Three takeaways from the Rangers' loss to the Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings left wing Andrei Kuzmenko and Rangers center Vincent Trocheck battle for the puck during the first period of an NHL game Tuesday in Los Angeles. Credit: AP/Jayne Kamin-Oncea
The playoffs are slipping away from the Rangers.
They kicked off their three-game California trip Tuesday with a 3-1 loss to the L.A. Kings in Crypto.com Arena, and because of that, they remain outside of the playoff field with 10 games left in the regular season. They are one point behind the Montreal Canadiens, who are 33-28-9 (75 points) and hold the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Here are three takeaways from the Rangers' fourth regulation loss in the last five games:
1. The Rangers need to capitalize on other teams' losses.
If the Rangers (34-32-6, 74 points) are somehow going to make the playoffs, it’s not enough for them to win their own games. They’re going to need help. And they got a lot of help Tuesday.
Montreal lost to St. Louis, 6-1, meaning if the Rangers could have found a way to beat the Kings, the Blueshirts would have jumped ahead of the Canadiens and into the last playoff spot in the East.
To further emphasize the point, Montreal wasn’t the only team the Rangers are competing with who lost. Ottawa, which holds the first wild-card spot, lost to Buffalo. And Detroit, which is two points behind the Rangers and desperately trying to stay in the race, lost to Colorado. There was an opportunity there for the Rangers, and they didn’t take advantage of it.
2. These starts are absolutely killing them.
To be fair, J.T. Miller actually scored the first goal of the game Tuesday, when his shot at 2:10 of the second period — which had appeared to be saved by Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper — was reviewed by the NHL’s Situation Room in Toronto and found to have crossed the goal line.
So yes, they scored first. But in the first period, they were outplayed and were outshot 8-2. Only another stellar performance by goalie Igor Shesterkin (30 saves on 32 shots) kept them in it. On Saturday against Vancouver, they were outshot 11-1 in the first period and trailed 1-0. In their 2-1 loss to Calgary last Tuesday, they scored first (Artemi Panarin, 1:13 into the game) but were outshot 14-5 in the first period and allowed goals by Nazem Kadri and Long Island's Matt Coronato in the period to put themselves in a 2-1 hole they were never able to dig out of.
They have to be better in the first period.
3. Their special teams are not helping them right now.
Their power play was 0-for-3 Tuesday and is now 0-for-13 in the last seven games, and 1-for-28 in the last 12. For a while they weren’t getting a lot of power play opportunities, but three chances Tuesday was enough. They looked better on the last chance, but at this point it’s not about looking good – it’s about scoring, period. The penalty kill, which has been a strength of theirs for multiple seasons now, gave up two goals in four times shorthanded Tuesday and has killed 16 of its last 23 man-down situations (69.5%) over the last eight games. If you’re not going to score on the power play, then you at least have to not give up goals on the penalty kill, right?
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.
