When there’s a determination, there’s a path forward. This sentiment was at the heart of captain J.T. Miller’s reflection on the Rangers’ ongoing challenges at the Garden, as they seek solutions to their perplexing home-court difficulties.
However, Mika Zibanejad offers a different perspective. Following the Rangers’ 4-1 defeat to the Lightning, which left them at 2-8-1 on home ground, Zibanejad expressed his belief that while effort and determination are crucial, they only address part of the issue.
To turn things around, the team must also recapture their offensive creativity and confidence.
“I’ve mentioned it before, and we’ve discussed it as well: we want to establish an environment here that’s tough for opponents to earn points,” Zibanejad explained after the Rangers’ recent loss, which ended their three-game winning streak that featured victories in Carolina and Boston. “Right now, we’re not generating that energy. Maybe it’s because we’re holding the stick too tight at this point.”
“But we’re just not taking any action. It feels lackluster. You can talk about will, you can talk about desire, but you just have to find a way to loosen up and play. At times, that’s how I feel. It’s not really hockey. We need to find a way to make plays and infuse a bit more swagger into our game.”
“But we’re just not doing anything. It just becomes meh. You can talk about will, you can talk about how much you want it, but, like, you just have to find a way to just let loose and just go play. That’s at least how I feel at times. It’s just not hockey. We have to find a way to make plays and play with a little more swag, honestly.”
When asked if he believed his team’s issue was more a matter of will or execution, first-year coach Mike Sullivan replied, “all of the above.”
But like Miller and others, Sullivan harped more afterward on “want” and willingness to win puck battles.
Still, to Zibanejad’s point, there was one instance in the second period in which winger Alexis Lafrenière was carrying the puck along the right wall through the neutral zone before dumping it into the Tampa Bay zone.
The play resulted in the Lightning retrieving the puck and breaking out on an odd-man rush that led to Brandon Hagel’s second goal of the game and a 2-0 Rangers hole.
“I didn’t think we had to dump it. I think we should have challenged off the rush there,” Sullivan said. “We’re trying to encourage Laf to challenge people, hang onto the puck, go wide, force that guy to defend you. That’s what we’re talking about, right, as far as establishing the game that we’re trying to play a little bit more.
“I didn’t think we had to put that one in [deep]. We put it in, but then we don’t go in with any sort of structure, and they make one play and it goes by us. I just think it boils down to execution and attention to detail. I just felt like in that particular instance, I would have liked to see Laf hold onto that puck and challenge wide. If he runs out of room, he can always lay it behind or bring people to it and then we can create some zone time. I felt like there was a fair amount of time that we gave it back to them when we didn’t have to.”
Saturday’s loss began a stretch of 8 of 11 games to be played at MSG, continuing Tuesday night against the Stars.
“There’s gonna be nights that you don’t have your best game,” Sullivan added, “but you have to find ways to compete.”
