Laviolette slams his own team over poor preseason performance.

The New York Rangers have not impressed their new head coach.

On Saturday night the Rangers were defeated by their intrastate rivals, the New York Islanders, and it was clear following the loss that Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette was not happy with what he saw out on the ice.

In spite of the fact that, in terms of the standings, it was a meaningless exhibition game, Laviolette took his players to task following the conclusion of the 5-3 loss.

"I thought our execution was way off the mark," said Laviolette as per Vincent Z. Mercogliano . "We couldn’t make passes, couldn't get shots off – just off the end of our stick and not executing well. It's unacceptable, the first half of that game. It's not who we are or who we want to be."

And for those who would be looking to give the Rangers a pass under a new head coach looking to implement a new system, Laviolette cut those excuses off ahead of time. The Rangers head coach argued that the team was lacking in the fundamentals of the game following their defeat at the hands of the Islanders.

"Backchecking is a universal language," Laviolette said. "There's no system involved there. Finishing your checks and competing pucks is a universal language. Execution has to be a universal language. And, so, there's no excuses for that."

The Rangers may not have delivered the performance on the ice that fans were expecting to see, but if the preseason is any indication it sounds like the coach will be demanding the kind of accountability from the players that those same fans want to see.