Rangers set off alarm clock with listless loss to Kings
Igor Shesterkin #31 of the Rangers reacts after surrendering a goal during the second period against the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The puck dropped shortly after 10 a.m. Pacific time, but it was the Rangers, not the Kings, who looked as if their biological clocks were off on Saturday.
The visitors from Los Angeles routed the Rangers, 5-1, at Madison Square Garden, helped by a first period that coach Peter Laviolette later called “horrendous,” “bad,” “frustrating” and “disappointing.”
Well, it was more than just the first period, after which the Rangers were behind 2-0 and trailed 17-8 in shots on goal.
The Kings had a pretty good start to the second, too, scoring three goals in a span of 2:18 to take a 5-1 lead 5:04 into the period. At that point, Laviolette pulled goaltender Igor Shesterkin in favor of Jonathan Quick.
“From the start, there was not much positive in this game,” Mika Zibanejad said. “From start to finish, just flat. It’s a bad game. I feel like we’re just chasing and waiting for the next guy to do something, and it just becomes a waiting game.
“We have to understand that it’s going to take a lot more than what we did today to get out of this. It’s unacceptable.”
It was the latest disappointing result in what has been a maddening first two months this season for the Rangers, who fell to 15-13-1 and have not won consecutive games since mid-November. They have lost nine of 12 after a 12-4-1 start.
The Kings (18-9-3), meanwhile, are hot. They had won six games in a row before a loss to the Devils on Thursday night.
“It’s tough to have a positive attitude after a game like that,” Vincent Trocheck said. “We’re heading on the road right now, get into St. Louis [for a game on Sunday], look ourselves in the mirror, tell ourselves we need to be better.
“Show up at the rink with a killer mentality, and that’s really the only way to fight yourself out of this is to fight. We have to be ready to dig our way out, and really at the end of the day got to stop talking about it, got to do it.”
The Rangers appear to be a shell of the team that reached the Eastern Conference Final last season, with no sign of an imminent turnaround.
The Kings capitalized on a two-on-one break as Adrian Kempe fed Alex Turcotte in front, where he beat a helpless Shesterkin at 7:05 of the first period. At that point, the Kings had a 6-1 edge in shots on goal.
Connor Mackey, in the lineup for the injured K’Andre Miller, tried to get the Rangers going by winning a fight against the Kings’ Samuel Helenius. It did not help.
Los Angeles made it 2-0 at 15:06 of the first period when Shesterkin (16 saves on 21 shots) was unable to gain control of a rebound and Warren Foegele popped the puck past him.
Things got worse in the second period.
The Kings made it 3-0 at 2:46 when Quinton Byfield whipped a high shot past Shesterkin.
The fans’ boos arrived in force at 4:40 when the Kings took a 4-0 lead on Kempe’s goal off a feed from Anze Kopitar.
Things got fully out of hand when Phillip Danault scored at 5:04 to make it 5-0.
On at least a couple of Kings goals, the Rangers appeared to have enough people present to defend the play but somehow allowed Los Angeles to get open looks and cash in.
“We need to knock some people down,” Laviolette said. “It wasn’t a priority. It needs to be a priority.”
Said Chris Kreider, “I think it’s collectively looking around and not taking steps and taking the initiative.”
The Rangers’ Filip Chytil scored at 12:17 of the second period. His seemingly harmless shot from the right circle appeared to handcuff Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper (31 saves).
The Rangers nearly cut it to 5-2 on a power play, but Trocheck’s shot clanged off the crossbar.
Garden fans booed the Rangers off the ice at the end of the period. The third period was a formality, with Zibanejad getting stopped by Kuemper on a shorthanded breakaway.
“We’re letting a lot of things get to us,” Trocheck said. “We need to make sure that we’re focusing on what we’re doing and not let anything get to us mentally.”
Laviolette said, “It’s frustrating and disappointing to start a game like that. We didn’t have what it took to start a hockey game to be successful . . . Not even close to where it needs to be.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
More Rangers
