{"id":77602,"date":"2025-12-22T04:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/77602\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T04:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:09:11","slug":"shorthanded-rangers-struggle-mightily-again-in-loss-to-predators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/77602\/","title":{"rendered":"Shorthanded Rangers struggle mightily again in loss to Predators"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 The odds were stacked against the Rangers going into this game.<\/p>\n

After finding out they\u2019d be without their captain on a week-to-week basis earlier in the day, the Blueshirts lost two more forwards to illness Sunday night and were forced to deploy 11 forwards and seven defensemen in an empty-net-abetted 2-1 loss to the Predators at Bridgestone Arena.<\/p>\n

The depleted lineup, however, was no excuse for such a listless effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just looked f\u2013king dead,\u201d Vincent Trocheck said. \u201cJust looked dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The loss of J.T. Miller to an upper-body injury was already going to be a big hurdle to overcome.<\/p>\n

\"FilipFilip Forsberg celebrates a goal during the Predators\u2019 Dec. 21 win over the Rangers. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Just before puck drop, however, the Rangers announced that Gabe Perreault and Matt Rempe would not be available to play due to illness.<\/p>\n

It put the Rangers at a serious disadvantage that was evident for the entire 60-minute affair.<\/p>\n

Since Artemi Panarin missed the game in St. Louis because he was under the weather as well, it appears something is making its way through the Rangers locker room.<\/p>\n

Three players who were previously scratched \u2014 Urho Vaakanainen, Jonny Brodzinski and Taylor Raddysh \u2014 drew back into the lineup. For both Vaakanainen and Brodzinski, it had been three straight games since they last played. Raddysh was a scratch against the Flyers Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an idea,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said when asked when he found out the Rangers would be without Perreault and Rempe. \u201cThey came to the rink this morning not feeling well. They were pretty sick, both of them. So we had a feeling, this morning, that we probably were going to be without them. This afternoon, we tried to give them an opportunity to rest, get some food in them.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s something that\u2019s going through our team right now. We\u2019ve got a few guys that have it. We got to find a way to fight through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being short-handed, the Rangers struggled mightily against a Predators team that was tied for the fewest points in the NHL (32) coming into the contest.<\/p>\n

Both teams were skating on the second night of a back-to-back slate, but Nashville more than doubled the Rangers\u2019 shots on goal through each of the first two periods. The first goal of the game didn\u2019t come until the 10:44 mark of the second period, when Filip Forsberg scored off the rush.<\/p>\n

\"NewArtemi Panarin looks to take a shot during the Rangers\u2019 Dec. 21 win over the Predators. Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

At times, one goal has felt insurmountable for this Rangers team.<\/p>\n

Sunday night was one of those instances.<\/p>\n

The Rangers had ample chances to net the equalizer, including three power plays. Even earning one at the tail end of the final frame, the Rangers mustered just one shot on goal through all man-advantage opportunities.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until there were 35.9 seconds left in regulation that Jonny Brodzinski ensured the Rangers weren\u2019t shut out for an astronomical eighth time this season. Predators forward Steven Stamkos had already scored on an empty net and the game felt like it was already over.<\/p>\n

\u201cSucks not having everybody,\u201d Trocheck said. \u201cObviously, tough spot back-to-back, and then guys are getting sick and guys go down. But, I mean, that doesn\u2019t affect how we play with pride. If there\u2019s anything to take away from today, we didn\u2019t play with pride.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 The odds were stacked against the Rangers going into this game. After finding out they\u2019d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16343,9,11,10,541,539,319],"class_list":["post-77602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-nashville-predators","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}