Postgame takeaways: NY Rangers get run out of New Jersey (again)

NEWARK – As spring allergies kick in for many of us, the Rangers are fighting a different kind of aversion.

They’re allergic to three-game winning streaks.

Saturday's 4-0 loss to the Devils at Prudential Center ensured the drought would continue, with these bumbling Blueshirts failing to string together three straight victories at any point since Nov. 14-19. That disparaging run has spanned 58 games, for those counting at home.

Their Hudson River rival dashed those hopes, despite missing their best player (Jack Hughes) and top defenseman (Dougie Hamilton) due to injuries. New York has now been outscored by a combined 9-0 margin in two games on New Jersey soil this season, leaving the road team feeling as exasperated as ever.

"It's not a lack of trying. It's not lack of caring. I think it just becomes frustrating," said Mika Zibanejad, who was raw and emotional while seated in the visitor's locker room. "The opposite of what's happening to us now is when you're on a roll. When you're on a roll, you'll find a way. Somehow, right now, we're finding a way to lose, and it sucks. It sucks, especially in our situation. We need every point. We need every win. We're chasing, and we’re not helping ourselves."

The Rangers (36-33-7) entered as winners of two in a row, but they can't maintain a modicum of momentum in a season that's felt doomed for months. And their playoff odds are dwindling with each humbling result.

They're two games behind the Montreal Canadiens for the Eastern Conference's second and final wild card with six games to play, but that deficit could increase before the day is through. The Habs will have a chance to pad their lead against the Flyers on Saturday evening, while the Blue Jackets could tie New York with a win over the Maple Leafs. Columbus will finish the day with a game in hand, as well.

The race undoubtedly remains close, but what has this team done to inspire confidence they can rally?

'I have nothing new'

Zibanejad was attempting to evaluate the game when he cut himself off, seemingly annoyed with his own inability to find answers.

"I feel like I'm just saying the same thing over and over again," he blurted out. "Honestly, I have nothing new. I don't even know how make it interesting for you to listen to. I feel like it's not bad the whole 60 minutes, but it’s collapses in the game where something happens and we…"

The veteran center trailed off, but his inference was clear.

The Rangers, who set a franchise record for comeback wins last season and for years prided themselves on never quitting, now seem to fold at the hint of adversity.

Zibanejad lamented how they escaped a "meh" first period locked in a scoreless tie and started the second with a fleeting stretch of improvement, then wilted as soon as the Devils went ahead on Timo Meier's power-play goal.

"When you get an opportunity on the road against a good team and it’s 0-0 after the first, you have a chance," he said. "I think we did a lot of good things in the second, but honestly, it doesn't really matter."

No. 93 is among the primary culprits, with his disappearing act in the first half of the season a major reason why the Rangers have plummeted in the standings.

He was a non-factor Saturday and has only two points in his last nine games, putting him on pace to finish with his lowest points-per-game average in seven seasons.

The losing is weighing heavily on him, as it is on so many of them, creating a feeling of dejection that's spread through the locker room like a virus. But if they come up short on their quest for the playoffs − and, quite frankly, even if they squeak their way in − they have no one to blame for this disappointing season but themselves.

That reality is the most stinging.

"I think we did enough to put ourselves in a good spot to win this game, but we don't," Zibanejad said. "I feel like I've been saying that, and we've been saying that quite a bit when we were losing. It just stinks."

Power play fail

None of the teams vying for the East's No. 8 seed have shown they're capable of pulling away, but it feels like the Rangers lead the NHL in self-inflicted wounds and stubbornness.

They've stuck to a man-to-man defensive system that feels ill-suited for this group of personnel while urging a roster filled with east-west players to play more north-south. That's led to lopsided shot and possession rates, ugly turnovers and comically bad defense. The Blueshirts are constantly chasing and rarely in control.

The disconnect has been most glaring on the power play, which had long been a team strength but has devolved into a crippling weakness.

"I felt like in previous years, that's been our biggest weapon," Zibanejad said. "Obviously we have our goaltending, but like our I feel like our goaltending has been there. They’ve been helping us, and we're not helping them. The way we've done that in the past is be good on the power play. I think the PK has been good, but the power play is just – I don’t know if it's overthinking, overworking, just trying to figure something out. It’s just frustrating."

The Devils broke a scoreless tie four seconds into their first power play, with Meier blasting a one-timer for the first of his two goals at the 10:56 mark of the first period. But the real backbreaker came when the Rangers received a power-play chance less than a minute later.

The sequence started with Artemi Panarin and J.T. Miller losing a puck to Jersey defenseman Brenden Dillon behind the Devils' net, with Dillon pushing a pass ahead to Jesper Bratt that sparked a three-on-one rush against the sleeping New York PP.

Bratt passed to Nico Hischier, who sent the puck right back for a shorthanded finish that pushed Jersey's lead to 2-0 and effectively ended the game.

"We were caught," head coach Peter Laviolette said. "We're looking for something offensively, maybe pressing too much. Anytime you're doing that, you're subject to get caught the other way."

Adam Fox was left to defend the odd-man rush on his own, which is never an easy situation for a defenseman. Still, he placed the blame squarely on his shoulders for failing to commit to one player and getting caught in between.

"I just didn’t play it well," he said. "I can't remember how it developed, but obviously up the middle, and I was trying to get down. But a lefty coming down that side (Bratt), he's able to curl it up. Looking back, just give (goalie Igor Shesterkin) the shot and take away the pass. But in the moment, you're trying to stop him from even making the pass."

A sinking ship

It was the latest flop in what's been an inexplicable fall from grace for the Rangers' once vaunted power play. They ranked fourth in the league across the previous five seasons combined, but have dropped all the way to 27th this season and are now marred in a dreadful 2-for-45 slump.

Incredibly, they've allowed more shorthanded goals in that span (three) than PP goals scored, with all three coming in the last four games.

"It’s probably a little bit of everything," Fox said when asked about the PP issues. "The execution is certainly not there, but I think when you go on one of those slumps you start maybe trying to force the issue a little more. That could be the reason why we're giving up chances more than ever, too. It's not just that we're not scoring. It’s, we're not even generating any momentum from it."

Despite Laviolette's insistence that "there's a lot of things that we've tried" to break the power play out of its extended funk, his changes have revolved around rotating the same six veterans in the five available spots on the top unit. His reluctance to implement a larger shakeup − dare we suggest trying one of the eager young forwards on PP1 − is proving costly.

Then again, given the way this season has gone, are there any adjustments that could plug all the holes on this sinking ship?

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.