The New York Rangers suffered a gut-wrenching 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
Without both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Rangers were still outplayed by the Penguins through two periods.
Despite not giving up a single shot in the third period down 3-2, the Rangers were unable to capitalize on their chances including two power plays in the last ten minutes en route to a deflating defeat.
Peter Laviolette’s postgame press conference lasted under 40 seconds as he did not hide his disdain for the Rangers’ performance.
“That’s unacceptable,” Laviolette said about the loss.
The Rangers have entered the third period down by one goal in each of the last three games. Over the two previous matchups, they were able to rally their way back, but on Friday night their luck ran out.
“You dig yourself in a hole every third period, you’re going to come out on the short end of some of it,” Adam Fox said. “It’s hard to play from behind. We have to do a better job in the first two periods, especially when points are so important for us.”
With the Blueshirts in a heated playoff battle, these kinds of performances are simply unacceptable. Every game and every point matters at this point with the Rangers running out of time to turn things around.
The Rangers will be back in action on Saturday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
