s go-ahead goal midway through the third period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our guys, it\u2019s a work in progress,\u2019\u2019 Sullivan said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of young guys in the lineup. For me, it boils down to situational awareness. \u2026 We\u2019ve got to do a better job controlling those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Rangers continued their slide with a loss on Tuesday night. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

And with none of the four injured Rangers evidently close to returning, it will be at least in some part up to some inexperienced players to find their game and help the Rangers get back into the playoff picture.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Monday] night, up 2-0, it\u2019s important to go into that intermission and reset and go into the second period as if it\u2019s a 0-0 game,\u2019\u2019 Trocheck said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get better at compartmentalizing our past.\u201d<\/p>\n

With one more game at the Garden \u2014 where the fans took part in several \u201cFire Drury\u201d chants to express their displeasure with general manager Chris Drury \u2014 before a four-game road trip, the Rangers are closing in on falling too far back for the return of those veteran players to matter and perhaps Drury will be more motivated to sell prior to the March 6 deadline instead of buying.<\/p>\n

But Sullivan, who won Stanley Cup titles in his first seasons in both Boston and Pittsburgh, said he\u2019s not going to let his team wilt, even if it\u2019s not the roster they envisioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the world we live in now,\u2019\u2019 Sullivan said of the younger-than-expected group. \u201cWe have to stay in the moment. We\u2019re not gonna get overwhelmed by the circumstances or the noise.\u201d<\/p>\n

If things don\u2019t improve soon, that noise will only get louder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re looking for the Rangers to totally change course coming off a fourth straight loss \u2014 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[5,2310,3328,35,5190,5193,4,36,43,3042],"class_list":{"0":"post-406280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-mike-sullivan-nhl","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-rangers","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkrangers","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-rangers","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-vincent-trocheck"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115890822240503553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406280","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=406280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}