It’s hard to imagine any NHL team needing some time away from the game quite like these reeling Rangers, whose crash to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings only was underscored by a sorry 2-0 loss on home ice Thursday night against the Hurricanes.
The Blueshirts head into the league’s three-week shutdown for the Olympics in Milan with just three wins in their past 18 games (3-13-2).
And once the roster freeze is lifted when play resumes Feb. 26, there most certainly will be additional roster-retooling trades to come from general manager Chris Drury following this week’s blockbuster deal sending leading scorer Artemi Panarin to the Kings.
Rangers coach Mike Sullivan will head to Italy to serve as the bench boss for Team USA, and he will be joined on the American roster by captain J.T. Miller and forward Vincent Trocheck.
Mika Zibanejad also will be competing for Team Sweden.
As for the rest of the Rangers, who were shut out for the ninth time this season and the seventh already on the MSG ice, the break will provide the opportunity for mental and physical recuperation before the final 25 games of the season, with the looming March 6 trade deadline.
“It’s gonna give our guys the opportunity to get away from the game a little bit,” Sullivan said Thursday night. “Obviously, everybody feels it, and at times it can be heavy. I’ll just be honest with you, it’s part of it. And so an opportunity to get away from it a little bit and recharge your batteries could be beneficial for everybody.”
Miller mostly was at a loss for words in his assessment over what went wrong in the weeks leading up to the break.
“I don’t know. We gotta come back with a better mindset. It hasn’t been good enough for the last little while, so just try to regroup and freshen up,” the captain said. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. We just need to enjoy or take time. … I literally don’t know. Come back with a better mindset, I guess.”
Trocheck also could be on the trade block once the roster freeze is lifted, but the veteran center stressed that he first “is going to enjoy” his first Olympic experience because it’s something he’s “dreamt of my whole life.”
The Rangers’ problems will be waiting for everyone when they reconvene later in the month.
“The guys need to get some time away from the game, a lot of time away from the game, I guess,” Trocheck said. “Kind of refresh your brain and get focused and do what you can to get your body ready for the last push of the season and come back with a clear head.”
At least the Rangers should be getting back top defenseman Adam Fox and goalie Igor Shesterkin after the break from lower-body injuries they suffered in the same game in early January.
Veteran goalie Jonathan Quick made 41 saves and “did his very best to drag us into the fight” Thursday night against Carolina, according to Sullivan, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“[Quick] brings it no matter what, and he’s a guy that we lean on a lot, and we need to make sure that we need to put a better effort in front of him, because that’s not fair,” defenseman Braden Schneider said. “He’s doing everything he can and we gotta make sure that we’re doing our jobs better.
“I think [we have to] just try to take a mental reset. It’s been a long, hard year and we gotta make sure that we get reenergized and make sure that this last push is meaningful and we’re working to get wins.”
Backup goalie Spencer Martin and forward Anton Blidh were assigned to AHL Hartford after Thursday’s game.
The Rangers called up goalie Hugo Ollas from the Bloomington Bison of the ECHL because they wanted Martin to see some minor league action but must have two healthy goalies listed on their NHL roster.