Laviolette, Zibanejad react to Rangers playoff elimination.

It is official, the New York Rangers have lost any hope of competing in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs following an ugly 7-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday that effectively put an end to their season.

It is a shocking result for a team that was coming off of a President's Trophy winning season during the 2023-24 National Hockey League regular season, but a result that won't be surprising to Rangers fans that watched an ugly season unfold in front of them on the ice as well as behind the scenes with the Rangers locker room and orgnaization.

Laviolette reflected on just that when asked about his feelings following the Rangers' official elimination from playoff contention.

"It's disappointing for everybody. It certainly wasn't anybody's plan coming into the year, especially coming off of last year," said Laviolette on Saturday. "Yet here we are. We had opportunities in the last 20 games to make our own noise and make our own way and we didn't do that. It's on us. We needed to be better."

Laviolette didn't hesitate to throw his players under the bus, with the Rangers head coach critical of his team's lack of execution on the ice this season. While Laviolette was critical of the Rangers' play, it appeared to stem from the fact that he felt this was a team that could have accomplished much more.

"Even tonight, we didn't do the right things well enough to be successful," said Laviolette. "We give up 3 goals point blank in front of our net. Can't happen. It's been pretty consistent all year, we just haven't played well enough to win hockey games. That's what makes it frustrating and disappointing. I believe that this team is good enough to win hockey games, good enough to play in the playoffs, but we're not in it. That's the reality of it. We didn't do the right things. We didn't do them enough."

Mika Zibanejad on the other hand appeared dejected after the ugly loss, although his focus was elsewhere. Zibanejad hinted at bigger issues with his team, all the while admitting just how disappointed he was with this final result.

"It sucks," said Zibanejad. "I think, obviously, this game wasn't the problem... It's going to take a bit to digest what just happened."

That is a sentiment that I believe will be echoed by a Rangers fan base that has been extremely disappointed with the results from their team this season.