Backed by Shesterkin, Rangers continue successful road trip in wins over Toronto and Nashville, Panarin finally scores and Chytil clicks with Lafreniere and Blais minus Kakko/Strome

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Derek

Sometimes, it’s as simple as the goalie standing tall against good opponents. Since giving up the Miro Heiskanen overtime winner in his season debut that he felt he should’ve had last Thursday, Igor Shesterkin has been on a roll. It’s been the brilliant play of the third year netminder that’s propelled the Rangers to three consecutive wins on the road.

After stoning the Maple Leafs on Monday with 40 saves including 16 in a lopsided second period, Shesterkin played another excellent game to help backstop the Rangers to a well earned 3-1 win at Nashville last night. He was able to outduel Predators’ starting goalie Juuse Saros to improve to 3-0-1 in four straight starts this season. Unlike Monday night when he was under siege due to the Leafs’ face-off domination prior to Mika Zibanejad going forward with a draw that resulted in a surprising Artemi Panarin overtime winner, Shesterkin didn’t have to face a barrage against the pesky Preds. He was good enough to make 28 saves which was one better than Saros, who also had a good night.

The difference in this one proved to be the newly formed second line anchored by Filip Chytil. After he had success by moving Panarin up to the right side to play on the top line with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, coach Gerard Gallant decided to keep the trio intact for last night. Without Ryan Strome and Kaapo Kakko, maybe he felt it was the best way to go for the time being. Although they didn’t hit the score sheet, that forced Nashville coach John Hynes to match his top line and number one pair against them. Perhaps that matchup helped the second line of Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and Sammy Blais, who combined for five points (2-3-5), 12 shots on goal and a plus-six rating.

Following a good successful coach’s challenge from Hynes that negated a Ryan Lindgren goal due to Panarin being offsides, Adam Fox led a quick transition into the Nashville zone. After going wide to take a player with him, he was able to find a cutting Blais down the middle where instead of shooting, he made a nice pass across for a wide open Lafreniere, who buried the chance for the game-winner with 9:07 remaining in regulation. On that same shift, Lafreniere used some deception to get off a tough shot on Saros that he repelled. This time, the improving sophomore got his second of the season on some great passing from both Fox and Blais, who had his best game so far by recording a pair of assists.

When asked about the opportunity to play with Lafreniere, who was seated right next to him at a postgame conference call, he called the former top pick an “unbelievable player.” Some nice praise for a second year kid who’s not just relying on his skill to make a difference. He has a tremendous work ethic. Lafreniere isn’t all finesse. He will go to the hard areas to score goals. That amount of hustle will get rewarded. We know about the skating and speed he possesses. But he shows great maturity with his effort and the way he handles himself. He has the same calm demeanor as a great player he probably looks up to who plays in the division.

Unlike the game at Toronto where Shesterkin had to deal with the relentless shooting sniper Auston Matthews (8 SOG in 16 attempts), the Rangers got off to a better start in Music City. On a good play in the defensive zone started by Lafreniere, he moved the puck to Blais who then was able to find Chytil in transition. Using his explosive speed, the former ’17 first round pick was able to break in on Saros to create a two-on-one. Looking pass, instead Chytil surprised Saros with a backhand that beat him far side to the glove (he catches right) at 2:12 of the first period. It was the first of the season for Chytil. He needed it. He had some chances, but hadn’t gotten anything to go. That should give him a confidence boost entering Saturday’s 1 PM matinee at Ottawa.

The first was pretty back and forth between the two teams. They combined for 22 total shots. Nashville outshot the Rangers 12-10. Although they generated quality chances, Shesterkin was there to deny them. His best save came when he got across to deny a point blank opportunity from Mikael Granlund that looked like a certain goal. Not so fast. That’s how locked in Shesterkin is right now. In the last three wins, he’s stopped 99 of 102 shots. Not much is getting by him. The only Toronto goal three days ago came on a fluky Michael Bunting rebound in the second period. It was again another strange one from 20-year old rookie Philip Tomasino, who of course became the latest player to get his first NHL goal versus the Rangers. It came off a funny Ryan Johansen carom. That tied it 7:01 into the second.

The frustrating aspect of the game was the power play. They went 0-for-4 including blowing a two-man advantage earlier in the period. Part of the problem is without Kakko and Strome, Gallant is limited in his options for the second unit. He used the top unit a lot more than the second one which is lacking. That meant more of Zibanejad, Panarin, Fox, Kreider and Lafreniere. In the four opportunities, they managed eight shots on Saros, who stopped them in their tracks. Sound familiar? It’s like the groundhog seeing his shadow. Cue Bill Murray as Phil Connors in Groundhog Day. It doesn’t matter who coaches. Let’s hope things improve once Strome is cleared and Kakko returns. He did take the morning skate. He isn’t eligible for tomorrow’s game. But would be for Calgary when they are back at MSG after the weekend.

