Well, chalk it up as another tough night in the Big Apple. The New York Rangers just couldn’t catch a break at Madison Square Garden, falling 5-1 to a red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning squad that rolled in with fire in their skates. Brayden Point casually dropped two more goals—and now he’s sitting pretty at 41 for the season—matching Steven Stamkos for most consecutive 40-goal seasons in Lightning history. Meanwhile, Nikita Kucherov was out there working some wizardry, notching a goal and two assists to tie Nathan freakin’ MacKinnon at the top of the NHL scoring leaderboard with a jaw-dropping 115 points. Jake Guentzel added a slick three assists to his stat sheet, and Andrei Vasilevskiy? Dude turned away 38 shots like he had cheat codes on.

But let’s not sugarcoat it—New York Rangers’ fans were left feeling the sting, and the vibes were not it. After a promising opening burst of energy and a 12-1 shot advantage, the ice completely tilted. In just 1:45 of first-period madness, Kucherov, Gourde, and Point lit the lamp and flipped the script hard. Zibanejad tried to breathe some life back into it with a power-play goal in the second, but Tampa wasn’t having any comeback talk. To top it all off, Peter Laviolette made a head-scratching post-game comment that left fans split down the middle—some shook, some just straight-up annoyed.

Right after that rough New York Rangers’ loss, the folks over at Spittin’ Chiclets hit up X with a little nugget from the postgame presser—and let’s just say it had people doing double takes. They tossed out the question everyone wanted answered: “Does Laviolette have a message for the team at this stage?” And what did Coach Pete hit ’em with? A response that seemed like the verbal version of a shrug: “I don’t have a message right now. I don’t go into the locker room after the game.”

That’s it? No fire-up speech? No classic coach moment with clipboards flying? Just vibes and silence?

And yep… fans were totally split after hearing Coach Laviolette’s apparently apathetic postgame take. One fan jumped in like, “Laviolette’s all about giving players space right after the game. He doesn’t rush in with speeches or emotions—just lets them process it first. Then he’ll come in later when it’s time to reset and focus. It’s a calm, controlled leadership style that’s earned respect.” Well, that’s one way to look at it.

Things have been kinda stormy in the New York Rangers’ land lately. It’s not just this 5-1 thud against Tampa Bay… nah, just a few nights back, the Devils ran wild with a power-play goal, shorty, and an empty-netter in a 4-0 shutout. So maybe Laviolette’s strategy ain’t about yelling in the heat of the moment—it’s about letting the dust settle, letting the team breathe, and finding that reset button before the real grind begins again. But not everyone is on board with the approach.

New York Rangers’ fans in splits over coach’s comment!

Another fan didn’t hold back and threw fire on the timeline, saying, “if this is true, fire him today. don’t even wait until morning, fire him today.” And honestly, with the way things are going, some folks are starting to get major déjà vu. Flashback to last season when Detroit hit the panic button—Derek Lalonde got the boot and Todd McLellan was handed the wheel in “Hockeytown,” all while Steve Yzerman watched his team sink deeper midseason. It came right after Christmas too, with the Wings on a cold streak colder than Michigan snow—three Ls in a row and 9 losses in 12? Yikes.

Fans remember Lalonde pulling the same move—dodging the locker room postgame—and now that New York Rangers’ coach is doing the same dance, it’s giving folks that “seen this movie before” energy. So naturally, the whispers turned into roars, with fans lowkey predicting the inevitable. As one post bluntly put it, “Oh he’s gone gone after this season.” No sugarcoating, just vibes and verdicts.

But hey, not everyone was grabbing pitchforks. One user jumped in to cool things down with a lil reality check: “Rage bait. Lots of coaches don’t go into the room after a loss.” Again, may it’s unfair to assume that just because Laviolette isn’t stormin’ the locker room postgame with fiery speeches means he’s ghosting the squad. And let’s not forget who we’re talking about here—Peter freakin’ Laviolette. Dude’s got a résumé that slaps harder than a playoff hit.

Undrafted? Yep. Still suited up for the NHL Rangers back in ’88. Then, after hanging up the skates, he turned into one of the winningest bench bosses in American hockey history. Stanley Cup with the Canes in ’06, deep Finals runs with Philly and Nashville, and now steering the New York Rangers’ ship. By March 2024, he’d notched his 800th dub—only the 7th coach in NHL history to do that. So yeah, maybe he skips the locker room chat… but maybe that’s just part of the Laviolette magic.