While speaking with reporters last night after the Rangers loss, Assistant Captain Ryan Callahan spoke of the Rangers effort  last night.

A night after coach John Tortorella called the Rangers loss to Tampa “their worst of the season”, Callahan spoke of the Rangers having a better effort in their 8 to 3 loss.

Cally notes though, hard work can only take you so far:

“I thought we did compete harder, but at the end of the day we’ve got to get better results,” said Ryan Callahan, who fought Cooke in the third. “It’s one thing to compete hard and battle hard; this league’s about winning. At the end of the day we’ve got to get a win.”

Read more postgame reaction at the NY Daily News

…Exactly right. Working hard and competing is a great thing, its necessary, but if you want the hard work to pay off, add two points to that column in the standings.

As for last night, they played hard on and off through the first two periods. But too many defensive lapses and mistakes are what did them in. It was a sloppy game for the Rangers and they need to play tighter in all aspects if they want to win games.