Rangers have no time to waste with fixing offense as they stare down Eastern Conference cellar
Panic is premature.But the writing on the ice is impossible to ignore.
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.The Rangers return home from a three-game road trip on a season-high four-game losing streak — most recently allowing Utah to end a four-game skid — and are just one point out of the Eastern Conference cellar.
On Wednesday, they begin a difficult seven-game stretch, featuring trips to Carolina, Boston and Ottawa, plus visits from Tampa Bay, Dallas, Colorado and Las Vegas.But first, the league’s worst home team (1-7-1) must get past the Blues on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.“There’s no time to waste,” defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov said after Saturday’s loss to the Mammoth.“Gotta just do a quick regroup and be ready for Monday.”Even if they are willing, will they be able?The Rangers are averaging 2.48 goals per game, which ranks 28th in the NHL and would be the team’s lowest-scoring average in 17 years.
They have consistently failed to produce quality chances — getting outshot a combined 137-79 during the losing streak — and have repeatedly struggled to cash in their limited opportunities, ranking 29th in shot percentage (9.3), which would be the team’s worst mark in seven years.While continuing to remain competitive because of the brilliance of Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick, the Rangers (10-11-2) have scored just nine goals in the past five games.Just five have come during five-on-five play.“We’ve got to find a way to start creating chances again,” Mika Zibanejad said.
“For the first part of the season, we were creating chances, just couldn’t finish it off.Right now I feel like we’re not getting as many chances as we would like.
We try to address it.We try to talk about it.
But we just have to keep going.We have to keep finding a way to get a little bit more ‘O’-zone time and generate from ...