Rangers still atop Metropolitan Division, but limp home after 1-2-1 road trip out west

The Rangers looked like they were in a good place when they headed out west a week ago. They were coming off a nice win at home against Seattle and had won two straight after losing four straight. They seemed to be turning a corner after six weeks of .500 hockey.

Forward Kaapo Kakko had just returned from injury and the Rangers were about to play against two of the three worst teams in the NHL. They also had a game against a Vegas team that was without its goaltender and two of its best offensive players. And they would meet a struggling Kings team that had won one of its previous 10 games and had just felt the need to offer a vote of confidence for its coach.

This had the potential to be a sweep.

Instead, the Rangers lost three of the four games, the last being a 3-2 overtime defeat to the NHL-worst Sharks Tuesday in San Jose after they blew a 2-0, third-period lead. They limped home with a 1-2-1 record. Their lone win occurred Sunday in Anaheim where they needed to play desperate hockey to rally from two goals down and beat the lowly Ducks, 5-2.

“Were going through it a little bit right now,’’ a stunned-looking Vincent Trocheck said after the loss to the Sharks.

“We're in a position to win the game [Tuesday] and pull out of the road trip at 2-2,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “It's frustrating not to get the win tonight.’’

The Rangers are 29-15-3 and still lead the Metropolitan Division. But after an 18-4-1 start, they are 11-11-2 over the last seven weeks. They are 4-6-2 in January. And where there seem to be many problems on their roster, there don’t appear to be many solutions.

Center Filip Chytil, who has been out since Nov. 2 with what is believed to be a concussion, has returned from a three-week stay back home in the Czech Republic, which seems a good sign that he is making real progress in his recovery and soon may rejoin the team. That would be good, as he would solve the problem of not having a legitimate third-line center who can help produce offense.

But getting Chytil back won’t fix all that is broken because they have multiple problems. One of the bigger issues is goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who seems to have a confidence problem. And there’s the question at first-line right wing for which they’re hoping a healthy Kakko (three goals, one assist in 26 games) will prove to be the answer. And Mika Zibanejad is struggling. He has one goal in his last 12 games.

There’s also the reality that if Chytil does come back, the Rangers will be holding their breath every time he brushes shoulders with somebody on the ice due to his injury history.

General manager Chris Drury has done good things at each of the last two trade deadlines, but this year the Rangers don’t appear to have the salary cap space to make a significant move. If Chytil isn’t activated and stays on long term injured reserve, they’ll be able to exceed the salary cap by the amount of his salary, which would give them about $3.54 million to work with. If he is activated and they send a player down to the minor leagues, they’ll have a little over $1 million in available cap space at the March 8 deadline to improve the roster.

Drury could try to get a team to retain some of a deadline import’s cap hit and he could send back a player from off the roster to offset some of the incoming salary. That would buy a little wiggle room, but it still doesn’t seem like enough to fix all that’s wrong.

Leschyshyn called up. Forward Jake Leschyshyn was summoned from AHL Hartford on Wednesday. He played in one game (Jan. 11) with the Rangers this season.

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.