NEW YORK − It doesn't really matter how the Rangers arrange their defensive pairs if they keep playing like this.
Thursday's 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden featured a back-and-forth string of changes, with the Blueshirts disjointed play reflecting the indecision on the bench.
Head coach Peter Laviolette repeatedly switched his top-two pairs, but the strategy only served to sow confusion. A few glaring blunders and miscommunications proved costly, resulting in the Rangers' seventh loss in their last nine games.
It's amazing they haven't fallen further out of the playoff picture, but their odds continue to sink with each flat performance.
This one wasn't as bad as Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames, a game in which New York managed only 13 shots on goal and had players questioning their own effort in the aftermath.
The Rangers (33-31-6) posted 30 shots on Thursday, but too many felt like empty threats. They were only credited with four high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
A dizzying strategy
Pregame warmups featured a change many fans have been clamoring for, with top defenseman Adam Fox joining forces with K'Andre Miller for the first time since early in the season. But when the Rangers emerged for puck drop, Laviolette had reverted back to Miller with Will Borgen while putting Fox with newcomer Carson Soucy.
They proceeded to shuffle the top-four defensemen from one shift to the next, with Miller-Borgen and Soucy-Fox together for some, then Miller-Fox and Soucy-Borgen on others. The priority seemed to be finding offensive-zone starts for the offensively inclined duo of Miller and Fox, but all of the starting and stopping didn't allow any of the combinations to find a rhythm.
This puzzling approach came one day after Fox spoke at length about the difficulty of developing a rapport with someone new after longtime partner Ryan Lindgren was traded to Colorado earlier this month.
"A lot of times you think of only lines as forwards and chemistry in that sense, but I think defensemen have to have a lot of chemistry," Fox said. "Knowing where each other are, I think, and communication is huge. You play 300-something games with one guy, you get almost that second sense of where they're going to be, where your outlets are, the support, the communication. It's definitely a bit of an adjustment when you’re switching D partners."
Critical blunders
Miller was in the middle of each of Toronto's first two goals − one while playing with Fox, the other with Borgen.
The first came at the 12:40 mark of the opening period, with Miller pinching deep into the offensive zone and then falling after a collision with William Nylander. That left the Rangers undermanned on the back end, with John Tavares turning the ensuing three-on-two rush into a 1-0 Leafs' lead.
Borgen tied the score on his fifth goal of the season with 48 seconds remaining in the period, but another defensive breakdown let Toronto retake the lead 38 seconds later.
This time it was Miller getting beat off the wall by Bobby McMann, who cut to the front of the Rangers' net and tipped a Jake McCabe shot past Igor Shesterkin to make it 2-1.
Oh Mann, just in time! pic.twitter.com/nLaFj8dF5f
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 20, 2025
Once again, New York tied the score, with Artemi Panarin's tally early in the second extending his point streak to 11 games. But once again, the Leafs responded swiftly.
Tavares scored his second goal of the game 4:16 into the period, pouncing on a juicy rebound after the Rangers left the slot unattended. It was Fox and Soucy on the ice for that one.
Toronto pushed its lead to 4-2 with 5:34 remaining in the period following a misplayed puck between Miller and Fox. The former flicked a drop pass behind the Blueshirts' net, but the latter looked like he wasn't expecting it and whiffed to give possession back to the Maple Leafs.
Matthew Knies turned the giveaway into a backbreaking goal, with New York unable to muster a rally in the third period outside of Chris Kreider's too-little-too-late goal with 35 seconds remaining.
Fox and Miller were both on for three goals against in a forgettable performance for both. The Rangers will need them to be much better if they're going to salvage a season that's teetering on the edge, but the constant partner juggling probably didn't help.
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Takeaways: NY Rangers' D pair juggling backfires in another loss
