Four nights removed from another rough performance, the New York Rangers hope a few days of extra rest and practice can get them trending upward Friday night when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are on a season-high four-game winning streak.
The Rangers are 1-6-0 in their past seven games while getting outscored 26-11 in those losses, including 9-2 in the first period. New York stopped a five-game losing streak Saturday when Kaapo Kakko scored with 24 seconds left in a 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens, but there was little carryover Monday night.
In a 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, the Rangers allowed two goals in the first 7:10 and trailed by four before Chris Kreider scored a power-play goal in the second. New York took 39 shots on goal but had 27 others blocked and made numerous mistakes that led to plenty of open ice for the Devils.
Two days later, the Rangers spent a roughly 60-minute practice working on various drills, including ways to counter turnovers in the neutral zone.
“A couple days of practice and guys working together, you’d like to think that it can have some positive impact on the game coming up,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said.
The Rangers also continued to tweak their lines. The opening night top line of Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith was reunited, while Filip Chytil was skating with Will Cuylle and Kakko. Artemi Panarin (maintenance) skated on his own and did not practice but is expected to play on a line with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere.
The lengthy practice and continued tweaks to the forward lines occurred a day after Laviolette reiterated his belief in a group that won the President’s Trophy and reached the Eastern Conference finals last season.
“I believe the answers are in that room,” Laviolette told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “There’s things we can do better, that we have to do better in order to be successful. But the only ones to get us out of where we’re at right now are ourselves. So we have to focus on that.”
The Penguins allowed three goals in the opening period en route to a 6-0 home loss against the Rangers on Opening Night. That ugly showing was part of a 3-7-1 start, but Pittsburgh is 8-5-3 in its past 16 games.
The Penguins have scored 18 goals during their current winning streak, with three of the four victories coming by one goal, including Tuesday’s overtime win over the visiting Florida Panthers.
Bryan Rust scored 1:31 into overtime to give Pittsburgh a 5-4 victory over Florida after the Penguins blew a 4-1 lead in the third period. Evgeni Malkin also scored and set up Rust’s game-winner. Sidney Crosby added an assist, while Blake Lizotte had two helpers in a game where Pittsburgh was outshot 41-16.
“I think it’s just the mindset of the group,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I just think we have a different feeling on the bench. If we give up a couple goals in the third period like we did, when you look at the way the game is played, we were fortunate to be up a couple of goals.
“What I liked about the group is no one got rattled. There was great conversation on the bench amongst the players.”
