The New York Rangers suffered a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night, losing their identity in the process.
Leading into Thursday night’s game, the Rangers had prided themselves on playing a well-structured defensive game that brought them early-season success, helping them weather the storm without Igor Shesterkin, who suffered a season-ending injury on Oct. 9.
The Blueshirts put out one of their more sound and steady defensive performances of the season on Monday night, en route to a decisive 5-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
However, the Rangers were unable to carry that performance to Toronto, as they were under siege from the opening puck drop, with Easton Cowan scoring a goal less than two minutes into the contest.
“It was a little bit of a track meet,” Adam Fox said of the flow of the game.
A track meet is a good way to describe the flow of the game. Both teams continued to trade high-quality scoring chances and goals, which is not how the Rangers had secured their seven victories this season.
New York gave up a season-high 35 shots, and despite hanging around in the game with goals from Mika Zibanejad, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Tye Kartye, and Alexis Lafrenière, their faulty defensive play continued to put them in a hole throughout the contest and ultimately did them in.
In the final minute, with the score tied 4-4, the Rangers’ defense broke down in their own zone, leading to the game-winning goal from Troy Stecher with 26.3 seconds remaining.
"We get beat twice going around the net, and then we lose our ice balance,” Sullivan said on Toronto’s game-winning goal. “We left the whole far side of the rink open.”
Dylan Garand, who gave up five goals in a game for the first time in his young NHL career, made a total of 30 saves and was praised by Sullivan for giving the Rangers “a chance,” despite not looking his sharpest on some of the Maple Leafs' goals.
Sullivan pointed toward the Rangers’ lack of defensive structure for their downfall in Toronto, something he believes was “uncharacteristic of this group,” given the well-structured identity they have been trying to build and have shown for much of the season thus far.
“I just didn’t like our overall game,” Sullivan said. “We weren’t stiff enough. “We didn't play with the structure that we need to play with. You know the types of chances we gave up were high. You know we got some chances at the other end, but it was for me it was a loose game. It's not a game conducive to winning.”
The Rangers will be back in action on Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators, hoping to bounce back.