The Rangers were crushed in their latest nightmare defeat at Madison Square Garden, but legend Ron Duguay blames bizarre theory for team’s collapse

Ron Duguay, a former NHL player, recently pinned the Rangers’ crushing 4-1 defeat against the Kings on their home ice to the team’s Pride Night celebration. This latest loss cemented the Rangers’ status as the worst team in the Eastern Conference, but Duguay’s take suggests a different reason for the team’s struggles.

Duguay, who played half of his 12-year career with the Rangers and won the 1979 Stanley Cup, posted on X after the game. He asserted that the rainbow flag, displayed alongside the traditional colors during the national anthem, brought “bad mojo” that contributed to the loss. After his playing career, Duguay coached in the minors before becoming an analyst for MSG Network, covering the Rangers from 2007 to 2018.

He’s been linked to former Alaskan governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin since 2022, and his online activity has definitely made it clear he shares her conservative views. According to BroBible, the Rangers are currently sitting in the basement of the Eastern Conference with a dismal 28-31-8 record.

That can’t seriously be the takeaway

The team publicly announced it was waving the white flag and gearing up for a retool back in January, sending out yet another embarrassing letter to fans. Even their own apathetic fans got called out by a star player they traded before this very contest. It seems to me the loss had a lot more to do with the team’s actual performance and strategic decisions than anything else. This remains true despite having the goalie locked into a million dollar deal since last season.

Pride Night is a common event across the NHL calendar, one of many games dedicated to various causes, like Military Appreciation Night and Hockey Fight Cancer. Most franchises go out of their way to highlight the LGBTQ+ community with these themed nights. However, it’s certainly generated its share of drama over the past few years. Back in 2023, a number of players declined to wear the custom jerseys their teams rolled out for Pride Night, citing personal beliefs.

This opened them up to criticism, with some fans calling them homophobic. The NHL’s botched damage control included a short-lived ban on all themed jerseys. They even tried to outlaw the rainbow stick tape many players used for Pride Night, but the league quickly reversed course after a ton of internal and external backlash. This season, only the Kings and Mammoth skipped Pride Night, while the Bruins and Hurricanes opted for a general “Hockey Is For Everyone” theme.

The Rangers, did check that box during their showdown with Los Angeles, leading to Duguay’s unique theory about their 4-1 defeat.