The New York Rangers’ demise began in late November and lasted for a little over a month.
After spending months trying to catch up and get back into playoff contention, the situation is growing dire for the Rangers as they host the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.
The Rangers (36-34-7, 79 points) were 12-4-1 through Nov. 19 but then dropped 15 of 19 in an ugly slide.
After going on a 10-game points streak in January, the results are middling for the Rangers, who will enter their penultimate home game facing at least a six-point deficit behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card spot entering play on Tuesday.
The final contest of New York’s 10-game points streak was a 6-1 rout of the Flyers on home ice on Jan. 23. Since then, the Rangers are 12-14-3 in their past 29 contests and even worse of late.
The Rangers briefly moved into playoff position on March 15 following a 4-0 road win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Since then, however, they are 3-6-1 in their past 10 after collapsing defensively in a span of 1:45 in the first period on home ice when the Tampa Bay Lightning scored three times from near the net to send the Rangers to a 5-1 loss on Monday night.
It was New York’s second straight loss by at least four goals and 11th this season. The latest occurred as the Rangers finished with 39 shots on goal and only saw Mika Zibanejad score a power-play goal, giving them four goals in their past 55 chances over the past 20 games.
New York also allowed three power-play goals for the second straight game and opponents are 8-for-19 on the man advantage in the past six games.
“We’ve got to win the games,” New York leading scorer Artemi Panarin said. “We’re not doing that. If we keep playing like that, we’ll miss the playoffs.”
“It’s no longer a waiting it out kind of thing, where we win a game and wait to see what they do,” Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski said. “We have to win out and we need help, too. It (stinks) to be in this position.”
The Flyers (31-37-9, 71 points) are playing their fifth game since firing coach John Tortorella and replacing him with Brad Shaw on March 27.
Philadelphia was within four points of the second wild card following a 2-1 road win over the Winnipeg Jets but went into a 2-10-1 tailspin to fall out of contention as Tortorella expressed a reluctance about presiding over a rebuilding team.
Under Shaw, the Flyers are 3-1-0 and scored 17 goals in those games — five fewer than the tailspin under Tortorella.
Philadelphia saw a three-game winning streak halted when its road losing streak reached six games (0-5-1) with a 3-2 loss at Montreal on Saturday after it allowed three goals in the third period to get eliminated from postseason contention for the fifth straight season.
“You’re up by one going into the third on the road so I think that’s a good situation, I think any team would take that,” Philadelphia goalie Samuel Ersson said. “So obviously it (stinks). We couldn’t find a way to get the win.”
Tyson Foerster scored a power-play goal and has three goals since the coaching change after not scoring in his previous 14 games. Ryan Poehling also scored for the fourth time since the coaching change and has seven goals in his past eight games.
Also playing well for the Flyers is rookie Matvei Michkov, who scored four times in a modest six-game points streak before Saturday.
–Field Level Media
