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The New York Rangers held what will likely be their last practice on Wednesday and the mood was surprisingly upbeat.
With the reality of missing the playoffs crystal clear now, the Rangers have had a few days to process it and have no choice but to just power through and play hockey.
Surprisingly, the Rangers played more loose on Monday night as they defeated the Florida Panthers 5-3.
During Wednesday’s practice, the Rangers players appeared to be a little bit more relaxed and playful with one another.
“You want to win hockey games,” Peter Laviolette said. “You feel better when you win than when you lose, that's for sure regardless of the circumstance. In practice, we wanted to compete today. We worked on the power play a bit. Wanted to get the guys back on the ice and get ready for tomorrow.”
There’s been a tense feeling around the Rangers organization from the start of training camp.
Between all of the behind-the-scenes drama with management, the constant roster turnover with trades, and their lackluster play, this team has been under scrutiny for months.
Although the Rangers failed to make the playoffs, this disastrous season is finally about to end, allowing everyone to take a deep breath, which could have resulted in their most recent victory over Florida and the mood during Wednesday’s practice.
The Rangers have no one to blame but themselves and Laviolette has been honest about that since the Blueshirts were eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday.
However, Laviolette also believes that it is important to end the season with dignity regardless of what meaning it has.
“Nobody wants to be here,” Laviolette said of the Rangers’ current situation. “It is what it is, this is where we are at, this is the reality of it. Your choices are pretty limited. Either you don’t put in the effort, you don’t play well, and lose the game, feel lousy about it or you go down to Florida like we did and you play hard, you win a game.
“It doesn't have the meaning you want it to, but there are still only two roads that you can go down. We need to choose the right road.”
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