After 40 minutes, the game was tied at one. The shots favored the Predators, 24-22. Each side had a dozen in the middle stanza. Credit both Shesterkin and Saros, who as I said were good throughout. They’re both young number one goalies. Ironically enough, each was taken in the fourth round of their drafts. Saros went 99th in 2013 while Shesterkin was picked 118th in 2014. They took different routes with Saros coming over from Finland by age 21 to back up Predators’ legend Pekka Rinne, who just retired. Shesterkin stayed home in Russia where he played in the KHL until finally coming over in ’19-20 at age 24. Both have a cap hit of at least $5 million. Shesterkin gets $5.666 million AAV. Each have pressure to perform with Saros replacing Rinne and Shesterkin trying to fulfill expectations after getting a new contract. There’s definitely some similarities. Saros is 26 while Shesterkin turns 26 on December 30.

In the third, the Blueshirts killed off a Barclay Goodrow roughing minor to keep the game tied. Predictably, it was a bit tighter. You didn’t have as many shots or scoring chances. In fact, the Rangers clamped down to hold the Preds to only five shots. That along with some strong play in the neutral zone allowed them to earn their third consecutive win. After starting the season with back-to-back losses including a tough OT defeat to the Stars, they’re up to 3-1-1. An important thing considering how competitive the Metropolitan Division is. Both Carolina and Washington are off to quick starts. So are the Blue Jackets, who seem to be out to prove they can compete without a star player. Elvis Merzlikins is the biggest reason for that. He’s dedicated the season to close Latvian friend Matiss Kivlenieks, who tragically passed away on the Fourth of July. He’s been great so far.

On kind of a strange play, the Blueshirts thought they had the lead when Lindgren had a shot take a good bounce off a Predator to sneak past Saros. However, Hynes immediately challenged for offsides. He got some good input from his video replay staff as Panarin was pushed over the blue line before the puck fully entered play. That made it offside. There was no protest from the Rangers bench. They probably knew it. It would’ve been a lucky bounce. That’s not exactly how a well played game should be decided. Especially in net. Instead, you had a better ending.

Shortly after, Fox made another one of those subtle plays that really reminds me of a Hall Of Fame defenseman that played for a bitter rival. No. He doesn’t compare to any former Rangers legends. It’s another player, who Fox plays eerily similar to. I won’t say at this moment. It’s not the right time. On the winning play, Fox smoothly skated through the neutral zone, gained the Nashville blue line and was able to thread a perfect seam pass for Blais while being covered. That led directly to Blais feeding Lafreniere for his game deciding goal at 10:53 of the third period. It really was a great passing play. Fox was the reason why. This far, he’s got four points (1-3-4) in five games. He’s also a plus-five while logging the usual enormous minutes at five-on-five and on the penalty kill against the best players with overlooked partner Lindgren. They’re becoming one of the league’s most dependable tandems. Both are 23. Fox will be signed to a rich extension soon.

I could go on about Fox. I didn’t take him to repeat for the Norris. I thought Cale Makar would win it. He’s off to a lousy start along with the Avalanche. However, things can change. Don’t expect Colorado to continue to struggle. I’m sure Makar will be in the conversation with Fox. However, I’m going to now ask the question. Who would you rather have? I didn’t think Fox was in that category a while ago. But the way he plays the game has changed my mind. It’s number 23 who is the Rangers’ best player. Without him, they’d be lost. If you subtracted Fox from the lineup, the Rangers would crumble. He’s proving it daily.

Goodrow, who was strong in the third defensively, earned his first as a Ranger when he scored into an open net. It was the consistent play from the supporting cast that decided it. Lines two through four got it done. That even includes Greg McKegg, who got key minutes at even strength and the penalty kill. Morgan Barron played on the fourth line while Julien Gauthier sat out. Gauthier is becoming another team ornament. If he can’t break into a lineup without two top six forwards, what’s he still doing on the roster? Nothing is ever as it seems with this team. Chris Drury kept Gauthier, Libor Hajek and Dryden Hunt. How can they justify that? At least Hunt plays the kind of edgy style Gallant prefers. Hajek is AHL fodder. Gauthier is the new Brett Howden. Stone Hands Part II.

Meanwhile, a little update on Vitali Kravtsov, who remains home in Russia. He’s waiting for the Rangers leadership to do something. It is apparent he’ll never play another game for them. Not as long as Drury is around. Especially after finding out he berated the former first round pick twice. I think he knew once they made the organizational changes, he was gone. More is coming to the surface with Arthur Staple now doubling coverage on the Rangers despite being an Islanders insider on The Athletic. He took over for Rick Carpiniello, who retired. Gallant did call up Kravtsov to try to change his mind. But it was too late. If the Rangers don’t come off their demand of a top six forward, it won’t be easily resolved. For the time being, it doesn’t matter as it doesn’t affect the roster moving forward. Time will tell if Kravtsov is right. I’ll never understand how he didn’t make the roster.

