New York Rangers Coach Backs His Team as Calgary Loss Raises Various Questions

Another tough night for the Rangers as the Flames rolled into MSG and stole a 2-1 win. Artemi Panarin got things started early, extending his 10-game point streak with a slick wrister off a feed from Urho Vaakanainen. But that was about it for the good news. Nazem Kadri punched in a rebound to tie it, and Long Island native Matt Coronato buried a power-play goal to put Calgary ahead. The second period? Rough—just three shots on goal, none in the last 11 minutes.

Chris Kreider had a golden chance on the third, but Dan Vladar shut the door. Igor Shesterkin kept the Rangers in it with a huge pad save on Jonathan Huberdeau, but the offense never found its rhythm. With Montreal winning, the New York Rangers slipped back in the wild-card race, leaving fans frustrated. But Coach Laviolette isn’t panicking—he’s backing his squad, knowing they’ll bounce back.

The New York Rangers shared a post-game video on YouTube, and naturally, all eyes were on Peter Laviolette as he fielded questions about the team’s struggles. A journalist pointed out the trend—turnovers, trouble advancing the puck, and games where things just don’t seem to click. “Is there a randomness? I mean, it seems like there’s been several games where they fall into the trap of struggling to advance the puck… turnovers showed up a lot last night.” Maybe it’s fatigue? Maybe just bad luck?

Laviolette didn’t sugarcoat it. “Yeah, I mean, if you had a crystal ball and you knew in advance, you certainly would hit that even harder.” He acknowledged the frustration but was quick to defend his squad, emphasizing that despite the tough breaks, “we talk about the things that make us successful, and I think we played a better brand of hockey for the last four games with a couple of disappointing results ‘cause it didn’t go our way.”

Laviolette made it clear that the team isn’t backing down. “The guys were doing the right things and giving ourselves a chance to be successful.” Could they have done something different? Maybe, but you can’t fix what you don’t see coming. “If you’d known in advance about last night, you could have done something different.” Instead, they adjusted on the fly—“you’re trying to address it on the bench, in between periods”—but sometimes, the game just doesn’t tilt in your favor. Still, Laviolette stood firm: the Rangers are sticking to their game plan, battling through, and it’s only a matter of time before things start swinging their way.

Well, this wasn’t their first stumble. Just before this latest heartbreak, the Rangers took another hit when Leon Draisaitl stretched his point streak to 18 games, dishing out an assist as the Oilers skated away with a 3-1 win at Madison Square Garden. But if there’s one thing about their coach, he’s never one to dodge tough conversations. Just like before, he didn’t shy away from addressing the bumps in the road, standing firm in the face of yet another frustrating loss.