New York Rangers have plenty of reasons to be concerned about recent play

After a hot start to the 2023-24 regular season, the New York Rangers are 3-5-2 in their last 10, and suffered a humiliating 3-2 overtime loss to the last-place San Jose Sharks on Tuesday. Forward Artemi Panarin continues to dominate, scoring 63 points (29 goals and 34 assists) in 47 games, but beyond that, this team is struggling to put the puck in the opponent’s net, as well as keep it out of theirs.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli, Tyler Yaremchuk and Jonny Lazarus discuss the Rangers’ struggles and what to expect in the second half of the season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Jonny, you cover the Rangers, and on Tuesday they lost in overtime to the San Jose Sharks. It’s been a weird and rocky run for the Rangers, so I’ll start you off with this: on a scale from one to 10, how concerned are you for New York?

Jonny Lazarus: Honestly, as a guy that usually has a positive outlook on the team, my concern level is at an eight. At the beginning of the season, this Rangers squad was an entirely different team. They were defending well, they were tight on their checks, scoring goals, but lately, maybe they’ve relied too much on their first line and Panarin.

The Rangers are the worst team in the NHL against the rush, and a lot of that has to do with the forwards. A lot of fans and pundits are quick to blame the blue line, but when teams allow odd-man rushes, it’s because the forwards don’t get back quick enough. A lot of the narrative before the season was that they were an old team that didn’t get fast enough, and you’re starting to see it now.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…