At least the Rangers are off to a good start. That matters. You don’t want to fall behind early in such a division where every point is so valuable. That includes the one they got against Dallas. I wonder about Alex Georgiev. How many starts will he get? Would you start him at Ottawa with a quick turnover? Or do you ride the hot hand in Shesterkin? I like that Gallant made it clear who his starter was. A huge difference from David Quinn, who never committed to Shesterkin. It’s obvious that he’s the guy. They’re going to depend on him a lot this season.

It’s refreshing to see a supporting cast take some pressure off the top guns. Panarin remains stuck on one goal. So does Zibanejad. You need balance to be successful. Guys like Blais, Goodrow and the underrated Kevin Rooney really help. Lafreniere and Chytil came through. They’ve won three of five without getting anything from Kakko. That is a net positive.

So was the defensive play from Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller, who both had their best games. They were strong defensively and reliable. Trouba had some key shifts late and prevented a potential tying goal by taking away a Matt Duchene pass when he probably should’ve shot. He was on his backhand. Trouba stayed home to break it up. Patrik Nemeth also gavwe the Blueshirts 20 big minutes. As usual, Nils Lundkvist was on the bench down the stretch. He didn’t do anything wrong. At some point, they have to trust him.

That’s gonna do it for now. I’ll have more either later today or Saturday.

BATTLE OF HUDSON THREE STARS

3rd ⭐ Sammy Blais, NYR (2 🍎, 4 SOG, +2 in 12:06)

2nd ⭐ Alexis Lafreniere, NYR (GWG 2nd goal plus 🍎, 4 SOG, +2 in 16:07)

1st ⭐ Igor Shesterkin, NYR (28 saves on 29 shots, 3-0 in last 3 starts with 99 stops on 102 shots)

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Devils grind their way to 2-0 despite Hughes’ injury

Posted on October 20, 2021 by hasan4978

Normally a second home game of the season can be a sleepy affair, especially when it’s between interconference teams (and ones that have never met before last night at that). Last night’s 4-2 win over the Kraken was anything but sleepy, due in large part to physical play and erratic refereeing – but at least it was entertaining for me and the nearly 14,000 in attendance and another nail-biting Devils win, and a necessary one at that with the Caps coming up on Thursday followed by the shockingly hot Sabres on Saturday.

It might prove to be a costly win though, as the first period rough stuff culminated in Jeremy Lauzon driving Jack Hughes into the boards near the end of the opening frame, costing the Devils their franchise center for the remainder of the night at least. Hughes is reportedly day to day with further testing due on a likely shoulder injury this afternoon. Was it dirty? I still haven’t seen a replay where it didn’t look that way tbh, but coach Lindy Ruff tried to tamp down the temperature after the game by saying it there wasn’t much wrong with the hit. Certainly the refs didn’t think so either, but all night the refs seemed inclined to let physical play go even when it veered on dirty, while calling every ticky-tack obstruction foul known to man (particularly ours). Arguably the refs missed a far worse boarding call minutes earlier in the first period by Seattle, but at least that one didn’t injure a key player.

Obviously with the Kraken having been blown out in Philly the night before, the staff seemingly sensed this kind of thing could happen and dressed enforcer Mason Geertsen for his first NHL contest. Michael McLeod’s fight with Brandon Tanev 2:27 into the game was a harbinger of things to come. Geertsen’s inevitable fight with Lauzon in the second period – which the refs didn’t actually let become a real fight – took both players off the ice for much of the second period but things didn’t calm down for a while in a game that had a combined 76 PIM’s in it.

Maybe the refs wouldn’t have had to call half as much of the other stuff they did if they nipped the rough stuff in the bud during the first period, or even if they let Geertsen and Lauzon have a real fight in the second. To be fair at least, when it came to physical play the refs let go a possible boarding penalty from Jonas Siegenthaler late in the second period as well, only calling Seattle’s Ryan Donato for an instigator penalty after the teams’ third fight of the evening. Then again what can you expect from a league that employs a former goon as its head of public safety?

And yes, everyone was glad Geertsen did what he did responding to the Hughes hit, god knows the Devils have had too little of that pushback in recent years, and are going to need pushback to deal with continued targeting of key franchise players like Hughes. Still, people that are stuck in the ’80’s think goons are some kind of deterrent, clearly they’re not – particularly when the refs act like three blind mice once the rough stuff starts. This isn’t the ’80’s Oilers where Marty McSorley could give Wayne Gretzky free reign to score nine thousand goals, the game is officiated differently now (though you wouldn’t know it by a couple of the things that were let go last night) and the instigator penalty cut out a lot of the Slapshot-esque bench-clearing brawls of the past.

Not to mention having a um, specialist hinders you on the ice at a certain point. Without Hughes for the last two periods and with Geertsen playing only 3:07 total, the Devils basically had ten forwards for much of the night. Rolling three lines (for the most part) is fine when you have three days off before the game and another day off after, but it would be tricky to do on a back-to-back or a fourth game in six nights situation. Goons at this point basically just provide empty emotional calories for the team, rather than actually helping tangibly on the ice. Which isn’t totally insignificant in a long 82-game season, but gives you limited value certain nights.

