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We interrupt this meltdown to bring you four days without a desultory Rangers loss.
Yes, true, the NHL is closed for the holidays, which only serves to illustrate how far and how quickly the Rangers have fallen.
A Stanley Cup contender about a month ago, the Blueshirts have descended into being a punchline like the Giants and Jets (they can’t lose Sunday, they’re on a bye week!).
About the only good thing that can be said about Tuesday is that it was better than most of the 32 days that preceded it.
Certainly it was better than Monday, which began with the news that Chris Kreider was a healthy scratch and got worse from there.
The Rangers managed only 12 shots on goal in a 5-0 loss in Newark which was every bit the laugher the score indicated.
Jubilant Devils fans for sure were laughing watching their superstar Jack Hughes score two goals and their team go 3-for-4 on the power play while shutting down all four Rangers man-up opportunities.
Afterward, Vincent Trocheck said the Rangers need to “show more heart.”
Coach Peter Laviolette’s honest response was equally damning.
“I agree with that,” he said. “The purpose in which we play the game has got to be better.”
On Nov. 19, Kreider scored the game-winning goal in a 4-3 victory in Vancouver to give the Rangers a 12-4-1 record.
Even then, there were hints of trouble ahead as that mark was earned largely because of spectacular goaltending from Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick against a weak early schedule.
Since then, the Rangers have lost 13 of 17 games to drop into a tie for last place in the Metropolitan Division with the Islanders.
They rank 23rd in the NHL in points percentage and, though it might be a little soon to start looking here, they sit five points out of a wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference with four teams to climb above.
Asked Tuesday if the team’s sense of urgency is where it needs to be, defenseman Ryan Lindgen said: “We know it needs to be there. Why we’re not playing with it I don’t know. We certainly know we’ve got to turn this around in a hurry. So yeah, we’ve got to figure it out.”
It’s entirely valid to ask how things might get better.
On Nov. 24, Chris Drury sent a memo to the NHL’s 31 other general managers indicating the Rangers were open for business.
Captain Jacob Trouba was dealt to Anaheim on Dec. 8.
Kaapo Kakko was sent to Seattle last week. Who else might be sent packing?
We won’t know at least until the NHL’s holiday roster freeze expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
But thus far the trades have had little effect and neither have some other maneuvers:
Alexis Lafreniere, who started strong, has five goals, nine assists and is minus-15 since signing his seven-year, $52.15 million contract extension.
Igor Shesterkin has lost nine of his last 12 starts around signing his eight-year, $92 million contract, the largest for a goaltender in NHL history.
Matt Rempe, playing his first big-league game in nearly a month, lasted all of 5 minutes, 32 seconds before catching Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen in the head and receiving an eight-game suspension.
Laviolette has reduced the ice time for Mika Zibanejad and made an example of Kreider as a healthy scratch but the losses keep mounting.
Possibly the holiday break will give the Rangers a chance to press the reset button. Laviolette says “it could go either way” on that.
The schedule facing them on the other side is far from welcoming — road games at Tampa Bay on Saturday and Florida on Monday, a Jan. 2 home game vs. Boston and a Jan. 4 matinee in Washington.
“We get a break now,” Lindgren said. “We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror here and come back hungry because this is just not winning hockey we’re playing right now.
“It’s miserable for us, it’s miserable for the fans, so it’s time to figure it out.”
