LOS ANGELES — It has been an oddity this season, going into a visiting dressing room and seeing the Rangers all distraught.
But the best road team in the Eastern Conference since the start of last season (34 wins), as well as since Alain Vigneault took over as head coach in 2013-14 (106 wins), is struggling away from the Garden.
Following two consecutive losses to start this four-game western swing, they are now 7-11-2 this season off Broadway. They had played so few road games to start the season that it seemed like there wasn’t enough of a sample size to say it was a problem. But now that they have played 20 away from home — still tied for the second-fewest going into Monday — they are aware they need to change the trend.
Following their 4-2 loss to the Kings on Sunday night, the team had a day off Monday before returning to action with Tuesday’s game in Anaheim before the trip wraps up with a game in San Jose on Thursday.
“We have a nice day off to let it sink in,” J.T. Miller said after Sunday’s game, “then get ready for another big opponent.”
Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk underwent successful surgery on Monday in New York to repair the torn meniscus in his left knee. Shattenkirk will remain out indefinitely, but he reiterated his desire to return this season in an Instagram post before the procedure.
“Thank you to everyone for all of the warm wishes, especially the Rangers fans,” he wrote. “I’m determined to get back out with my teammates as soon as possible! Let’s go @nyrangers #roadtorecovery.”
When Jimmy Vesey scored his 10th goal of the season on Sunday, the Rangers became the only team in the league with eight players who have 10 or more goals this season. He joined Michael Grabner (20), Mika Zibanejad (14), Pavel Buchnevich (13), Rick Nash (13), Chris Kreider (11), Kevin Hayes (10) and Miller (10).
The Rangers power play went 1-for-4 against the Kings over 7:53 of man-advantage time, and it is now 4-for-13 (30.8 percent) over the past six games. The one goal on Sunday came from David Desharnais, and got recently called-up defenseman Tony DeAngelo an assist, his second career power-play point.
DeAngelo has slid into the point on the second unit while captain Ryan McDonagh has taken over for Shattenkirk on the first.