The shame of it is, all the unpenalized rough stuff and Hughes’ injury kind of overshadowed what was a good game, or at least became one. We looked ready to run Seattle out of the building in the first with two early goals, including Dawson Mercer’s first NHL goal. As happy as I was for Mercer getting the goal (and eventually the game’s first star), really the play was all about the passing – Ryan Graves’ terrific outlet pass and Tomas Tatar’s seeing-eye feed off the ensuing 2-on-1 gave Mercer the far easier part of the goal, and he wouldn’t waste his chance at glory. Mercer’s goal also added to a nice piece of symmetry among the young Devils:

Less than two minutes later Damon Severson doubled the Devils’ lead in his return to the lineup, being johnny on the spot when a Hughes point shot came loose in front of the crease for Severson to poke home the rebound. While the Devils clearly grabbed control of the game, they could not put it away with Jesper Bratt wasting a wide-open chance minutes later to make it 3-0. At the other end Jonathan Bernier was holding down the fort when things did break down, stopping Jordan Eberle on a breakaway in the first period among his 27 saves on the night. With coach Ruff admitting before the game it was becoming increasingly unlikely that Mackenzie Blackwood will play on this homestand after an apparent re-aggravation of an offseason hip issue, might a hot start give Bernier an inroad to taking the job from under Blackwood’s nose? Stranger things have happened, but at the very least Blackwood’s gotta be available first before it’s even an issue.

Penalties that weren’t called were the bane of the Devils’ existence in the first but the penalties that were called hurt more in the second period, with back to back penalties against McLeod and Yegor Sharangovich resulting in the Devils needing to kill nearly four minutes of the Kraken power play. Shockingly they did kill the penalties off but couldn’t get the puck out of the zone while still running around seconds after the penalty ended, and Riley Sheahan scored a quasi-power play goal not actually on the power play. With the game now up for grabs, the Devils didn’t take long to restore their two goal lead after Jimmy Vesey finished off a nice tic-tac-toe play started by Andreas Johnsson and Colton White for his first goal as a Devil, scoring less than five minutes after Sheahan’s goal. Thankfully the Devils were able to maintain their two-goal lead after Alex Wennberg’s apparent goal shortly thereafter was overturned on review, following a successful offside challenge from the Devils. Perhaps some karmic retribution after Nico Hischier’s apparent goal at the end of the first period had to be overturned because the puck hadn’t quite crossed the line at 0.0 yet.

I was shocked the officials actually gave us a power play late in the second after Siegenthaler’s edgy play earlier referenced, but perhaps the instigator being called on that sequence finally quelled the rough stuff in the third. Or maybe it was just the game situation with the Devils trying to sit on a two-goal lead. Not surprisingly the refs decided to insert themselves one more time, after ‘letting the boys play’ for much of the third period they called back to back minors seconds apart against Severson and Pavel Zacha as if they wanted to try to get Seattle back in the game. Not so surprisingly our 5-on-3 gave up a goal to Jared McCann, though it came after nearly a minute of holding out. A tough break to be sure, but it’s still not gonna help the early PK stats.

At least unlike the opener, there was no empty-net goal to break the home fans’ hearts, instead it was Zacha getting redemption by putting one into the empty net to finish the game off and giving the Devils their necessary 2-0 start. I admit if the media wanted to give Mercer the first star to make the fans feel good, it worked for me. I’m not sure he necessarily deserved it only playing twelve minutes and not really being the key to his own goal but so be it, hopefully it’s the first of many more to come (both goals and first stars), but quite honestly I had a hard time coming up with three stars for this game. Guess you could call this one winning by committee. Coach Ruff may have had the best answer of all as to who deserved the first star of the night:

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1450662833474187264?s=20

So the coach decrees, so it is

Devils three stars:

  1. Our video review team: A successfully overturned goal
  2. Ryan Graves: 2 assists and a +3 in 22:27
  3. Jonathan Bernier: 27 saves
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Kravtsov goes home to further complicate messy situation, Barron recalled for tonight

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Derek

Even when they finally get a win, things aren’t as they seem for the Rangers. With key right wing Kaapo Kakko suffering an upper body injury on a hit from Alex Romanov during the first period in Montreal, he was placed on the injured reserve. At minimum, the third year forward is out a week.

That means he’s out for tonight’s game at the Maple Leafs, Thursday at Nashville and Saturday in Ottawa. He won’t be eligible to return until the Blueshirts are back home next Monday versus Calgary. Without Kakko, that weakens the Rangers at right wing. Once a team strength, it no longer is thanks to the Vitali Kravtsov Saga. An unnecessary distraction that was created by both sides. The latest after TSN insider Elliotte Friedman said that the Rangers were trying to get Kravtsov to come back and play in Hartford is that the disenchanted former 2018 first round pick went home to Russia.

