This was not good enough. With or without Artemi Panarin, this was not good enough from a Rangers’ team that has established making the playoffs as a realistically achievable objective.
But it surely won’t be if the Blueshirts play with the same lack of urgency immediately following the bye week/All-Star break as they did in Tuesday’s 4-2 defeat to the Islanders at the Garden that ushered in the 10-day hiatus.
It was difficult to tell whether the guys in the room who insisted the effort had been good enough were spinning for their own benefit or the media’s.