The New York Rangers are stuck in a bit of a rough patch, and Sunday night didn’t do them any favors. Adam Fantilli turned Madison Square Garden into his personal highlight reel, bagging his second career hat trick as the Columbus Blue Jackets steamrolled to a 7-3 win. The Rangers had their moments—Artemi Panarin, Braden Schneider, and Chris Kreider tried to keep the fight alive, even sneaking in two short-handed goals just 42 seconds apart. But once the Blue Jackets found their groove, off they went, racing to the finish line.

Mathieu Olivier, Dante Fabbro, and Justin Danforth jumped in on the scoring party, while Daniil Tarasov stood tall between the pipes with 30 saves. Columbus wasn’t just playing to win—they were making a statement. And for the New York Rangers? Well, their coach wasn’t exactly thrilled. With three straight losses now hanging over them, he didn’t hold back in pointing out the costly mistakes that let this one slip away.

New York Rangers’ coach, Peter Laviolette, wasn’t in the mood for sugarcoating that rough loss. He laid it all out in the post game conference, shaking his head in disdain as he dissected what went wrong. “Tonight it was, and like I said, when it did break down, it was bad. There were guys right in front of Quick with no support and no help.” That was the story of the night—missed coverage, blown assignments, and a defense that left their goalie hung out to dry.

And it wasn’t just one unlucky break; it was a whole puddle of misfortunes on the ice. “One of them goes off of a skate, we drop, a guy falls in the corner, we’re broken stick coming back on the two-on-one, two-on-two.” It was the kind of game where every little mishap was catastrophic, and Laviolette wasn’t happy about it. The execution? Nonexistent. The zone exits? A mess. “I don’t think the execution was very good on us coming out of the zone. I thought we just kind of threw it away. That led to offense, that led to goals as well.”

Instead of smart, controlled plays, they were tossing the puck away, basically handing Columbus golden opportunities on a silver platter. And the coach made one thing crystal clear—this kind of sloppy play isn’t cutting it. “We weren’t clean. We have to be cleaner than that coming out of our zone. It led to chances and goals against.” If the New York Rangers want to turn tables, they need to buckle up, and fast. Because in this league, mistakes like these don’t just sting—they cost games.

The Blue Jackets (31-24-8) have now stacked up 70 points, the Senators are right behind at 69, and the Rangers (31-27-5)? Well, they’re sitting at 68, just outside that precious playoff bubble. And yeah, this loss? It stung. The Rangers needed this one, but instead, they took another hit, making their climb back even steeper. But it wasn’t just the coach feeling the heat—one player also stepped up to share his thoughts on this tough one!

New York Rangers’ players get real about the loss!

After the game, the New York Rangers dropped a video of J.T. Miller keeping it all the way real about the tough loss. But if you thought he’d be sitting there sulking, think again. “I’m not going to be too negative,” he said, keeping his eyes locked on the bigger picture. He reminded everyone that this squad has been one of the best teams in the league over the last couple of months, and yeah, these games are getting heavier, but they’ve got a shot to “right the ship here in a couple days.”

When a journalist pointed out that the Rangers looked shaky in their own zone, Miller wasn’t about to dissect every single misstep, but he didn’t dodge it either. “Well, I’m not 100% sure. Just a couple puck decisions and a couple missed coverage.” Translation? They weren’t completely outplayed, but when they made mistakes, they were big. And in a game like this, those little cracks turned into full-on craters.

Still, no time for self-pity. “Like I said, it stings, but we’ll get a chance to play with you guys again soon,” he said, already shifting gears to what’s next. And what’s next? A high-stakes battle with the Winnipeg Jets on March 11, 2025, at Canada Life Centre. And let’s not forget—last time they met, the Jets didn’t just win, they made history, becoming the fastest team to hit 15 wins in NHL history after a 6-3 beatdown at Madison Square Garden. Yeah, this rematch? It’s about to be big.