34-17-9

From a fantastic 7 Game win streak (and points in 10 games) directly into falling down and skidding into a wall. The overtime loss to Calgary was a rally that didn’t make it all the way. The loss to Winnipeg could be argued that the Rangers didn’t play poorly, the other goalie stood on his head and spun around like a tornado to make ridiculous save after ridiculous save. The loss to Detroit was crap and then to Washington was embarrassing (they were on a 6 game losing streak!).

The defense just…stopped playing defense. Terrible passes all over the place, bad penalties, and more turnovers that led to odd-man rushes than you should ever need to count. Shesterkin frequently looked like he was being surprised by shots coming at him which is bizarre to see (which is an understatement).

That brings us to the Sunday game versus the LA Kings. The Rangers team showed up for this one, thankfully. 5-2 win against an excellent team. Everyone contributed, the defense in particular was flying all night. Trouba played possibly his best game of the season. Trocheck has been the best forward all week and he nabbed 2 goals in this one that gave the team a huge early boost. I hope he keeps up his play…the schedule for March is a gauntlet.

There are days left before the trade deadline and it looks like the Rangers’ front office is moving mountains to make a huge, final deal. The remainder of the regular season is going to be nuts. There are very close races in every division.