After three straight home games without a goal to open the season — a drought no other team in NHL history has endured — the Rangers finally got some good news: They won’t be back at Madison Square Garden until Monday.
They got blanked at the Garden by Pittsburgh in the season opener and suffered back-to-back shutout defeats to Washington and Edmonton this week and heard boos as their loss to the Oilers ended Wednesday.
But the Rangers continue to point to the number of chances they’ve generated, their solid defensive play and the fact it’s just three games at home as reasons to not make any significant changes.
And perhaps best of all, their next two games are on the road, Thursday in Toronto and Saturday at Montreal. The Rangers have outscored opponents 10-1 in two games away from the Garden.
“We’re generating a lot of high-quality looks and I do believe if we continue to generate the type of chances we have the last couple games, the puck will go in the net for us,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said following practice Wednesday in Tarrytown. “I think we have a number of people in our lineup that are pretty talented guys that have shown the ability to score. I believe they will.”
So don’t expect any eye-popping moves in the coming games.
“We’ve just got to stay the course here,’’ said Sullivan, in his first season behind the bench for the Rangers. “Are there areas where we can improve and get better to try to help that finishing ability? For sure. But it’s a really small sample size.’’
And that’s the message he and his staff have relayed to the Rangers, who are well aware of their lack of scoring at home, despite getting plenty of shots on goal and good chances.
“These guys care an awful lot,” Sullivan said. “They’re invested. They want to win and they want to score. Our offensive people want to score goals. They know the team relies on them to score goals, so when the puck doesn’t go in the net, it’s easy for things like doubt to creep in and that’s where we have to be vigilant.’’
Because he doesn’t want those goal scorers to alter the way they’re playing.
“I think the players deserve credit for their effort,’’ the coach said. “They’re a resilient group. We want to sustain the enthusiasm we have around the group. We’ve got to continue to dig in and we’ll find ways to score.”
Alexis Lafrenière, who has just one goal through the team’s first five games, said he and his teammates aren’t letting the scoreless streak at home affect their play while on the ice.
“We’re trying to score,’’ Lafrenière said. “And we’re playing well, even if we can’t score right now. We’re gonna have success.’’
He acknowledged the drought is tough to take.
“It’s frustrating,” Lafreniere said. “We have a lot of chances and it doesn’t go in, but we’ve talked about playing the right way and that’s what we’re doing right now. If we play like that consistently, they’re gonna start to go in and we’ll get better.”
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
And perhaps getting back on the road will help.
“We’re just trying to play hockey,’’ Lafreniere said. “We want to score a bunch of goals. It hasn’t been like that, but you stay positive and they’ll go in eventually. If we play the
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
