New York heads to Minnesota on a three-game losing streak and has been blown out in its last two losses, getting outscored 9-2 in defeats at Vancouver and Calgary, the latter by a 5-1 margin on Friday.

The Rangers were tied 1-1 after the opening 20 minutes against the Flames but gave up two goals in 70 seconds in the second period.

"We just weren't real dialed in defensively tonight, not only the goals that they scored, but how many times did you look up and all of a sudden, there's a 1-on-3 in front of our net," New York coach David Quinn told reporters. "We cheated the game too often tonight, very loose defensively, didn't hit anybody, didn't want to get hit and we played very slow.

"We didn't play hard enough tonight, that's for sure. We didn't play smart enough and we've been a team that has played hard but big deal you should play hard."

The last two losses are part of a skid that began with the last meeting against Minnesota on Feb. 21. The Rangers are 2-5-5 in their last 11 games.

On Friday, defenseman Neal Pionk scored the lone goal during a 4-on-4 stretch, but the recent struggles of Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad continued.

Zibanejad leads the Rangers with 27 goals but has gone eight games without one, and he has one goal in his last 13 contests. Kreider, who is second on the Rangers with 26 goals, has not scored in nine games and has two goals in his last 19 contests. >> Read More

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