In a season with a ceiling of surprising teams and sneaking into a lower playoff spot and a basement of playing the Jack Hughes lottery, a narrative can emerge easily. The losses are piling up and it won’t be long before fans want to think about another draft haul to bolster the farm system and start rooting for the Tampa Bay Lightning to win the Stanley Cup, entitling the Rangers to another first-round pick.
When diving deeper, the Rangers are a few bounces away from being winless, with their only wins coming in a barnburner in which Brendan Smith tied the game in the last four minutes before Brady Skjei buried a game-winner on the first shot of overtime and a shootout won on the stick of Kevin Shattenkirk and the left leg pad of Henrik Lundqvist.