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St. Louis: ‘Am I playing great? No. But I’ve played way worse than this’

Martin St. Louis

New York Rangers’ Martin St. Louis skates before an NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

AP

The numbers are in from Martin St. Louis’ first seven games as a Ranger, and they’re not great: Zero goals, two points and just three wins.

On Monday, St. Louis addressed his slow start to life on Broadway.

“You’ve got to stay positive. Am I playing great? No. But I’ve played way worse than this,” St. Louis said, per the New York Daily News. “There’s no time to feel sorry, you’ve just got to man up, be a big boy about it and go to work every day.”

Acquired in a captain-for-captain deadline day blockbuster -- ex-Rangers captain Ryan Callahan went to Tampa Bay -- St. Louis was supposed to inject life into a Ranger offense that ranked in the NHL’s bottom-half in goals per game. What’s more, the adjustment to life in New York was supposed to be made easier by the presence of former Bolts teammate Brad Richards, installed as St. Louis’ linemate upon his Rangers debut against Toronto on Mar. 5.

It just hasn’t gone according to plan.

Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault split up St. Louis and Richards prior to Friday’s 4-2 win over Winnipeg, saying the duo didn’t have the impact he thought it would. Which leads to the big question moving forward -- where will St. Louis play now?

He skated with Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello against the Sharks on Sunday, but the line didn’t produce much offensively (though, to be fair, none of the Rangers did as they lost 1-0 as Antti Niemi stopped all 41 shots faced). The trio did have some good puck possession shifts down low and looked capable of generating some chances but, with the Rangers fighting for their playoff lives, the prospect of good scoring chances really isn’t enough.

“We still could have won this game,” Zuccarello said following the San Jose loss. “At the end of the day it’s not good enough. We have to put the puck in the net.”