It feels like it’s been ages since the Rangers were the top team in the NHL, even though it was just last season.
Because despite having close to the exact same team as that Presidents’ Trophy-winning campaign, the Blueshirts — since they got back to full strength three weeks ago — have not come close to resembling the squad that dominated most of 2023-24.
That has been apparent for a while.
But with the best team in the NHL so far this season, the Jets, at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, it was obvious that the Rangers did not measure up in an empty net-abetted 6-3 loss.
“We go out on the first shift and we were going right away, I thought we were on point and it just seemed like we make a mistake inside of the game and it ends up costing us,” head coach Peter Laviolette said after the loss. “It turns around quick. There’s a lot of isolated incidents out there where right now they’re the top team in the league and they make you pay. They’re scoring a lot of goals and they did that to us.”
It was one of the better performances the Rangers have had in the last eight games, but it had to be with the hottest team in the league coming to their house just five days after they were embarrassed there by the Sabres in a five-goal defeat.
The Jets came into the night on a six-game winning streak, fresh off setting a new NHL record after winning their 14th game in their first 15 of the season.
Plus, they had the sharpest goalie in the league right now in Connor Hellebuyck behind them.
The task was always going to be a lofty one, but the issues that have plagued the Rangers lately — poor puck management and sloppy breakouts — were the difference.
Mika Zibanejad had a particularly tough night amid a stretch where the Rangers’ No. 1 center has not looked like himself.
Three of his turnovers directly led to Jets goals.
There was also a moment at the beginning of the middle frame when the Swedish center briefly left the game.
Zibanejad’s teammates noticed something was wrong, a trainer escorted him off the ice and talked to him on the bench before he went to the room briefly.
The 31-year-old returned shortly after, but the Rangers continued to be hampered by his insufficient play.
“He came back and played, I think he took a minute,” Laviolette said about the peculiar sequence. “I think he was gone, off the bench for just a minute and then came back and maybe missed one shift.”
The Rangers may have started off with more pop than they had in the previous few games, with Chris Kreider ringing one off the post on the first shift of the game, but poor puck management from Zibanejad in the Rangers zone cost the home team the first goal of the game less than a minute in.
It was then the Jets’ NHL-best power play versus the Rangers’ league-leading penalty kill.
Special teams was one of several litmus tests the Rangers were facing in the game, and the Jets came out on top.
After K’Andre Miller’s failed clearing attempt during Winnipeg’s second man-advantage opportunity, some nifty stick work from Gabriel Vilardi got the puck behind Miller and the Jets forward buried a 2-on-0 with some help from Kyle Connor.
It was just the second power-play goal the Rangers had allowed in their last 25 shorthanded stretches.
The Rangers managed to capitalize on their second power play, as well, when Alexis Lafreniere joined the first unit and blasted one from the top of the zone to knot the game at 2-all.
“It’s a huge part of the game, if you get one or two it changes the game and same for them,” Braden Schneider said. “They have a really good kill and I thought their goalie was also really good tonight, too.”
The Jets managed to take a two-goal lead just over a minute into the final frame, but the Rangers had a much better offensive response than they have lately.
Just 32 seconds after Mark Scheifele scored his second of the game, Kaapo Kakko battled for position in front and swept in a rebound off a long shot from Schneider to make it a one-goal game again.
Winnipeg then put the game away on a hustle play from Vladislav Namestnikov after he failed to convert on a 2-on-1 rush with Nikolaj Ehlers.
Namestnikov stayed with the play, scooped up the puck and put it in before Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin could get back in the net.
Tuesday marked the second time in the last three games the Rangers have given up six goals.
“We need to help our goalies more,” Filip Chytil said. “Because five goals or six goals is still a lot. We just have to work on it every day now until it’s going to be — not perfect — but at least way better than right now.”
