TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Past the midway point of the NHL season, confidence is not in high supply for the New York Rangers, losers of four in a row and seven of their past eight games since returning from the holiday break.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re definitely a little bit of a fragile group right now,\u201d defenseman Braden Schneider said. \u201cThe guys know we\u2019re a good team. We believe that we have the ability to win games, and guys still believe in here that we\u2019re good. We\u2019ve just got to make sure that we\u2019re not letting the small things that happen in a game get to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Small things are digging a big hole for the Rangers as they look to make up ground in a competitive Eastern Conference with all 16 teams separated by just 15 points in the standings going into play Tuesday night. They’re last in points percentage with a record of 20-21-6 and are running out of time to become legitimate playoff contenders before it’s too late.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not fun to lose,\u201d said center Mika Zibanejad, who has scored six goals in five games and leads the team with 18. “We\u2019re trying to look for answers, trying to find answers. Maybe it doesn\u2019t look it at times, I understand that, but we\u2019re trying to do everything we can to try to get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Mike Sullivan after his team’s most recent loss Monday night at home to Seattle<\/a> said, \u201cThe answers are inside our locker room\u201d and tried to push that message before practice Tuesday. A two-time Stanley Cup champion from his time with Pittsburgh, Sullivan is preaching positivity at arguably the toughest point of his first season on the job<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to bring an unwavering level of enthusiasm to what we do every day if we\u2019re going to ultimately pull ourselves out of this,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to dwell on anything. We\u2019re not going to get overwhelmed by circumstance or the noise.\u201d<\/p>\n The noise is that the March 6 trade deadline is less than two months away, with a lengthy pause in February for the Olympics in between. Winger Artemi Panarin, New York’s leading scorer every season since signing as a free agent in 2019<\/a>, does not have a contract beyond June 30, turns 35 on Oct. 31 and could be the first big-money player out the door.<\/p>\n With 14 games remaining before the deadline, it’s an uphill climb to push general manager Chris Drury<\/a> into buying or standing pat rather than selling and beginning the process of retooling an aging roster.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still have a chance to compete and just climb in the standings,\u201d defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov said. “We\u2019ve got to do it now because after the Olympic break, that would be maybe a little late, so we need it now, (and) we\u2019ve got to be desperate every single night.\u201d<\/p>\n A 10-2 loss at Boston<\/a> on national television Saturday was a humbling experience, but most of the defeats have not been so lopsided. Rather, they have come from mistakes \u2014 an ill-timed line change or a missed assignment \u2014 compounding on each other and leading to goals against.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s for a lack of effort,\u201d captain J.T. Miller said. \u201cJust mistakes, and we talked about playing smart, as well as hard. Just some things we need to clean up.\u201d<\/p>\n