from Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post,

There are words that raise red flags around hockey teams that are struggling, phrases like the lack of “energy” and “compete” and “battle level.”

All of them were uttered inside the Rangers’ locker room and by their coach after one more disheartening loss in an opening month chock full of them, this being a 5-4 defeat to the equally struggling Canadiens on Saturday night at Bell Center.

“When someone questions your effort level and compete, it’s not a good feeling,” captain Ryan McDonagh said. “You want to prove it to yourself and prove it as a group that that’s not what we’re about, that’s not acceptable, that’s not who we are.”

But now at 3-7-2, it is at the very least who the Rangers have been. They might be trying to focus on some of the positives that have been there, but they are not delusional in their situation — especially coach Alain Vigneault, who knows how this start reflects on him.

“We’re 3-7-2, that’s alarming to me right now,” Vigneault said. “We need to obviously play better than we have.”

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