IT'S MAKE OR BREAK
Slumping Rangers show fight vs. Senators ahead of All-Star hiatus
OTTAWA, Ontario — The AllStar break can’t come soon enough for a Rangers team that needs to seriously regroup during its eight-day reprieve from game action.
A temporary escape is all it will be, however, before the Rangers have to confront how the last seven and a half weeks will impact their road ahead.
But they capped a discouraging month with their most definitive win in some time, a 7-2 victory over the Senators on Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre, to alleviate at least a pinch of the pressure that has steadily mounted on this team heading into the break.
“We needed last night’s, too,” head coach Peter Laviolette said, referencing the Rangers’ 5-2 loss to Vegas the night before, after the club improved to 9-0-0 in the second games of back-to-back slates. “It’s disappointing. We’re in the business of winning. I know it’s frustrating. Tonight — with playing last night, against a rested team, in their building, travel, short a few players — that’s a big win.”
They pulled it off on the second night of a back-to-back slate.
They made it work without two of their top four defensemen in Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren.
They found a way after falling behind 2-0 less than a minute and a half into the second period.
It was imperative for the Rangers to do so, especially since the Hurricanes — who trail the Blueshirts by two points in the Metropolitan Division — beat the Coyotes on Saturday night to keep pace.
The Rangers received a jolt from an unlikely source in Connor Mackey, who flew to Ottawa on Saturday and stepped into the lineup after Lindgren was unable to go due to an upper-body injury. Mackey lit up Senators center Tim Stützle and had to answer to captain Brady Tkachuk.
In his Rangers debut and first NHL game since April 13, 2023, Mackey went punch-for-punch with one of the NHL’s most notorious tough guys.
“It gets the boys fired up, that’s for sure,” said Zac Jones, who led all defensemen with a goal and an assist in the win. “That was great ... I wasn’t expecting that to say the least.”
It led to a five-goal explosion in the middle frame for the Rangers, who tied the game and snagged the lead all within the span of 39 seconds — the type of scoring spurt the club has been on the receiving end of more often than not lately.
The Rangers were opportunistic and the bounces that seemed to evade them lately made up for lost time.
Artemi Panarin led the Rangers with three points, while Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafreniere, Mika Zibanejad and Jonny Brodzinski all posted two-point efforts.
Goalie Jonathan Quick, who made his 756th career start and moved into third all-time among American-born netminders, bailed the Rangers out on several occasions, especially in the first period.
If they were knocked off the puck and Ottawa came back the other way, Quick was there.
When Panarin’s cross-zone pass was intercepted, Quick made the stop.
But after K’Andre Miller coughed up the puck in the defensive zone, Tkachuk swooped in and put a backhander five-hole on Quick to open the scoring before Jacob Chychrun scored a power play goal early in the second period.
The Rangers managed to tighten up after that in order not to waste Quick’s 29-save effort.
“I don’t think it’s a secret, I think we’ve been talking about it, we’ve been talking about the struggle, talking about trying to work through it,” Zibanejad said. “You can talk all you want and I think we’ve played some good hockey, just hasn’t been there. We haven’t been able to execute and get us that type of win, but we did that tonight, so that was huge for us.”
President and general manager Chris Drury will have a lot of questions to ask himself about this Rangers team, including whether it’s worth it to go all in on this season and what that could mean for the future.
Roughly two months ago, the answers may have been simple. Now, not so much.
The Rangers’ season is not unsalvageable. Things are going to have to fall into place, however, for it to regain the potential it started with.
It’ll have to start with a deep breath over this All-Star break.
The Rangers should breathe a little easier after Saturday night.