All of this could’ve been prevented had the organization communicated better with the self entitled Kravtsov, who hasn’t done himself any favors. It was in 2019 that he pulled a similar stunt after failing to make the roster. After initially going down to Hartford, he didn’t like playing there. Eventually, the Rangers agreed to reassign him to his KHL team Chelyabinsk Traktor. It went poorly for him that he was demoted in Russia. Eventually, Kravtsov had a change of heart and finished his season with Hartford. COVID complicated the hockey season and sports world with many leagues cancelling the rest of the schedule.

A year later, Kravtsov stayed home and played better for his KHL team. He produced well scoring 16 goals and 24 points in 49 games for Traktor. After they were eliminated from the playoffs, the Rangers finally brought him over. In 20 NHL games, he tallied two goals and two assists while mostly playing on a bottom line under former coach David Quinn. There were moments where he was bumped up. He didn’t look out of place. It’s my opinion that Kravtsov deserved more ice time. Unfortunately, he was behind recent first round picks Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere. That made it hard for him to get the opportunity he had hoped for. Quinn trusted Colin Blackwell, who performed admirably on the second line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome.

Somewhat curiously, the recent information the organization fed the New York Post about Kravtsov’s exit interview didn’t come out until last week. I find it very strange that suddenly, there was an issue they knew about during the summer. If that was indeed the case, why didn’t Chris Drury make Kravtsov available? He had more trade value. Instead, following an injury that kept him out most of the preseason until he scored a power play goal from Strome in a win over the Islanders, the Rangers mysteriously cut him and kept depth forward Dryden Hunt and team ornament Libor Hajek, who’s behind Jarred Tinordi.

That decision was perplexing. Nothing against Hunt, who had a solid showing in training camp. But they preferred not to expose the veteran to waivers. Ditto for Hajek, who looks to have no place in the club’s plans. Supposedly, Drury tried to trade him with no success. That’s because Hajek has little value. It never made sense to re-sign him. Especially with the knowledge that Nils Lundkvist was being given a spot in the top six with both Tinordi and Patrik Nemeth signed as veteran presences.

Both young defense prospects Zac Jones and Braden Schneider impressed in preseason. Even stranger, they’re not paired together for the Wolf Pack. Instead, Jones plays with veteran Anthony Bitetto while Schneider works with Matthew Robertson. Interestingly, coach Kris Knoblauch has Jones playing the right side on the top pair. Maybe that’s by design. Happy Birthday to Zac!

Given that the defensive depth is excellent, I don’t understand the Rangers’ reluctance to let Hajek go. He’ll likely not get another opportunity here. It isn’t fair to him. So, he isn’t quite what they hoped for. Put the blame on former GM Jeff Gorton. He didn’t exactly do well getting both Hajek and former Ranger Brett Howden in return as part of the Ryan McDonagh/J.T. Miller trade. At least it netted Lundkvist, who will play his third NHL game later. A gifted skater with offensive potential, he’s still searching for his first NHL point. Right now, he gets around 14 minutes depending on how much power play time there is on the second unit. Hopefully, he’ll gain the coaching staff’s trust and receive more shifts in close games. The Rangers are being cautious with him thus far.

As it pertains to Kravtsov, who isn’t helping himself by quitting on the Rangers, you subtract what should be a player on the third line and suddenly the team is paper thin at right wing. What’s more. Julien Gauthier has only played one game. That’ll change tonight with him likely slotting in for Kakko on the second line. Having recalled veteran Greg McKegg, who served as the team’s fourth center in the win at Montreal, they have brought up Morgan Barron. Another center who is decent in the face-off circle, he scored goals in the Wolf Pack’s first two games. Barron had a good enough camp to possibly make the team. But was blocked by checking center Kevin Rooney.

At the moment, Chris Kreider continues to play the right wing to allow Lafreniere to stay at his position on the left wing where he scored the game-winner back home in front of family on Saturday night. So far, it’s working out well. Kreider has scored in all three games and leads the team in goals (3) and power play goals (2). However, when you take out Kakko, who’s expected to have a good season in his third year, there’s not much scoring depth on the right side. Gauthier has yet to prove himself as a reliable scorer. When Hunt plays, it’s not to provide offense. Barclay Goodrow had been used a lot by Gallant at all three positions. He can be moved around due to his versatility. However, he’s not known for his scoring, but rather his checking and grit. We know what Ryan Reaves is here for.

Add it all up and there seems to be a void without Kravtsov. Unless Lauri Pajuniemi performs well in his first year in the AHL, there’s not much available. Both Will Cuylle and Brett Berard are playing for their junior teams. Each should have a bright future. Especially Cuylle, who Gorton at least got back in return as a second round pick for Lias Andersson. Another former first round pick the organization mishandled. He thought he did enough to make the roster a couple of years ago. Instead, they sent him down where he had a mental breakdown.

