Rangers’ listless ‘wake-up call’ was a long time coming

This has been a agelong clip coming, astatine slightest for nan past 2 weeks successful which nan Rangers person divided six games and been deleterious successful one-sided defeats against Florida, Washington and now Buffalo, aft Thursday’s Sabres’ 6-1 rout of nan Blueshirts astatine nan Garden.

This is what nan Rangers are astatine nan infinitesimal erstwhile Igor Shesterkin, struck down by mortality successful allowing 5 goals connected 12 shots earlier being pulled astatine 13:51 of nan 2nd period, is not a occurrence worker.

“It’s been building toward this, definitely,” Chris Kreider told The Post aft he and his teammates rolled retired passionless and disconnected play. “I don’t deliberation our process has been great. We haven’t been bully defensively and we haven’t been bully astatine nan things that triumph lucky games.

“We’ve conscionable had awesome goaltending and timely scoring. But we’ve been benignant of fooling ourselves because we’ve been winning lucky games, but nan logic we’ve been winning is that our goaltender has been playing retired of his mind.”

It is somewhat ironic, don’t you think, that nan bottommost fell retired connected a nighttime connected which nan Blueshirts were not nether siege successful their ain extremity and did not let a plethora of glorious chances from wrong 5 feet of nan net. Indeed, Buffalo was credited pinch only 12 scoring chances — 4 defined arsenic precocious threat — done nan 2nd play that ended 5-0.

Instead, nan Rangers committed glaring and noisy mistakes, mislaid fundamentally each conflict successful which they chose to engage, and were impotent offensively. How’s this? The Blueshirts cobbled together only 5 attempts astatine five-on-five done nan first period.

“I deliberation this was a small spot different,” caput coach Peter Laviolette said. “I don’t deliberation we gave up an onslaught, but I personally don’t for illustration nan effort that we had to onslaught nan crippled offensively.

“We needed to power nan puck more; to make much successful nan violative zone; to beryllium successful nan violative area much than we did; and to put their goalie nether siege.”

That’s much than fair. The Rangers did not person morganatic puck possession successful nan violative area until nan six-minute people of nan first period. They were credited by Natural Stat Trick pinch 8 scoring chances done nan first 2 periods earlier nan Sabres sat backmost successful nan 3rd and allowed nan Blueshirts to recreation 200 feet.

But nan protect breakdowns successful beforehand of Shesterkin were of nan five-alarm variety. Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller were delinquent, some individually and arsenic a pair, pinch decisions and one-on-ones. Ryan Lindgren, who has not been adjacent to himself since returning from jaw room successful nan sixth crippled of nan season, suffered mightily playing beside Adam Fox.

Look, everyone respects Lindgren. But it appears arsenic if nan Blueshirts rushed No. 55 not only backmost into nan lineup earlier he was fresh — nan John Glenn-type bubble helmet he has been wearing evidently is an encumbrance — but Laviolette rushed him backmost into nan apical 4 for nary evident logic aft nan nine went pinch Miller-Fox and Braden Schneider-Trouba tandems for nan first 7 games that seemed to beryllium meshing.

Shesterkin’s prevention percent dropped 14 points from .933 to .919 successful this one. This should punctual everyone that mini sample sizes correspond a snapshot and not needfully nan full movie.

But still. The Miller-Fox brace had a 61.13 Corsi rating, was connected for 7 goals for and 5 against pinch an expected extremity complaint of 66.80. The Schneider-Trouba tandem had a 51.13 Corsi, was connected for 7 goals for and 3 against pinch a 57.86 xGF.

That serves arsenic a awesome opposition to Miller-Trouba, who person a 38.46 Corsi, has been connected for nary goals scored and 4 against pinch a 28.09 xGF, and to Lindgren-Fox, who person a 51.56 Corsi but person been connected for 1 for and 3 against pinch a 40.47 xGF.

Plus, reinserting Lindgren into nan apical 4 created a concatenation guidance successful which Schneider dropped down to nan 3rd brace pinch either Zac Jones aliases Victor Mancini — retrieve him? — a mandatory scratch.

Still, possibly that’s seeing nan wood for nan trees. There’s overmuch much to it complete nan past six games successful which nan Blueshirts person been outscored 14-8 astatine five-on-five aft owning a 20-7 separator complete nan first half twelve contests.

“It’s evidently very disappointing embarrassing ourselves for illustration this astatine home,” Kreider said. “The protect stuff, it’s a choice, it’s commitment, it’s connection and it is energy. It’s getting connected nan aforesaid page and buying successful arsenic a group.”

Again, this 1 has been a agelong clip coming. The Rangers person been notoriously deficient successful details. They’ve gotten by connected talent and by hitching a thrust connected Shesterkin’s cape. Teams that effort to get by connected talent are ne'er nan past squad standing. You’d deliberation this group would cognize this by now.

“It’s a wake-up call, that’s what it is,” Kreider said. “But it tin besides beryllium a turning point.

“It has to beryllium a turning constituent for us.”