"They've really put themselves in an incredible hole": Elliotte Friedman makes his feelings known about Rangers' slumping form

Elliotte Friedman shared his thoughts on the New York Rangers’ struggles during Monday's episode of 32 Thoughts podcast. He was surprised that the Blueshirts are currently outside the playoff spots as Christmas approaches. According to Friedman, this is not a situation many expected, given their strong start (26:00):

"Out of the playoffs, that’s where they stand right now," Friedman said, "I never would have thought that we'd be sitting here approaching Christmas and the Rangers would be out of the playoffs."

The Rangers are now behind Philadelphia, Ottawa and Tampa Bay. Tampa also has two games in hand, making the gap harder to close. In the Metropolitan division, the Rangers are eight points behind Carolina for third place. Friedman criticized the team’s poor starts in recent games, like falling 5-0 to the Kings and 3-0 to the Blues.

"So you know, they've really put themselves in an incredible hole." Friedman said, "I don't think anybody saw this coming. And then again, on Sunday night, it's just unbelievable how they start games right now.

"They start games stunned. 5-0 to the Kings, 25 minutes and at home, And 3-0 to the Blues, Sunday night. You're always trying to climb out of a deep hole like it's an impossible way to play."

Friedman noted that if the Rangers don’t improve their defensive play and secondary scoring, they may miss the playoffs.

Rangers have been have slumped after a great start

The Blueshirts currently have a 15-14-1 record, slipping from their 12-4-1 start. While Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox have contributed strongly, inconsistency remains a major issue. Their goals-per-game average is decent at 3.07 but defensive struggles and uneven goaltending have cost the team games.

The penalty kill is a bright spot at 86.8%, but their power play is average, ranking 15th at 21.8%. With the Metropolitan Division being highly competitive, their chances of making the playoffs are slipping quickly.

New York Rangers lost 3-2 to Blues on Sunday

The St. Louis Blues won 3-2 against the New York Rangers on Sunday. Pavel Buchnevich scored first at the 18:51 mark in the first period.

Jordan Kyrou made it 2-0 at 6:33 in the second period after stealing the puck from Ryan Lindgren and scoring on a breakaway. Robert Thomas extended the lead to 3-0 at 10:28.

In the third period, Brett Berard got one back for New York at the 10:18 mark. Will Cuylle added another to cut the lead 3-2 but the comeback ended there.