While the cases of Andersson and Kravtsov are different, you have to ask why this keeps happening with the Rangers. While they went out of their way to gift 2019 second overall pick Kakko a spot even though he wasn’t close to ready, he never played one game for Hartford. Neither will Lundkvist if everything goes well. It’s a bit inconsistent for the organization to treat certain prospects better than others. Jones could be here, but isn’t due to a numbers game.

I still haven’t figured out what all the fuss is over K’Andre Miller. He spent his entire first season with the Rangers. There were ups and downs. Something you’d expect from a young defenseman. Last season, he played on the penalty kill. An area I believe he should continue to receive shifts. Instead, Gallant has stuck with Ryan Lindgren and Adam Fox while Nemeth and Jacob Trouba comprise the second shorthanded pair. So, Miller is only being used so far at even strength. That should change. He and Trouba have had some issues. They struggled in the third period against the Canadiens. They were caught out of position on the tying Jonathan Drouin goal. That second pair remains a question mark. They’re depended on for key minutes at five-on-five.

If they can’t work it out with Kravtsov, then they must trade him. This can’t be a distraction that lasts all year long. The Rangers have plenty of room on the cap to add an NHL player. But it’s awfully hard to see them getting a top six forward in return for an unproven prospect, who needs an attitude adjustment. Would they trade with Chicago and acquire the suddenly out of favor Dylan Strome? The problem is the younger brother of Ryan Strome [COVID protocol] isn’t a right wing. Unless Gauthier can start finishing around the net, right wing will be a concern. Hopefully, Kakko isn’t out too long with his injury. They need him.

For the time being, we don’t know how the complicated Kravtsov situation will play out. If he’s eventually dealt which is looking more and more likely, can Drury still get a good enough return to improve the roster? Or will the mismanagement of another prospect hurt the team? Halloween is right around the corner. Trick or Treat.

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Foxy effort not enough in tough overtime loss to Stars in emotional home opener

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Derek

It started the right way. Every Ranger wore the classic home white jerseys with the number 7 and the name Gilbert on the backs as they skated during warm-ups. Prior to last night’s game,the Rangers paid tribute to franchise legend Rod Gilbert, who passed away earlier this summer.

It was an emotional moment for Madison Square Garden. Following player introductions and the announcement of the new coaching staff that includes Gerard Gallant, they had a seven second moment of silence for No. 7. Then, Gilbert’s entire family came out to a great ovation from over 17,000 who attended the home opener. Wife Judy was brought out to drop the ceremonial first puck at center ice. Both Stars captain and Rangers alternate Mika Zibanejad posed for a picture and then shook her hand. She smiled which was nice to see. A video tribute was also shown of what made Gilbert so special to New York City hearts. It was wonderfully done.

Following the pregame ceremony that probably brought a lot of tears in the building as well as for those watching at home, there was still a game to play. In what can best be described as a better effort than the Wednesday’s clunker at Washington, the Rangers outplayed the Stars for two of three periods. However, a bad start put them in a two goal hole before Adam Fox took over the game to help rally the team along with Chris Kreider to a 2-2 tie. Despite probably deserving a better result, the Rangers lost in overtime 3-2 to the Stars on a Miro Heiskanen goal.

One of the surprises was that Sammy Blais didn’t play. He’s already nursing a lower-body injury from the Washington game. Shocker. He had a few ferocious hits. Hopefully, he isn’t out for Saturday at Montreal. With the Canadiens losing again, you know they’ll be amped up to play the home opener tomorrow night at Bell Centre. In other words, it won’t get any easier. Not with the Maple Leafs to follow on Monday.

The starting lineup included Dryden Hunt and Julien Gauthier, who didn’t play in the season opening dud that was a total waste. But Hunt did. It’s incredibly mystifying why he’s on the roster. Sure. He plays an honest game and is physically involved. But is that really who they chose over the exiled Vitali Kravtsov? Speaking of him, the father of the former ’18 first round pick put up an interesting Russian article. The English translation is a bit perplexing. This isn’t to suggest what Kravtsov decided to do is right. It’s not. But I think there’s more than meets the eye here.

Also making his true NHL debut was former first round pick Nils Lundkvist. He received over 14 minutes including some point duty on the second power play. As expected, he had a new number. Instead of number 53, he rocked number 27. Best remembered for former Stanley Cup champion Alexei Kovalev and recent captain Ryan McDonagh. Not for Jack Johnson, who astonishingly scored a highlight reel goal in a Colorado home win over Chicago that had me laughing. I thought Lundkvist looked confident for his first game. He created some scoring chances off the rush. There was one hiccup that cost a goal against. But that wasn’t entirely his fault.

