That's the thing with young teams, and it's something Rangers coach David Quinn has said over and over: They're going to be up and down.
And after a Saturday where they left the arena feeling really, really good about themselves, things didn't go nearly as well Monday night.
Playing against the lowly Ottawa Senators, which entered the game with the worst record in the 31-team NHL, the Rangers were simply dreadful Monday night, dropping an ugly 6-2 decision to the Senators that snapped their two-game winning streak and dropped their record to 5-6-1.
Playing their third straight game without No. 1 center Mika Zibanejad � who skated in the morning and continues to get closer and closer to a return � the Rangers were undone by a defense that allowed the Senators to score five straight goals from the 14:56 mark of the first period to the 14:56 mark of the second. Former Ranger Vladislav Namestnikov, who was traded to the Senators Oct. 7, two days after the Rangers won in Ottawa in the second game of the season, got a measure of revenge against his old team when he scored a power play goal early in the third period.
Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, making his third straight start, wasn't as sharp as he was in his previous two starts, allowing six goals on 30 shots.
The game actually started off well for the Rangers, who got the first goal of the game, from rookie Kaapo Kakko (assisted by fellow rookie Adam Fox) at 8:47 of the first period, and who were outshooting the Senators, 11-1, midway through the period.
But then, a fight broke out between Brendan Lemieux and Ottawa's Mark Borowiecki. It was the second fight of the game, after Tony DeAngelo had tangled with J.C. Beaudin earlier in the period. And it seemed to somehow change the momentum of the game.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the first of his two goals, to tie the score, 1-1, at 14:56 of the first, and things turned sour quickly after that for the Rangers. After another altercation � Ryan Strome wanted to fight Brady Tkachuk but the officials broke that up before it started � Strome and Anthony DuClair ended up with roughing penalties and Jacob Trouba got a cross-checking penalty, all at 17:17. Thirty-nine seconds later, Brady Skjei was sent off for tripping, giving Ottawa a five-on-three power play, and the Senators cashed in 35 seconds after that, taking a 2-1 lead on Tyler Ennis' goal at 18:31.
Ottawa's Ron Hainsey scored to make it 3-1 at 4:12 of the second, and Pageau scored on a breakaway to make it 4-1 at 11:42. Tkachuk was left alone in the goal crease to whack away at a loose puck until he was able to jam it in past Georgiev to make it 5-1 at 14:56 of the second.
Artemi Panarin scored on the power play at 17:34 of the period to stop the run � Kakko got the primary assist, and recorded his first multi-point game as a Ranger � but Namestnikov scored on the power play at 5:35 of the third to make it 6-2. It was his fifth goal of the season, which is more than everyone on the Rangers except Panarin, who has six.
Rangers coach David Quinn, who kept the same lineup, with the same line combinations and defense pairs for three straight games, no doubt will make changes for the Rangers' next game, which is Wednesday at home against the Detroit Red Wings. Zibanejad may be ready to return by then, but even if he isn't, Quinn had said at the morning skate that defenseman Marc Staal would be returning to the lineup soon. A defensive performance like this one likely will give the coach a reason to re-insert him.
