{"id":398706,"date":"2025-11-23T08:05:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/398706\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T08:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:05:11","slug":"rangers-lack-urgency-once-again-in-loss-to-mammoth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/398706\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers lack urgency once again in loss to Mammoth"},"content":{"rendered":"

SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 The necessary level of desperation has not been where it needs to be with this Rangers team.<\/p>\n

Dropping their season-high fourth game of the season Saturday night at Delta Center, the Blueshirts did not have the urgency or the drive to successfully combat a skidding Mammoth team in a 3-2 loss.<\/p>\n

The defeat capped the Rangers three-game road trip at a disconcerting 0-3-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we\u2019re disconnected,\u201d Mika Zibanejad said. \u201cI think we\u2019re too far away from each other. It\u2019s a lot of one-and-dones in the O-zone, try to get on the forecheck, it\u2019s one guy, one guy, one guy. We don\u2019t come up with five together and I just feel like we\u2019re a bit late everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a clash between two teams riding multi-game losing streaks, Utah\u2019s energy was palpable in front of their rowdy home crowd. They were first on pucks more often than not, and their speed was difficult to contain each and every shift.<\/p>\n

For a team sliding down the standings, the Rangers lacked fire and played an east-west game that was not effective against the youthful Mammoth.<\/p>\n

With the win, the Mammoth snapped a four-game winless streak that included three overtime losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just didn\u2019t think, for whatever reason, we had the juice, the energy,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said after the team dipped below .500. \u201cIf you don\u2019t bring a certain amount of energy to the game, it\u2019s hard. Today\u2019s game is fast, and that\u2019s a young, fast team. I just didn\u2019t think we won a whole lot of foot races, and I didn\u2019t think we won a lot of puck battles. When you don\u2019t win foot races or puck battles, you don\u2019t tend to have the puck. I felt like that was the case for a lot of the night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick DeSimone broke a 2-2 tie at the 7:32 mark of the third period, when the Mammoth defenseman blasted a one-timer that pinballed into the back of the net for the 3-2 Utah lead.<\/p>\n

The Mammoth celebrate a goal during their 3-2 home win over the Rangers on Nov. 22, 2025. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Rangers, who were without captain J.T. Miller <\/a>and defenseman Will Borgen, had a chance to tie the game once again on a power play in the back-half of the final frame.<\/p>\n

But they ultimately went 0-for-2 on the night with the man-advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t rely on the power play all the time,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe needed more of a complete game five-on-five.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rangers celebrate a goal during their loss to the Mammoth NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Having already racked up 13 saves going into the first intermission, on the way to finishing with 31 on the night, Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick was as sharp as he could be with the way the team skated in front of him.<\/p>\n

Denying multiple Utah scoring opportunities off the rush, the Mammoth weren\u2019t able to get one past him until just over the halfway point of the first period, when the Rangers lost possession along the end boards.<\/p>\n

Nate Schmidt\u2019s shot bounced off the post and JJ Peterka jammed in the loose puck to open the scoring.<\/p>\n

Artemi Panarin skates with the puck during the Rangers\u2019 Nov. 22 loss to the Mammoth. Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Vladislav Gavrikov tied it up for the Rangers just over five minutes later, redirecting an Adam Fox shot past Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka for his third goal of the season.<\/p>\n

Utah held the Rangers to just three shots on goal through the second period, but both clubs managed to score.<\/p>\n

Sprung for a clean breakaway, Artemi Panarin\u2019s hard wrist shot was initially stopped by Vejmelka. The Utah netminder, however, lost control of the puck and it squeezed through to give the Rangers their first lead of the night.<\/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

An errant clearing attempt from rookie Scott Morrow in the D-zone less than three minutes later gave the Mammoth possession once again.<\/p>\n

Clayton Keller then roofed one on Quick, but play continued. At the next stoppage, referees reviewed the sequence and ruled it a good goal to even the score at two-all.<\/p>\n

\u201cHitting the reset button,\u201d Will Cuylle said of the key to bouncing back at Madison Square Garden on Monday against the Blues. \u201cIt\u2019s a quick one day off and then right back at it. We got to make sure we\u2019re ready to play and have a good start at home.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 The necessary level of desperation has not been where it needs to be with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":398707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[28589,32159,1302,293,62,67,132,68,2998],"class_list":{"0":"post-398706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-artemi-panarin","9":"tag-jonathan-quick","10":"tag-new-york-rangers","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-utah-hockey-club"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115597982123353100","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}