These Rangers have far more questions than answers.
When that incongruity exists, the result is an abundance of platitudes and proclamations that begin to pile up into one big nothing.
Because it’s not easy for the players or coaches to explain the 10-game span of 2-6-2 that they will take into Tuesday night’s Garden match against the Oilers. Rather, it’s not easy to explain away, especially in light of the franchise-best start.
The day before Thanksgiving, the standings showed the first-place Blueshirts looking pristine at 16-3-2; now, humbled at 18-9-4, they’re in third place in the Metropolitan Division.
“I do believe that our record in the last 10 games, we’re playing better than our record indicates,” coach Alain Vigneault said after Monday’s practice in Westchester, where he revealed a handful of roster updates that have and will shake up his team in the coming week or two.
“Whereas prior, we weren’t playing as well but our record was real good. So I do believe we’re on the right track.”
That optimism can’t be easy to stomach when the Rangers have showcased previously unheard of defensive mistakes at every turn, compounded by a flurry of turnovers. Early on, it was being masked by wonderful goaltending from the duo of Henrik Lundqvist and Antti Raanta, along with the resolve of a veteran team that has learned nothing in the past four years of long postseason runs if not how to win in all different manners.
But now that the goaltending has come back to Earth at least somewhat, the mistakes are leading to losses — and the losses are starting to pile up.
“At the end of the day, this game is about winning,” Vigneault said. “We need our leaders to have their play do the talking. They need to lead by playing well. And I need to continue to challenge this group to play up to its potential. That’s what me and my staff are doing, challenging the group to play the right way. And I think it’s coming along.”
Vigneault said that although it won’t be Tuesday, forward Derek Stepan (ribs) and defenseman Kevin Klein (oblique) are now both technically “day-to-day” and are not ruled out for the Minnesota-Winnipeg trip that starts Thursday against the Wild. A message was also sent Monday when lumbering veteran forward Jarret Stoll was waived.
Stalwart defenseman Dan Girardi has swelling in his knee and will miss Tuesday’s game — which is almost a good thing considering the way his game had so precipitously dropped off, shockingly so since suffering the injury blocking a shot in Vancouver on Wednesday that was the beginning of a 0-2-1 swing through western Canada.
So there will be a to-be-determined call-up from AHL Hartford to play defense Tuesday, and there will be more responsibility heaped onto 23-year-old rookie blueliner Dylan McIlrath.
With the desperate need to turn things around, that sure is a lot of moving parts.
“I think for me and for anybody in this room, you just have to look at your own game and what you can do to raise your level to help this team get the next win,” Lundqvist said. “You don’t want to complicate it. You don’t want to over-think it. We’re doing a lot of good things, we just have moments throughout games we’ve been hurt.”
That has normally been when Lundqvist saved their tail, but he has given up 21 goals in his past seven games, two of which he was pulled from before they were over. They were hardly all his fault, but the foundation from which so many Rangers’ wins have been based — defense and goaltending — is beginning to shake.
“I think we believe in each other here, and we’re staying confident,” Lundqvist said. “Everyone knows it’s way more fun when you win. That’s where it starts to create a good atmosphere in the room, to reach your top level. I think it starts with winning.”