Like most young players, Gabe Perreault mostly experienced winning on his way to the NHL, whether it was with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program or at Boston College, where he reached the national title game in 2024.
But since scoring a pair of goals Jan. 14, Perreault has just one assist — and no goals — over his past eight games and the Rangers have fallen to the bottom of the Eastern Conference with losses in seven of those matches.
“It’s definitely a lot of learning,’’ Perreault said after practice Tuesday in Tarrytown. “For me, growing up, I know you can learn the most from failure, in a way. It’s never fun to lose, but you can still grow from it and have this help us win more games.”
The 20-year-old winger, selected by the Rangers No. 23 overall in 2023, is one of several young players stepping into a larger role in the wake of this disastrous stretch that led to general manager Chris Drury issuing another letter to fans and opting not to sign Artemi Panarin to an extension.
Perreault, who made his NHL debut last season with a five-game cameo with the Rangers, is among those who will be sticking around Broadway, as the team looks to ship Panarin — and likely others — out of town by the March 6 trade deadline.
The Rangers are set to miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons, but Perreault doesn’t want the rest of the year to be a waste.
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“You still have to have a positive attitude, whether you’re winning or losing,’’ Perreault said. “It’s the same mindset whether I was in college or the [national] program. You just have to stay with it, day by day.”
So whether it’s Perreault, Noah Laba or any of the other young players looking to forge a path with the Rangers, the stretch run of the regular season will remain valuable.
“You have to take advantage of everything, whether it’s practice or games,’’ Perreault said. “When you’re in the locker room and with the team, you can learn from guys who have played for a while.”
One of the Rangers’ many issues during this horrid stretch has been poor goaltending in the absence of Igor Shesterkin.
Not only do they no longer have Shesterkin — out since Jan. 5 and on injured reserve with a lower-body injury — to mask many of their other issues, they’ve also been forced to play Jonathan Quick more often than they’d like.
Quick turned 40 last month and has struggled with the added playing time, as has his replacement as the backup goalie, Spencer Martin.
The duo has combined to allow at least five goals in two of their past three games — all losses.
Only four goalies who have played as many games as Martin — six — have a worse save percentage than his .864 mark and no one with that many games played has a worse goals-against average than Martin’s 4.13.
“He’s got an opportunity to help us,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said of the 30-year-old on his fifth NHL team. “I think he competes hard in there. I think he’s made some timely saves for us. I think he plays the puck very well [and] adds to our depth at the goaltending position.”
Raphielle Johnson
