The New York Rangers were routed last night in a 4-0 shutout loss to the Washington Capitals. There are absolutely zero excuses for this performance, as the elite Blueshirts were outmatched in every aspect of the game by a team not sitting in a playoff position.
Following this loss, there isn’t a lot of positivity coming from the Rangers’ locker room- and that’s justified. The players need to understand that they’ve been disappointing over this recent stretch of games and figure out what’s been going wrong so the problem can be fixed.
Top defenseman acknowledges the Rangers’ lack of effort against Capitals
There were very few times last night when the Blueshirts appeared to know what they were doing on the ice. There was a clear lack of effort as the Capitals easily shut out the Rangers with ease. Ryan Lindgren, one of the top defenders on the team, acknowledged this abysmal performance following the shutout:
“Right from the start, we’re just losing battles. It seemed like it carried on all night.”
Ryan Lindgren via Vince Mercogliano
Acknowledging the issue is the first step towards making a comeback. The Rangers haven’t appeared the be the Stanley Cup contenders they were to start the season as of late, and there needs to be some sort of redemption to bring them back into the mix as a top team in the NHL.
On to the next matchup
The NHL schedule is not going easy on the Rangers this week. Immediately following last night’s embarrassing performance, the Blueshirts are back in action tonight to take on the Los Angeles Kings. LA is a formidable opponent, and will surely be a tougher matchup than the Capitals.
“It was not good from the start to the finish. No sense dissecting it here publicly. We’ve got a game tomorrow night, and we’ll need to be a lot better.”
Peter Laviolette via Vince Mercogliano
The Rangers need to find a way to move on from last night as quickly as possible. However, it’s also essential that they do not forget the lessons learned from such a terrible performance. LA is another team easily in the conversation to be Cup contenders, so the Rangers will require a full 180-degree turn to come out on top later this evening.