Unlike Wednesday, Igor Shesterkin was in net for the second game of a back-to-back. He got a nice ovation from the crowd. Fans are excited for this team. We all want to see them succeed. There are more expectations. Obviously, they don’t want to get off to a slow start. At 0-1-1, they need to right the ship. As Kreider said afterwards during a postgame press conference sitting next to Fox, they only get a two game slate when asked about adjusting to the new system Gallant installed. He didn’t stutter. Kreider has done his part so far scoring in both games on tip ins. Exactly what you want from the longest tenured Blueshirt. Fox was unbelievable on Friday night, nearly willing the team back to a win. One of six alternates, the 23-year old Norris winner looks even better so far. With points in the first two games, there’s no telling what he’ll do. He sure is exciting to watch.

After an initial good start that earned them a power play, the Rangers found it difficult to score on veteran Braden Holtby. The former Caps goalie played very well before exiting due to dehydration. He made 25 saves before giving way to Anton Khudobin, who did a good job coming in cold to pickup the win by stopping all six shots he faced.

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Hometown kid Lafreniere gets game-winner to give Rangers first victory of season over Canadiens, Shesterkin stands tall

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Derek

The biggest story entering the third game of the season was the return home for Alexis Lafreniere in Montreal. Although the former 2020 top pick is from the Province of Quebec, that’s right outside the big Canadian city. Playing in front of his family and friends for the first time, Lafreniere didn’t disappoint. He scored the big game-winner with over 10 minutes left to help the Rangers get their first victory of the season over the Canadiens at a packed Bell Centre.

What made it even more special is that he did it with his proud parents in attendance. Due to the pandemic, they never got to see their son play in the abbreviated ’20-21 season. For Lafreniere, it was a special moment for sure. Up to that point following Jonathan Drouin tying the game 26 seconds prior to put the sellout Habs crowd in a frenzy for their own inspiring player who’s overcome anxiety and depression off the ice, Lafreniere had come on strong during the game. Even better, the recently turned 20-year old left wing stepped up in a key moment to provide the spark the Rangers needed to get out of Montreal with a win. It gave them points in two straight and made their record 1-1-1 with an even tougher test tomorrow night at Toronto.

Playing the game without the COVID stricken Ryan Strome, the Rangers did okay even though it was their third game in four nights. They got stellar goaltending from number one starter Igor Shesterkin, who made some huge stops on his way to 31 altogether to earn the game’s First Star. He really came up big when the Canadiens started to press the action during the second half. That’s the kind of performance the Blueshirts will need from the aggressive Russian netminder to succeed. He tracked the puck well and also handled it to help his defense out.

A key area that was better was the special teams. Over the first two games, the Rangers had allowed four power play goals and only scored once on the man-advantage. In this one, they won the battle by killing off all three of Montreal’s power plays and went 1-for-4 on the power play. Once again, it was Chris Kreider, who did the dirty work to score for a third consecutive game breaking a scoreless tie nearly halfway through the contest. It was his second power play goal. Coincidentally, all three of his goals have come directly in front of the opposing goalie. The first two on tip-ins and the third on a rebound that he chipped past Habs starter Jake Allen. Of course, Allen is the Montreal number one with Carey Price getting help for an off ice issue in an NHL program. Hopefully, he is able to return.

Without Strome, Filip Chytil moved up to center the second line with Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko. Hartford call up Greg McKegg played mostly on the fourth line with Dryden Hunt. To make room for McKegg, Julien Gauthier was scratched. Barclay Goodrow wound up with Sammy Blais and Ryan Reaves on an effective checking line. Reaves had a particularly strong game drawing two penalties and making a nice defensive play in the neutral zone late to get a puck in deep. One issue coach Gerard Gallant ran into was that Kakko suffered a lower-body injury. He took nine shifts (6:16) before exiting the game. Right now, he’s day-to-day. We’ll know more tomorrow. If he can’t go against the Maple Leafs, that leaves the Rangers in a bind if Strome isn’t ready by Monday. Gauthier could be back in unless they recall Morgan Barron, who’s off to a quick start with Hartford having scored in both games. This is where you really wish Vitali Kravtsov was available. More on that later.

Due to being short a man, Gallant mixed and matched. He wasn’t shy about double shifting Zibanejad, Kreider or Panarin on a makeshift fourth line. That’s what good coaches do when their bench is short a forward. I thought he did a nice job managing the minutes. Of course, he leaned heavily on his top players while Chytil also received over 21 minutes. He didn’t hurt himself in the extended look on the second line. He also was the only Blueshirt who had a good night on face-offs, going 6-and-5. As a team, the Rangers lost 34 of 56 draws to the Canadiens. But it didn’t matter.

Following a long opening ceremony which MSG Network chose not to show for whatever reason (who would want to see the Canadiens with a great introduction to their first capacity crowd in over a year), the teams took to the ice and dropped the puck around 7:25 PM. So, it was almost like a 7:30 game on a Saturday night in Montreal. What’s better than hockey up north on a Hockey Night In Canada? Exactly. MSG really isn’t the same since Dolan put the screws to the viewers. I guess I would’ve preferred to see the pregame ceremony. I’m glad someone I follow posted a video from her seats. Awesome.

