DARKEST HOURS
Road-weary Rangers seek slivers of optimism
Nobody is delusional enough to think the Rangers are playing well, not as they have brought themselves to the cusp of a selloff leading to the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
But that does not mean coach Alain Vigneault is wrong in saying his team playing better than the recent record indicates — which is tied wit h t he Coyotes for worst in the league (14 points) since Dec. 20. This a team with many flaws, and the holes are only going to get bigger when general manager Jeff Gorton makes his requisite moves.
But the fact is, every time Henrik Lundqvist steps into the crease feeling fresh, the Rangers at least have a puncher’s chance at winning. If Mats Zuccarello had scored on a wide-open pow- er-play chance midway through the second period on Monday in Dallas, they would have gone up 2-0. Instead, his shot was blocked, the Rangers took five total penalties, gave up two man-advantage goals and ended up losing, 2-1. That is the way it’ s going because that is the team the Rangers have become, one defined by their mistakes. Which is not to say they’re just going to roll over and die from here on out, no matter who is on the roster.
“When we’re playing, we’re playing. The frustrating thing is we’re not winning right now,” Vigneault said Monday night. “I think I’ve said this quite a few times lately: I think effort-wise and playing-wise, we’re playing better than the results we’re getting. But that’s just the way it is right now. What you have to do is you have to keep working, you have to come work every day and work on getting better. That’s what we’re going to do.”
There is going to be no benefit for the Rangers, present or future, to pack up the tent for the remaining 29 regular-season games, starting with Wednesday night’s Garden match against the red-hot Bruins. The Rangers are in last place in the Metropolitan Division, but started their travel day on Tuesday just three points out of the second wild-card spot.
The lineup is likely to only become more depleted, with Rick Nash already submitting his list of 12 teams to which he will accept a trade, while surely Ryan McDonagh, Michael Grabner and Zuccarello have all contemplated where they might f inish this season. Gorton would be remiss not to
explore his trade options for those players, and be ready to pull the trigger on any deal that will make the organization’ s future brighter.
Vign ea ult wants his team to prepare as if this were just another trade deadline, but it isn’t. In years past, the Rangers have looked to add pieces with the glimmer of the Stanley Cup in their eyes. This is the opposite.
Yet that doesn’t change the fact the Rangers’ locker room is emotional after every loss, and it proves the results still matter and still affect these proud athletes dramatically. Even if any thought of a postseason run is delusional, the thought of making the playoffs — or at least playing meaningful games in March and April — is not.
So when Lundqvist was asked about how important it is for his team to stay together during a stretch like this, one that is unprecedented in his 13-year career, his answer was as clear as possible.
“It’s everything,” he said. “In this league, I ’d take working hard for the team over skill any day. That’s what we need everybody to do, everything they can to help the team. We do not have room for anything else.”
There will be room for new players, and that is because the Rangers have already played enough bad hockey to get them in this predicament. But teams are never as good as they are when they’re winning, and never quite as bad as they are when they’re losing.
The Rangers currently believe they are the latter, and they hope to f ind at least some sliver of positivity going forward.
“We have to be honest with ourselves here and how we’re playing,” Lundqvist said, “and how we evaluate everything.”