Rangers have big questions to answer after embarrassing loss to Sabres

The New York Rangers entered Saturday’s game at the Buffalo Sabres on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture and quickly running out of time to get themselves back in it. They did not do themselves any favors in that quest with an ugly, embarrassing 8-2 loss to a Buffalo team that has the worst record in the conference.

The truly disappointing thing for the Rangers? It was a rout from the opening shift, allowing five goals in the first period and watching as superstar goalie Igor Shesterkin was pulled.

The eight goals against were the most they have allowed in a game all season, while the loss did not allow them to gain any ground in a playoff race that still has three teams between them and a spot.

While the four-point deficit they are facing might not seem like a lot to overcome with still a quarter of the season to play, the reality is that it is a lot to make up. Especially with multiple teams ahead of them. 

Now management has to deal with some big questions as to what they do between now and the NHL’s trade deadline on March 7. 

When the team decided to acquire J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks a couple of weeks ago it seemed to send the message they were not ready to throw in the towel on this season and were still committed to making the playoffs. But the Miller acquisition was far from a cure-all, and after Saturday’s loss, the team is just 3-3-0 since acquiring him. His addition also does nothing to fix the team’s issues on defense, and only adds another big-money player on the wrong side of 30. 

Given the assets they already gave up to acquire Miller (Filip Chytil as well as a first-round draft pick) is it really worth it for them to keep spending long-term assets on a team that does not appear to be going anywhere this season? The Rangers have to be sensible about this and understand the reality of the situation they are facing.

As of Saturday, the current pace needed for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference is around 90 points. For the Rangers to reach the 90-point mark they would need 32 points in their remaining 26 games. That would be a .615 points pace the rest of the way for a team that has only played at a .518 pace through the first 56 games. That is assuming the point limit does not raise with other teams playing better. 

The practical move might be to sell ahead of the trade deadline.

The other question is if they keep relying on head coach Peter Laviolette to fix it. Firing him might seem like a knee-jerk reaction given that he was just hired a year ago and won the Presidents’ Trophy in his first season. But this season has quickly gone from disappointing to embarrassing. They entered the year with Stanley Cup expectations, and now might not even make the playoffs. Young players have not developed. None of the flaws that existed in previous seasons have been fixed. The team keeps getting worse. 

The Rangers get a chance to bounce back on Sunday afternoon against a Pittsburgh Penguins team that just lost at home 8-3 to the Washington Capitals on Saturday. If the Rangers lose that game as well it might really make these questions easy to answer for Rangers management.