SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Rangers lost three of four games on their west-coast swing and were lucky to remain atop the Metropolitan Division standings.
It was rocky and rough, just like the mountains they flew through to get from city to city, and just like the last seven weeks have been.
The two-goal lead the Blueshirts blew en route to Tuesday night’s 3-2 overtime loss to the basement-dwelling Sharks, however, capped the last long trip of the season in the most disappointing fashion possible.
“We wanted to close this road trip out strong and didn’t do that,” Adam Fox said. “It’s definitely disappointing. No one’s going to be happy. Two more games here before the break, so got to turn it around and get some momentum there.”
Handily defeating the last-place Sharks, who were playing on the second night of a back-to-back slate after beating the Kings in a shootout in Los Angeles, is what was expected of this Rangers team.
But the Rangers have fallen short of expectations a lot lately.
When Tomas Hertl scored 1:29 into the extra period, the Blueshirts lost their seventh game in their last 10.
“We’re going through it a little bit right now,” said Vincent Trocheck, who recorded his 300th career assist on the Rangers’ first goal of the game at the 7:55 mark of the opening frame, when he set Fox up in front of the net to jam it home.
It was a mixed bag of a trip that featured more letdowns than progress.
A 5-1 loss to the Golden Knights and the 2-1 loss to the Kings that followed only piled on to the growing concerns surrounding the Rangers, who have now dipped below .500 level hockey since Dec. 5.
Sunday’s matchup in Anaheim first appeared to be much of the same.
That was until the Rangers’ four-goal third-period rally not only stole the game, 5-2, but reminded the team of their resilient capabilities.
But carrying a 2-0 lead into the third period against the Sharks on Tuesday, on goals from Fox and Artemi Panarin, the Rangers let it disappear in less than five minutes.
Nico Sturm intercepted an Erik Gustafsson pass behind the Rangers net before the Sharks forward banked the puck off goalie Igor Shesterkin and in to cut the visitor’s lead 2-1.
Just over two minutes later, Ryan Carpenter did what most ex-Rangers do and evened the score on a deflection with essentially a whole period left to be played.
It was Carpenter’s third goal of the season and his second against the Rangers.
“We made mistakes in the third period and it cost us,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “They were able to tie it up and push it to overtime. That’s disappointing, just from that standpoint, we were in a position to win a game going into the third, and we didn’t get it done.”
There will be two more opportunities, against the Golden Knights and the Senators this weekend, for the Rangers to finish strong heading into All-Star weekend.
At this point, it’s not just about going into the eight-day break in game action on a high note.
The Rangers need to alter the downward trajectory that they’ve been on before it’s too late.
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