Every game, every season, every team has turning points, for better or worse.
On Saturday night for the Rangers, it was Connor McKee who hung up his gloves with Senators captain Brady Tkachuk after the AHL call-up beat Ottawa’s beloved No. 3 overall pick Tim Stuetzle in the second period. was.
The Senators were leading 2-0 at that point, and he woke up at 5:45 a.m. Saturday morning after the Wolfpack game in Cleveland, took two flights to get to Ottawa in time for his Rangers debut, and went to Bell. McKee was seen responding to the call.
This excited the Blueshirts bench and led to seven unanswered goals.
The idea that McKee’s fight could be given to the Rangers in the same way captain Jacob Trouba gave the 2022-23 team a helmet toss on Dec. 3, 2022 is a little unfair — strictly speaking. Due to the fact that McKee was immediately returned to Hartford on Sunday.
But if the Rangers don’t change course when they return from All-Star break, someone will need to take the lead and send a bigger message.
“We get messages every day,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “It could be a player, it could be a player like the Troubles, it could be myself. We have meetings every day. We get messages every day. Nothing goes unchecked in that regard. We will continue to fight together and work together as a team to move forward.”
The Rangers are 11-10-5 after losing to Chicago last season, and Trouba has taken it upon himself to check out all the obstacles before competing with former Blackhawks forwards Jujhar Khaira and Jonathan Toews. is. Torba threw his helmet and yelled, “Wake up!” At the Rangers bench on the way off the ice.
The usually goofy and cheerful player memorably let out a frustrated outburst when his team was down 3-0, but the emotion Trouba displayed in his postgame interview that night also deserves praise.
“Something has to change,” Trouba said at the time, his voice shaking in the back of his throat. “I think we need a little more pushback from within ourselves.”
The Rangers won seven straight games immediately after, winning the remaining games with 36 wins, 12 losses, and 8 draws.
Moments like this lead to initiative, just as McKee responded to Laviolette’s challenge to the Rangers bench to be more physical on Saturday night.
Despite the fact that the Rangers still hold the sole lead in the Metropolitan Division standings, they don’t want their season-changing moment to come too late or not come at all.
By the way, Laviolette is definitely a candidate to spark a game that will ignite the Rangers.
Part of the appeal when Laviolette was hired was the fact that he was known for his ability to motivate teams.
It’s tough to press the right buttons with this Rangers team, but it’s effective when executed properly.
For those who have never seen Laviolette Intermission speech mixed with symbolism and profanity Flyers on HBO’s 24/7 in 2011?
“I would love to see people rip their hearts out of their chests at this time of year,” said an enraged Laviolette. “Otherwise, you probably won’t like the ice time.”
It wouldn’t be an unexpected display for Laviolette, as some players on the Rangers have certainly seen it before.
The Rangers know something has to change with 33 games left in the regular season.
But if that doesn’t happen soon, someone will have to take it upon themselves.
