The time to string wins together is now, but the Rangers haven’t been able to do that since mid-November.
Friday night’s 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden counted as the fifth consecutive time the Blueshirts whiffed on an opportunity to stack three wins in a row, which deprived them of two crucial points with their surrounding teams in the Eastern Conference wild-card race dormant for the night.
It’s been more than three months since the Rangers won three in a row, from November 14-19, which marked their second-longest win streak of the season after they collected four straight as part of their 5-0-1 start to the 2024-25 campaign.
That happened to be just before a detrimental 4-15 stretch of the season the Rangers still are making up for as they push to make the playoffs.
The Rangers, who just last season won three or more in a row nine times (including a 10-game win streak), have put themselves in a precarious position where every win is vital and every loss is costly.
This latest loss will keep them four points out of the second wild card after Friday’s slate of games, with all the teams they’re competing with set to play Saturday.
This was just the latest example of the Rangers’ inability to carry any sort of momentum through this season.
January, of course, was their most successful month, with a 10-game point streak thrusting the Rangers back into contention. But not even that could undo all the damage done in the previous months.
The only remedy is for the Rangers to streak to the regular-season finish line as much as they can.
It must start with more than just two wins in a row.
The Rangers trailed early after Mika Zibanejad was called for tripping just 18 seconds in, sending Toronto on the first power play of the game.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s one-timer put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 at the 1:47 mark, which counted as the Blueshirts’ league-leading 11th time they’ve given up a goal within the first two minutes of a game so far this season.
Once they stabilized from the shorthanded stretch, however, the Rangers tied it up and ultimately outshot the visitors 16-5 through the opening 20 minutes.
Mika Zibanejad got a stick on Will Borgen’s feed for his ninth even-strength goal of the season.
Toronto found the back of the net in the second period, when William Nylander was credited for a goal that initially was not called as one. Replay showed the puck had crossed the line just 51 seconds into the middle frame, which gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead.
The Rangers managed to tie it while shorthanded from a Sam Carrick cross-checking penalty.
Will Cuylle finished a two-on-one rush with Zibanejad on his backhand to even the score up for a second time.
It didn’t take long for the Maple Leafs to regain the lead off some sloppy play in the Rangers zone.
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who made 14 saves in the loss, had his clearing attempt blocked before Auston Matthews fed Matthew Knies all alone in front for the 3-2 score.
