Rangers playoff hopes all but done after lopsided loss to Lightning

The Rangers are marching right toward their demise. If the lackluster shutout loss to the Devils on Saturday afternoon didn’t seal their fate, a 5-1 loss to the playoff-bound Lightning on Monday night at Madison Square Garden all but put a nail in the coffin on a Blueshirts season that never had much life to begin with. With only five games remaining, this latest defeat keeps the Rangers six points behind the Canadiens for the final wild-card spot in the East.Montreal will have a chance to extend it to as many as eight, while the Red Wings and Islanders will both have an opportunity to surpass the Rangers with wins Tuesday night. A Blue Jackets win Tuesday night would also pull Columbus into a points tie with the Rangers. It has reached the point where the Rangers would need a miracle to qualify for the postseason. “It sucks to be in this position,” Jonny Brodzinski said.

“None of us wanted to be in it.” This has been the realistic trajectory of the Rangers for a majority of the 2024-25 campaign, over which they have lost themselves and become unrecognizable compared to the Presidents’ Trophy-winning team they were last year. Head coach Peter Laviolette may have changed up the personnel on each line, but they still competed much the same.After all, the Rangers’ problems have spanned well beyond who their sixth defenseman or 12th forward is for quite some time. That much was evident once again against an always competitive Lightning team, who already clinched their spot in the playoffs. The Rangers were without top four defenseman K’Andre Miller due to illness, which brought in Zac Jones for the first time since March 25.

Laviolette also scratched Brett Berard in favor of Matt Rempe. “Some of that had to do with the opponent tonight and their top line,” the second-year Rangers coach said of swapping Brennan Othmann and Gabe Perreault from the top six to the bottom six.“Just making sure that we had pieces out there that we thought co...