Disappointed NY Rangers HC Peter Laviolette makes feelings known about 3-1 loss to Kings in one-question postgame interview

The New York Rangers lost 3-1 to the LA Kings on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena. The defeat keeps them one point behind the Montreal Canadiens for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot. But they have played two more games than Montreal. The Kings extended their home point streak to 15 games and moved two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division.

J.T. Miller gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead early in the second period. He finished a pass from Alexis Lafreniere while Darcy Kuemper tried to recover his position. Play continued at first, but a video review confirmed the puck had crossed the goal line.

The Kings tied the game when Kevin Fiala scored on a power play. Later in the period, Phillip Danault gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead. Fiala added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

After the matchup, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette kept his comments short. He said the team played hard but didn’t get the result it wanted. He thought they played better but still came away with nothing, calling the loss "disappointing" and "frustrating."

"Like we're, that doesn't mean that it wasn't effort or they didn't play hard,” Laviolette said. “It means that we didn't get the game to swing our way.

“After the first, I thought we defended OK, and keeping them to the exterior, we didn't generate very much. But from the second period on, I thought we were doing a really good job of playing that game, and we walk away with nothing.”

The Rangers need wins to stay in the playoff race.

Peter Laviolette criticized Rangers' slow start in win over Canucks

Previously on Saturday, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said his team started slowly in its 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks. New York was outshot 11-1 in the first period.

“You can't start the game like that,” Laviolette said (via NHL).

Adam Fox tied the game in the second period, but Vancouver still led 24-6 in shots. Jonny Brodzinski scored twice in the third period, including the go-ahead goal with 4:13 left. Laviolette liked the response.

“If we scored, they scored, the game came back to even and we put it back in there again,” he said postgame.

K’Andre Miller’s goal made it 3-2 before Brock Boeser tied it. Brodzinski’s second goal secured the win.

Laviolette said the team must avoid slow starts.

“They were just quicker than us,” he said. “They had the puck on their stick, and we were just chasing them.”

New York (34-32-6) will next face the Anaheim Ducks on Friday at 10 p.m. EDT.