The Rangers embarrassed themselves in Buffalo tonight. New York allowed five goals in the first period, including four in a 6:23 span and three tallies in a span of 2:48 to end the first stanza down 5-0. Igor Shesterkin was pulled after allowing the fifth goal with Jonathan Quick going the rest of the way in an 8-2 defeat. But hey, the Rangers face the Penguins, who allowed eight goals to the Capitals on Saturday, today in Pittsburgh.

Game recap:






Rangers lineup in Buffalo:

Panarin-Miller-Smith
Cuylle-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Kreider-Zibanejad-Kaliyev
Brodzinski-Carrick-Rempe

Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Vaakanainen-Schneider

Shesterkin
Quick

Scratches: Vesey, Robertson
IR: Edström (lower-body injury)

A few thoughts:
1) The Rangers were pitiful and that's being kind. They certainly were not ready to play, allowing a goal 1:46 into the game and five goals in the first period. Buffalo won nearly all the 1:1 battles, which was a point made by Vincent Trocheck in the post-game interviews. In addition, Peter Laviolette called the team out for a lack of effort.

Please explain to me how players can lack effort, You are four points from a playoff spot. Most of the team, save for the six who played in the 4 Nations Face-Off, have been off for two weeks. I will say this as nicely as I can, wake the F up. If this continues, GM Chris Drury will have no choice but to see at the deadline, which is just six games away.

Some of the players spoke about poor execution, but Laviolette hinted at a simpler problem: Effort.

“This is not going to get us where we need to go, and we’ve got to digest that tonight. We’ve got to wake up tomorrow and be a determined group.”#NYR

— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) February 23, 2025

2) Shesterkin dropped to 1-5 in his past six starts in which he’s allowed a combined 24 goals. To give some additional context, per Vince Mercogliano, he has posted an .817 SV%, with no single game better than .885  New York made a run to get back in contention. Igor and the defense, though you need your big-money goalie to make big money saves when the team in front of him falters, He didn't and we saw the end result.

Jonathan Quick replaced Igor when the score was 5-0 with 1:39 left in the first. He wasn't much better, allowing three goals - all in the third - on 17 shots, including a bad one to Tage Thompson. Laviolette could go back to Shesterkin versus Pittsburgh, though I think Quick gets the nod.

Worse than that is what Mollie Walker reported. I don't care if you allow five goals on five shots in a few minutes of action, as a professional, your job is to speak with the media. Not doing so is a dereliction of duty and really bad optics. I get Shesterkin might be frustrated and upset, I don't care. When Henrik Lundqvist had a bad game, he spoke with the press. Grow up and do your job.

Igor Shesterkin was requested by media for postgame interviews, but the #NYR goalie did not come out

— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) February 23, 2025

3) Arthur Staple of the Athletic did a mail bag. I know not everyone has access. This tweet did a solid job of summarizing what was included. The most interesting parts are on the defense, Urho and Miller, since if both are back with Adam Fox, Braden Schneider and Will Borgen, all that remains is one spot, which could be the one next to Fox. Plus, he includes possible pairing targets with Vladislav Gavrikov his favorite to be signed.

https://t.co/c48fO2Powr

— J.T. MILLER 4 MVP (@BaldPanarin) February 22, 2025

Some tidbits from Arthur Staple’s newest #NYR mailbag:

1. Doesn’t believe they’ll entertain any pure rental trades at the deadline. But you could see another Borgen situation (acquire + extend).

2. Mentions 3C candidates such as Ryan McLeod and Trent Frederic.

3. Urho…

— J.T. MILLER 4 MVP (@BaldPanarin) February 22, 2025

4) For all the criticism leveled at Fox, which is warranted to a decent extent, I thought this was worth sharing. Dom Luszczyszyn breaks down his top-10 list for each of the major player awards. In the Norris Trophy race, he has Fox fifth, which likely comes as. shock to many of us. His rationale lends a whole new light on the season Fox is having, even though the ye test may not mirror the advanced metrics.

Adam Fox is here as usual and it feels like his season is flying under the radar given the state of the team around him. Fox is putting up career-high marks across the board in his relative on-ice impacts and has been a shining beacon amid an otherwise dim season for the Rangers. The team earns 57 percent of actual goals and 56 percent of expected goals with Fox on the ice this year, the latter of which is a career-best mark for Fox.

Fresh off the 4 Nations Face-Off, it’s time to check in for another NHL Awards Watch.

Aside from the Vezina Trophy, each race is still close enough that the finish could be exciting down the stretch.@domluszczyszyn breaks it all down https://t.co/w0VMdnBejj pic.twitter.com/EkdnkD87uJ

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 22, 2025

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