$68,000,000 Rangers star makes his thoughts extremely clear after 5-1 loss to Kings

Center Mika Zibanejad, the Rangers' star player on an 8-year, $68 million contract, did not hold back in his assessment of the team's 5-1 loss against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

Despite scoring his 300th career NHL goal in the team's previous 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres, Zibanejad's celebratory mood was quickly dampened by the Rangers' poor showing against the Kings.

In the post-game interview, Zibanejad expressed his disappointment with the team's lackluster performance from start to finish.

"From the start, yeah,I don't there's not much positive in this game. From start to finish, just flat and, yeah, we you do that's a, it's a bad game." Zibanejad said bluntly.

Zibanejad pulled no punches, criticizing his team's passive approach.

"I mean, I feel like we are just chasing," Mika Zibanejad said."I think we're waiting for the next guy to do something. It just becomes a waiting game. We have to understand that it's going to take a lot more than what we did today to get out of this. It's unacceptable."

Mika Zibanejad scored 6 goals and provided 15 assists in 29 games this season.

The Rangers' Filip Chytil scored the lone goal in the second period. The Kings scored two goals in the first and added three more in the second period. Alex Turcotte, Quinton Byfield, Warren Foegele, Adrian Kempe, and Philip Danault scored.

Starting goaltender Igor Shesterkin struggled mightily, allowing five goals on 21 shots before being pulled in the second period. Jonathan Quick made 11 saves in relief. Kings' Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves.

HC Peter Laviolette's comments following the Rangers' 5-1 loss to the Kings

The defeat to the Kings marked the Rangers' 9th in their last 12 games, dropping their record to 15-13-1 on the season.

New York's head coach Peter Laviolette called the team's play, stating:

"It's frustrating, it's a bad start to a game like that in our building... it's bad, you know, what I mean it was a bad start. Right from the very beginning just the puck movement, the speed in which we were playing, the strides completely different from where we were a game ago.”

Laviolette emphasized the need for consistency, stressing that the team can't just play one good game here and there but needs to string together 10 solid efforts in a row.

The head coach was also highly critical of the defensive play, calling out the lack of physicality and failure to defend critical areas around the net.

The harsh criticism suggests Laviolette is looking for an urgent turnaround when New York faces against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.