Rangers’ Defensive Struggles Continue In Loss To Jets

The New York Rangers have both some positives and negatives to take away from their 6-3 to the league leading Winnipeg Jets.

Through the past few games, the Rangers have had defensive troubles, and those struggles continued on Tuesday night.

Mark Scheifele scored less than a minute into the contest to give the Jets an early 1-0 lead. Quick starts for the opposition has been a common theme recently for the Rangers, something that has cost them dearly.

However, the Rangers did not let that derail them and throughout the night, New York went toe-to-toe with the red hot Jets.

Will Cuylle, Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko found the back of the net, while the Rangers were able to generate multiple high quality scoring chances and edged Winnipeg 36-33 in shots.

It was the Rangers’ defensive game that ultimately led to their downfall though.

Practically all of Winnipeg’s goals came from defensive mishaps and sloppy turnovers. It was almost as if the Rangers shot themselves in the foot.

“It just seems like we made mistakes inside of the game that cost us and it turned around quickly,” Peter Laviolette said. “There were a lot of isolated incidents out there where they are the top team in the league and they make you pay and they did that to us.”

Mika Zibanejad is a player who committed a couple of costly giveaways that led to goals. By watching the game, it was clear that Zibanejad did not have his best game, but Laviolette refused to put any of the blame on the veteran forward’s shoulders.

“I can’t speak for Mika and where he is at,” Laviolette said. “I know that we count on Mika and he is an impactful player for us. Sometimes when you are pushing offensively to make things happen, it goes the other way.”

The Rangers had some positive aspects to their performance that they can certainly be happy with.

It’s just the little details that this team needs to laser in on and that should come as time progresses.

The Rangers play next on Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks.