The New York Rangers are still urgently looking for solutions after trading their captain, Jacob Trouba, earlier this month. They aim to regain some consistency when they face the Florida Panthers on Monday evening in Sunrise, Florida.
Since trading Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks on December 6, New York has struggled, recording a 3-8-0 record in a roster overhaul that hasn’t sparked any improvement. They have lost three consecutive games and six out of their last seven, with a recent defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning, where they lost 6-2.
Head coach Peter Laviolette expressed his frustration: “We’re in the business of winning hockey games and we’re not getting it done right now, so it’s tough to sit here and tell you good things. We need to win hockey games and we’re not getting that done.”
Having reached the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three years last season, expectations were high for New York. Hopes of advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2014 surged after they improved to 12-4-1 with a victory over the Vancouver Canucks on November 19; however, they have not secured back-to-back wins since.
Rangers center Mika Zibanejad commented on their struggles: “Result-wise, this is not what we wanted. We can discuss resets and everything, but if the results aren’t there, it doesn’t matter.”
In the loss to the Lightning, the Rangers’ special teams faltered once again, failing to score on four power-play opportunities while allowing Tampa Bay to capitalize on two of their five chances.
“We’re not scoring on our power play, and we’re giving up goals, which puts us in a difficult position,” said Zibanejad. “It’s not about the effort or how we started; we need to generate better scoring chances. It’s frustrating.”
The Rangers will be up against a motivated Florida team, which has been unable to score in its last two games, marking the second occurrence this month.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice noted, “We are mainly playing on the perimeter, which contributes to our issues.” Florida’s latest defeat was a 4-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, where they failed to score against a debuting goalie, Jakub Dobes.
Forward Sam Bennett stated, “We won’t dwell on this loss; we’ll move forward. Mistakes happen, and it’s about how we support each other to correct them.”
For the Panthers, Sergei Bobrovsky will be the starting goalie. He has a strong record this month, with five wins in seven starts, a 2.24 goals-against average, and a .910 save percentage. Bobrovsky made 24 saves to secure a 3-1 win over the Rangers on October 24, and throughout his career, he has a record of 15-12-3 against New York, maintaining a 2.83 GAA and .908 save percentage.
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin was pulled after allowing five goals on 13 shots against the Lightning and previously lost to Florida in October, despite making 26 saves. In his history against the Panthers, he holds a record of 4-3-0, with a 2.87 GAA and a .915 save percentage.
This article originally appeared on Field Level Media.
