Five losses in six games don’t have the New York Rangers giving up on the season just yet.
New York’s latest rut has dropped it to 17-20-1, but the Rangers remain feeling optimistic heading into a meeting with the host Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon.
A lot went wrong for New York on Saturday, when the Capitals rolled over the Rangers for a 7-4 victory. New York was within one goal, 5-4, after Mika Zibanejad scored at the 13:04 mark of the third period, but Washington responded emphatically and found the back of the net twice in the final six minutes.
Even though it’s been an underwhelming season thus far for the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners, Zibanejad insists the Rangers believe they can turn things around.
“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? What’s our option? What’s our option? Just say, ‘We’re done with the season?’ No, we can’t,” Zibanejad said. “I think we have a lot of faith in the guys that are here.”
And the only game that Zibanejad is choosing to focus on is the next one.
“We have no other option than try to stay positive, try to work,” Zibanejad said. “And just think about it: Tomorrow is a new day, a new opportunity to get two points, a new opportunity to get a win and that’s what we have to do.”
The new day presents New York with an opportunity to face a Chicago team that will be trying to put together its first winning streak since a three-game run from Dec. 15-19.
Following that strong stretch, the Blackhawks dropped five games in a row. However, they got back to their winning ways on Friday, doubling up the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 behind a pair of goals from Nick Foligno.
Foligno is hoping that one win turns to two, two turns to three, and so on.
“Huge, huge,” Foligno said of the victory over Montreal. “Just for our fans. We left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, ourselves mostly, in how we played in that Winter Classic (a 6-2 loss to St. Louis on Tuesday). We want to make sure we’re proud of the brand of hockey we’re putting out there, and that’s more the Blackhawk brand they’re expecting to see.
“We’ll fine-tune it and get a little bit better, but the momentum will hopefully carry over. Yeah, it was big to get one at home ice here. We have a nice little homestand, so let’s take advantage of it.”
Chicago center Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, is riding a six-game point streak thanks to an assist against the Canadiens. The 19-year-old now has 95 points (32 goals, 63 helpers) in 107 career games, giving him the second-most points by a teenager in franchise history.
Sunday marks the second meeting of the season between the teams. The Blackhawks edged New York 2-1 on Dec. 9. The Rangers have taken seven of their past nine games against Chicago, though.
–Field Level Media
