New York Rangers head coach Peter Lavished has a strong message for his team, on what is likely to be their last practice on Wednesday.
Despite it being clear that the New York Rangers are missing the playoffs, the team's morale seemed to be good according to Remy Mastey of the TheHockeyNews. Now the team is left with no choice but to push through and play one final game.
Surprisingly, the New York Rangers played a lot better than have on Monday night as they faced off against the Florida Panthers a pull an incredible comeback to win 5-3.
However, during Wednesday practice, the Rangers seemed more relaxed and calm towards one another.
Peter Laviolette issues unexpected statement regarding the New York Rangers final game
«You want to win hockey games,» Peter Laviolette said. «You feel better when you win than when you lose, that's for sure regardless of the circumstance. In practice, we wanted to compete today. We worked on the power play a bit. Wanted to get the guys back on the ice and get ready for tomorrow.»
Despite the Rangers failing to make the playoffs after this disastrous season, it allows everyone on the team to chill out and play without freely, which we seen during the Rangers recent win against the Panthers.
Ultimately, at the end of the day the Rangers have no one to blame by themselves for their shortcomings, and Laviolette has been pretty transparent about that since the team was eliminated from the playoffs.
However, Peter Laviolette still wants his team to finish the season on high note, and take the right path heading into next season:
«Nobody wants to be here,» Laviolette said of the Rangers' current situation. «It is what it is, this is where we are at, this is the reality of it. Your choices are pretty limited. Either you don't put in the effort, you don't play well, and lose the game, feel lousy about it or you go down to Florida like we did and you play hard, you win a game. It doesn't have the meaning you want it to, but there are still only two roads that you can go down. We need to choose the right road.»
The Rangers will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning for their final game of the season, game 82, at 7:00PM.
