Mike Sullivan’s Rangers gripes echo Vincent Trocheck’s blunt critique

Vincent Trocheck called it an issue of pride, and it was hard for Rangers coach Mike Sullivan to disagree.

Sullivan didn’t dispute Trocheck’s assessment following Sunday’s 2-1 loss in Nashville, dropping the team to 0-6-1 this season in the second game of a back-to-back.

“Well, it’s disappointing because we had a couple of really high-character wins the last couple of games and these guys have worked extremely hard,” Sullivan said after the middling Rangers fell to 18-16-4 overall entering Tuesday’s road game against the Capitals. “We knew this was gonna be a tough game going into it, but it doesn’t make any excuses for the lack of execution.

“I think there’s gonna be points in the schedule where every team’s gonna play against the schedule a little bit. This was gonna be one of them for us. … I just didn’t [think] we were sharp from the drop of the puck. I shouldn’t say that. I thought the first few shifts we had, I thought we had a pretty decent start, but it didn’t last long.”

Sullivan’s primary gripe was a lack of execution and crispness by his team, but he also thought it was a wasted “opportunity for some guys with a depleted lineup,” without injured captain J.T. Miller and ill forwards Matt Rempe and Gabe Perreault. The late scratches of the latter two forced the Rangers to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

“I think that’s some of the silver lining in something like this, and of course we don’t want to play with a depleted lineup, but when you do, it provides opportunities for guys to play some more significant minutes and a more prominent role,” Sullivan said. “And it provides others that are in the lineup to elevate their games to try to help us have success.