Sustaining success has not been the Rangers’ forte so far this season.
Whether it’s building on a valiant win or a strong period, the Blueshirts have consistently failed to deliver. Their 3-1 loss to the Hurricanes Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden counted as the 10th time the Rangers followed a win with a loss this season.
Head coach Peter Laviolette and the rest of the team have repeatedly stressed the importance of stringing not just wins together, but 60 minutes of play they can feel good about.
Every effective frame seems to be followed by an egregious imbalance of shots on goal.
Every solid victory followed by colossally disappointing efforts.
Every time a glimmer of hope for a turnaround has sparkled, the Rangers have found ways to dull it.
The last time the Rangers won two games in a row was Nov. 17 and 19, which came just before this 4-12 stretch that has watched the club drop to sixth in the Metropolitan Division and 22nd in the NHL.
The last time they won on home ice was Dec. 6.
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That has left the Rangers five points out of a playoff spot before Sunday night’s slate of games.
The Rangers’ drop-off from the first to the second period was evident.
Getting outshot 16-8 and barely generating much possession time through the middle frame, the Blueshirts fell behind 2-1 after building a first-period lead with a spirited effort.
They’ve had a tough time staying out of the box the last few games, and it proved costly Sunday afternoon.
Just as the Hurricanes’ second power play expired, William Carrier buried a rebound off a Jaccob Slavin shot to knot the game at one-all at the 9:12 mark of the second period.
Alexis Lafreniere was then hit with a double-minor high-sticking penalty to give Carolina a four-minute man-advantage.
The game of inches has not been kind to the Rangers in weeks, but the team hasn’t exactly fought for their space, either.
Two seconds before the Canes power play expired, Dmitry Orlov found Jack Roslovic backdoor for the 2-1 lead. It was the one-time Ranger’s 14th goal of the season.
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who finished with 28 saves on 30 shots, came so close to intercepting Orlov’s feed.
The Rangers pieced together one of their better starts this season on Sunday, coming out hard and scoring 17 seconds into the game.
Chasing down a puck to generate a rush opportunity, Jimmy Vesey dished it out to Chad Ruhwedel before the Rangers defenseman sent it right back to him for a deflection past Hurricanes goalie Pyotre Kochetkov.
Ruhwedel’s assist on the play counted as his first ever point with the Rangers.
It was the Rangers’ fastest goal to start a game since Mika Zibanejad scored 10 seconds into a game in Anaheim on Dec. 14, 2019.
