The Rangers haven’t had too many games this season worthy of the excrement-based descriptions of head coach Gerard Gallant and star winger Artemi Panarin after Friday’s ugly 3-0 loss to the Islanders.
The news from the day after was also fitting, as Rangers addressed and vowed to fix that non-performance while only looking ahead to Sunday’s home game against the runaway Flyers.
“I do not want to talk about it [Friday] night, but we talked about it briefly. … Sometimes it takes a little longer. It dragged on a bit longer this morning,” Gallant said after Saturday’s practice in Tarrytown. “Honestly it’s 82 games and the way I see it, the quicker I forget things the better.
“But like I said, some games like [Friday] At night it lasts a little longer and burns a little more.”
Gallant had dubbed the Rangers’ lifeless game a “horses-t” after the Islanders halted their division rivals’ four-game winning streak. Panarin had similarly said through an interpreter that the team collectively soiled their pants, or something like that.
The Rangers were during their 3-0 loss to the Islanders. Corey Sipkin dead
A day later, however, there weren’t as many scatological or colorful quotes from the Rangers (44-20-5), who only focused on earning two points against the Flyers, who played Toronto on Saturday night.
“We’re on our way to Philly. We have 13 games left in the year and it’s a crucial time for us to make sure our game is in top form and we’re playing as well as we can, our habits are good and we’re competitive,” veteran winger Barclay told Goodrow. “We have 13 games left in the season to get our game going in the right direction and feel confident.
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“We learn from it and move on. We take the things we weren’t happy about and fix them and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Noting that the Blueshirts had won six of their previous seven contests — including impressive road wins in Tampa Bay, Carolina and Pittsburgh and another home decision over the Penguins — defenseman Adam Fox agreed the team’s poor showing against the Islands was considered slip-ups as long as they return to the style that has made them so successful against some of the league’s top teams.
“Sure. I think we did a good job all year reacting after games where we didn’t do our best,” Fox said. “We didn’t really string together too many bad efforts in a row. So just another one you throw away and move on to [next] Game.”
Gallant could make a few staffing changes or line refreshes Sunday night, potentially adding post-deadline-acquired former Flyers defenseman Justin Braun or the recently scraped Julien Gauthier, who ran alongside third-line drivers Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil on Saturday. Ryan Strome has also been training and is “definitely a possibility” to play after missing the last three games with a lower body injury.
Gallant added he hopes Friday’s miserable defeat can serve as a reminder to his team of the effort required in every game.
“We were talking about a stinker [Friday] night and we had a stinker. They know that,” Gallant said. “The games against Pittsburgh that we played, that’s how we have to play. If we want to be successful, we have to play like this.
“And [Friday] Night, obviously we didn’t do that. It wasn’t even close. But like I said, that’s in the past and we’ll move on. We have 13 games left and we’ll see where we go.”