Peter Laviolette didn’t speak for long following one of the Rangers’ worst losses of the season.
He didn’t need to.
In a postgame news conference that lasted less than a minute, following an ugly 3-2 home loss to the Penguins, the head coach called the team’s effort “unacceptable” and said the defeat was due to a lack of intensity.
Given where the Rangers are at this point — and with their playoff hopes dwindling — it was a brutal defeat.
After all, they were presented a golden opportunity to better their chances in the Eastern Conference playoff race against a Pittsburgh team that came to Madison Square Garden without the injured Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
The Rangers could not overcome a third-period deficit.
The Rangers, instead, delivered a dud.
The Rangers fell in a tight game to the Penguins on Friday night.
“We weren’t ready probably the first 40 [minutes],” Vincent Trocheck said. “We outplayed them in the third by a lot, but you can’t wait. … It’s inexcusable. We know where we’re at in the standings. We know we need every point. With two games left before the [4 Nations], we can’t have that happen.”
Laviolette clearly was furious with his team’s effort, especially in the first two periods, when they were outshot and outmuscled by a Penguins team lacking star power and out of playoff contention.
The Rangers entered the third period down by a goal, the same predicament they found themselves in the previous two games.
But instead of coming back again and earning their first three-game winning streak since mid-November, the Rangers were unable to muster another game-tying goal, despite outshooting the Penguins 10-0 in the final period.
Noel Acciari of the Pittsburgh Penguins checks Vincent Trocheck of the New York Rangers during Friday night’s action.
“If you dig yourself in a hole every third period, you’re gonna come out on the short end of some,” Adam Fox said. “It’s hard to play from behind. We’ve got to do a better job the first two periods, especially at this point, when two points are so important for us.”
The Rangers even had a pair of power plays late in the third and failed to capitalize.
In the end, the three goals allowed by Igor Shesterkin in the second period were too much to overcome, as they blew a game they led 2-1 early in the second after a Fox goal at 3:39.
Shoddy defense by the Rangers later in the period resulted in the Penguins’ second goal, as Rickard Rakell scored at 9:07 off a feed from Bryan Rust.
A Will Cuylle tripping penalty led to a power-play goal by Philip Tomasino, who beat Shesterkin with a one-timer off an assist from Rust to give Pittsburgh their first lead of the game, 3-2 at 11:59 in the second.
Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers deflects the puck during the second period when the New York Rangers played the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday, February 7, 2025 at Madison Square.
Trocheck had opened the scoring at 8:31 in the first period, and Shesterkin stopped all 10 shots that came his way in the first, but was dinged in a scrum in front of the net in the latter part of the period.
He briefly was checked by a trainer then stayed in the game.
Fox, when pressed about the possibility the Rangers may have taken the Penguins for granted without their two biggest names, said, “The perception can seem that way, [but] no one in here was thinking that with them missing those two it was gonna be an easy night. They’re a well-coached team, [with] good structure. It’s never easy playing against them, no matter who’s in the lineup [or] who’s not in the lineup.”
It was another painful loss for a Rangers team trying to make a late run at the playoffs, with little margin for error.
