It’s as if the Rangers are going through a strange sleepwalk, staggering around and waiting to wake up on Tuesday morning.
Because all the time between now and Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline is going to be rife with distraction, the on-ice product looking like Friday night’s sleepy 4-1 loss to the Wild at the Garden, acted out with one eye on what’s happening and one eye on what is going to happen. And all the time off the ice is going to be spent thinking about how much more decimated this roster can actually get to play out the season.
Or, as coach Alain Vigneault said after his team’s sixth straight regulation loss, there exists the feeling right now that everyone’s “agendas” are going in different directions.
“The biggest difference is normally there is one agenda, and that’s the team’s agenda,” Vigneault said. “Right now, because of the situation, and because of how things unfolded, there are a few agendas out there, which are the circumstances we’ve decided to put ourselves into.”
That would be circling back to Feb. 8, the defining day of this season for these Rangers (27-30-5), when management stepped into the public spotlight and told the hockey world and their fans they are planning to rebuild with little to no restrictions. So the decisions they make now are the most important of this season — if not the next few seasons — starting with the trades of Nick Holden and Michael Grabner, and the expected upcoming deal for Rick Nash, who sat out for a second straight game in the name of precaution.
Captain Ryan McDonagh also waited things out while a possible trade was brewing, not wanting to push a return from his unspecified upper-body injury, which has kept him out since Feb. 9.
The Blueshirts did get Chris Kreider back from his 24-game absence from a blood clot that required rib resection surgery, and boy did he remind everyone how much they missed him. But it was hardly enough against the Wild (34-20-7), who did what so many teams have done this season and took advantage of the Rangers’ plethora of mistakes.
“We’re in a results-oriented business,” Vigneault said. “Everybody here wants to win. We came out tonight and guys were ready. In my mind, we worked hard, and we had some good time. We just weren’t able to make the plays that we needed to make to get something out of that.”
Vigneault went back to rookie goalie Alexandar Georgiev for the second game in as many nights, after the 22-year-old made his NHL debut in a 3-1 loss at Montreal on Thursday night. He followed it up with a 33-save performance that included a couple of really impressive stops — but he was unable to stop all of the terrific chances the Wild were afforded from the Rangers’ defensive breakdowns.
Minnesota got two goals from Mikael Granlund and two from Eric Staal. Jesper Fast did get the Rangers to within a 2-1 margin early in the second period, but it was never enough.
It’s clear the Blueshirts are struggling to deal with all that is going on around them. They have shown moments of energy, but when things have gone wrong, they have crumbled. They have lost 10 times in the past 12 games and have won just six times in the 23 games since the Winter Classic.
“It’s just frustrating,” defenseman Brady Skjei said. “You never complain, but it’s just, we’re right there in some of these games. It was 2-1 tonight, and just couldn’t seem to finish it. So just have to keep getting better here.”
What that means as an organization is getting better into the future. That is the plan the front office has put into full motion, and will continue to execute — as much as it has brutalized the on-ice product.
“Hopefully after Monday,” Vigneault said, “we’ll have a group of players here, one agenda, and work real hard.”