Rangers on a two-game losing streak and facing adversity as they visit Blues

ST. LOUIS – A week ago, the Rangers were at the top of the NHL standings, tied with Colorado for the most points in the league while having the most wins and the best points percentage.

But the 26 wins they had then was the same number they had entering Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Blues. They entered Thursday on a two-game losing streak (though one of those was via shootout), and that was enough to drop them from first to a tie for fifth overall in the league.

And to make matters worse, they had to face the Blues without first-line center Mika Zibanejad, who was a last-minute scratch after apparently feeling the effects of whatever sickness had sidelined him from practice Wednesday.

Over the last 16 games entering Thursday, the Rangers were 8-7-1.  The question they had to ask themselves as they played their 40th game of the season Thursday, was whether this run of mediocrity was bound to happen after their blistering start or a sign that something has gone wrong that needs to be fixed.

“I think it's part of the season,’’ forward Jimmy Vesey said after Thursday’s well-attended optional morning skate at Enterprise Center. “There's adversity through different points of the year. It's impossible to play a perfect 82-game schedule, and then you look around the league. I think there's a top tier of teams that have separated themselves so far, but with that, I think all of those teams have gone through stretches where they haven't played their best. And it's just been the last little bit for us.’’

Most of the trouble, the Rangers say, has stemmed from an erosion of their defensive game, along with too many turnovers and a few poor line changes, which were costly in Monday’s 6-3 loss to Vancouver. The defensive struggles and turnovers have put goaltenders Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick under a lot of stress and resulted in allowing 16 goals against over the last four games, and 21 over the last six.

Long-term injuries to center Filip Chytil and right wing Kaapo Kakko have hurt, too. Without them, the Rangers have struggled to find secondary scoring and the team has been carried by the Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere line and its best-in-the-league power play.

Peter Laviolette did not want to pin the struggles on the absence of Chytil and Kakko.

“It's tough when you're missing players, and certainly those are a couple of big players for us,’’ the coach said. “But everybody deals with that. It's just part of the business. Our job is to win hockey games, and we’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys that we're putting on the ice [against St. Louis]. And the expectation is to win. If we don't do that, then it's on us.

“We played well and won a lot of hockey games without those players in the lineup,’’ he said. “We'd love to have them back, but they're not here. Every team deals with it. We're dealing with it.’’

The Rangers went 7-2-1 in the first 10 games after Chytil was first injured, when he and defenseman Adam Fox were both out of the lineup. Fox came back after missing about a month, but Chytil, who is dealing with what is suspected to be a concussion, went home to Czechia two weeks ago. He missed his 30th game Thursday. Kakko – who resumed practicing with the team this week after suffering a left leg injury Nov. 27 – missed his 20th.

Kakko appears set to return in the next few days and he will be a welcome addition when he does come back. Though he had struggled to score (two goals, assist) in his first 20 games, his responsible defensive play, his ability to win pucks on the boards and his skill at holding on to them in the offensive zone will help.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.