The New York Rangers were visibly frustrated after a blowout loss Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings. The team didn't open the dressing room as quickly as usual postgame, presumably because players were meeting. Mika Zibanejad called the game unacceptable and Ryan Lindgren said New York was easy to play against. Vincent Trocheck stressed the need to play tighter and have short memories on the ice. He wanted the team to have a killer mentality the next day against the St. Louis Blues.
They did not.
As has constantly been the case during the team's recent implosion, the right words did not yield on-ice solutions. The Rangers lost 3-2 to St. Louis on Sunday for their tenth loss in 13 games.
Peter Laviolette, hoping to spark something -- anything -- from his group, made drastic lineup changes. Even with Artemi Panarin out with an upper-body injury, Laviolette made Kaapo Kakko a healthy scratch for the first time since Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final against Florida. Chris Kreider, the longest-tenured Rangers player, got relegated to the fourth line. Jimmy Vesey and Jonny Brodzinski both re-entered the lineup, as did defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, playing in rookie Victor Mancini's spot. Mika Zibanejad got only 13:04 of ice time, his lowest this season by more than a minute.
None of it worked. The Rangers looked like they were going to make it out of a low-event first period tied 0-0, but New York left former friend Pavel Buchnevich alone in the offensive zone faceoff circle to blast a slapshot past goalie Jonathan Quick. Then Ryan Lindgren failed to grab a puck in the defensive zone early in the second, leading to a Jordan Kyrou breakaway goal. Shortly after, Zac Jones got caught too low in the defensive zone, and Robert Thomas scored on an ensuing two-on-one.
Two of the team's youngsters, Brett Berard and Will Cuylle, scored to bring the Rangers within a goal in the third period, but New York couldn't fully dig out of the hole with Quick pulled for an extra attacker.
The Rangers' record sits at 15-14-1. They are currently out of a playoff spot, passed by both Ottawa and Philadelphia, and they haven't shown an ability to consistently play well against good teams this season, which could be a bad omen for what they have coming.
New York plays the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. After that, the Rangers have seven consecutive games against teams currently in playoff position, including the top three teams in the Eastern Conference in the Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes, plus another against the defending champion Florida Panthers. Then comes a road game in Chicago -- a bad team but one that recently showed it's capable of beating the Rangers -- and then a return to the gauntlet with games against the Dallas Stars, New Jersey, Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche.
In total, 11 of the Rangers' next 13 games are against teams currently in playoff position. Per Tankathon, they have the fifth-hardest remaining schedule in the league. That's less than ideal for a team with a 3-7-0 record this season against current playoff teams. The convincing win last month in Vancouver feels like a long time ago.
Per Dom Luszczyszyn's model, the Rangers had a 38 percent chance to make the playoffs entering the Blues game. That's a drastic dropoff for a team that was two wins from making the Stanley Cup Final in June and started the season 12-4-1. Around that time, Luszczyszyn's model said the Rangers had an 80 percent chance of making the playoffs.
Former captain Jacob Trouba is gone, traded to Anaheim in an unceremonious end to his Rangers tenure. General manager Chris Drury has already floated Kreider's name in trade talks. Zibanejad saw his ice time slashed against St. Louis, and Kakko watched from the press box. New York is getting desperate, which means more drastic moves could come this week. Is Laviolette safe? Will Drury try to move one or multiple of his struggling players? How interested will other teams even be?
Braden Schneider acknowledged Saturday that the Rangers are both in their own heads and feeling the heat. Mistakes are compounding. This is a team in free fall, and given the level of fight it has shown and the difficult stretch ahead, the bottom might still be a ways away.