The Edmonton Oilers only had a one-goal lead over the New York Rangers through two periods in tonight’s game, but Rangers coach Ulf Samuelsson felt the first 40 minutes went far worse than the score indicated.
“Collectively, that could be the worst two periods I have seen since I got here and that is a lot of games,” Samuelsson said during the second intermission, per SNYRangers. “Hopefully that is a low point for us. We are leaving it to the leadership to rally the troops, we are not competing at a level that we need to, it is not about xs and os. We are getting crushed by Edmonton in our building and that is embarrassing.”
If the Oilers hold on to win, it will be just their second road victory of the season. The Rangers entered the night 4-2-2 at Madison Square Garden. New York has also dropped three of its last four games, although two of those losses finished in shootouts.
Prior to Sunday’s contest, Samuelsson felt that the Rangers structure “hasn’t been as sound as we would like it to be,” but he hoped that they addressed it.