How did Rangers turn it around? Strong defense and Igor Shesterkin's return to top form
Igor Shesterkin of the Ne Rangers makes a save during the second period against the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
GREENBURGH – What, exactly, turned things around for the Rangers who, after Tuesday’s 5-0 win over Ottawa, are within a whisper of getting back into the playoff field, but who on New Year’s Eve were last in the Metropolitan Division, having lost 15 of their previous 19 games?
Well, that’s easy.
“We're playing better defense, and so when you play good defense, you have a chance to win hockey games,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said a couple days ago.
Ah, but what switch flipped to lead to them playing better defense? Was it players simply digging down and trying harder and committing to doing the necessary things to be better in their own end of the ice? Was it the addition of two new, defensive-minded defensemen? Was it simply the turn of the calendar to 2025?
“I don't know,’’ defenseman Ryan Lindgren said Wednesday, after the Rangers’ lightly attended (Sam Carrick and Matt Rempe were the only players to get on the ice) optional practice. “I mean, I don't think it's effort based. I think we were trying before… I think it was maybe a level of desperation, knowing where we were at and knowing if we kept going on that skid we were going to be out of it. So, yeah, I think it was just buy-in from everyone and knowing that we needed to play a lot better.’’
As is often the case, there are multiple factors that combine and play into it. The addition of defensemen Will Borgen (from the Kaapo Kakko trade) and Urho Vaakanainen (from the Jacob Trouba trade) has given the defense corps a couple of good-sized, positionally sound, stay-at-home defensemen who have helped stabilize the back end. Goalie Igor Shesterkin has come back strong from a stint on injured reserve (5-0-1, with two consecutive shutouts, 1.45 goals-against average and .943 save percentage since his return), and Laviolette has reinstituted his signature 1-3-1 neutral zone trap after having switched to a 1-2-2 for a while.
“I think our 1-3-1 has been helping a lot and getting back to the way we want to play defense and helping eliminate chances through the neutral zone,’’ defenseman K’Andre Miller said at Tuesday’s morning skate. “We went away [from the 1-3-1] for a little bit, and it wasn't really working. I think there's a good comfortability and familiarity with the 1-3-1 and guys feel confident in how we play in that in that style… I feel like we can turn the puck over a lot more through the neutral zone, and make it tough for other teams to really sustain any offensive zone time.’’
As they prepare to face the Flyers Thursday at the Garden, the Rangers are 23-20-4, two points out of a playoff spot. They are on a nine-game point streak (6-0-3), and are 7-1-3 in 2025, in a much better place than they were when they were 16-19-1 and looking like surefire trade deadline sellers at the end of 2024. But Lindgren admitted that at that point, there were some natural doubts in the room about whether they could pull out of their funk in time.
“I think the way things were going, it's hard for doubt not to creep into your mind,’’ he said. “But, you know, I think as a group, we knew that we had a lot better. And if we were able to play that way, we would be able to get out of it.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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