The Rangers took a couple of penalties in an otherwise solid road period. Even though the call on Reaves was tacky, the penalty kill got the job done. They didn’t allow many Montreal shots. Ditto for K’Andre Miller, who was off for a trip on the very elusive Cole Caufield. He really will be a rookie to watch. He’s got explosive speed and a great shot which he’s not shy about using. Someone oughta fill Panarin in. He had a lousy game. I know he got a secondary assist on the Kreider goal. But not once did he look to take a shot. If that’s how he’s gonna play, he’s stealing money. He hasn’t exactly gotten off to a strong start. I expect much better from him.

At least the Rangers did a good job defensively. In particular, Ryan Lindgren had his best game to date. He was physical and blocked a game high six shots while teaming with wunderkind Adam Fox to play 3:26 shorthanded. Each third year defenseman played shutdown hockey at even strength. They also were on the ice for two Ranger goals. Well, Fox was on for all three including the Kreider power play tally and Kevin Rooney’s empty netter at 19:50. What else would you expect from the rating Norris winner, whose game looks even better. He’s on a different level.

It wasn’t until midway through the second period that someone scored. After failing on their first two tries, the Rangers got a third consecutive power play when Jacob Trouba was hooked by Mathieu Perreault. This time, they made it work. With Panarin feeding Zibanejad for a quick shot, the loose puck caromed to Kreider as he got just enough of it to squeak it by Allen for a 1-0 lead at 9:59. That stick to it mentality is something he’s done in all three games. I think his style really fits the way Gallant wants to play. Maybe I was smart to grab Kreider in my fantasy league. He’s really backing up his words. It’s nice to see him silencing the critics. He has an important role on this team and is a good leader.

Following his goal, the desperate Canadiens pushed hard. However, every time they created a good scoring chance, Shesterkin stopped them in their tracks. He was very good taking away shots down low while controlling rebounds and using his quick glove to take away anything high. He made 13 saves in the second and then held it together in a busy third where he turned aside 13 of 14 shots for a combined 26 saves the last two periods. That was after only facing five in the opening frame.

Despite being outshot 13-9 in the second, the Rangers had four straight power plays. Had they taken advantage of some undisciplined Habs’ penalties, they could’ve put the game away. Especially with Montreal struggling to score in the early going. Instead, they took a one goal lead to the locker room.

It was during the third that that lack of killer instinct nearly cost them. With Montreal continuing to carry the play against a tired Rangers team, they were more on their heels. After again successful killing a penalty on Lafreniere for tripping, the Rangers got a little sloppy. Ninety seconds later, Drouin tied the game when he took a nice feed from Christian Dvorak and quickly beat Shesterkin from in front at 9:24. On the play, Brett Kulak passed the puck for Dvorak, who went wide on Miller behind to he net. With Trouba occupied with another Habs forward, that meant both defensemen were behind the net. A no no. No forward made the switch on a wide open Drouin, who buried his second of the season. It had to feel great. He sure got tremendous support from the crowd. Why not. They listed it as 21,105. A sellout.

Regarding Trouba and Miller, they need to be better than the shenanigans we saw in the third. It wasn’t only the goal against they were on for. Following the clutch Lafreniere goal on just an outstanding passing play started by Fox with Zibanejad perfectly setting up the young forward for a nice belated birthday present, the dynamic duo were out for another shift where they nearly got victimized. After Miller turned over a puck, Trouba got completely faked out only for Shesterkin to bail him out with an easy glove save. Let’s put it this way. He made it look easy even though it was a good chance. That’s a credit to how well he played.

Predictably, Gallant opted not to use Nils Lundkvist down the stretch. While I get the logic behind the move, could he have been any worse than Trouba? I want to see the rookie learn. We know he’ll put up points due to his skating and skill. But they also must learn to trust him defensively. It’s going to be crucial. Partner Patrik Nemeth got more ice time. That was understandable. But Gallant went with his horses in Fox, Lindgren and Trouba. Miller and Lundkvist are keys to the season. One former first round pick is in his second year while the other just completed his second game. It’ll take some time.

Following the Trouba scare, the Rangers did a sound job protecting the lead. They got two key soft clears off the boards that weren’t iced from Kreider and then Fox. That allowed them to get changes. Those are very smart plays from two of the team’s best players. They also trusted Reaves late with Rooney and Blais. It’s good to use different players and feel confident that they can get it done in close games. We know how bad this team was in one goal games last year. This was a step in the right direction.

With time winding down, a clear to the neutral zone allowed Rooney to get the loose puck and gain center ice before skating and firing his first into a vacated Montreal net to seal the win. Exhales for the bench and the fans. All in all, it was a solid performance. Any time they win in the House of Horrors, that’s a good thing. We can feel better about Halloween.

BATTLE OF HUDSON THREE STARS 🤩

3rd ⭐ Fox/Kreider, NYR (🍎, PPG, 5 SOG, combined +4)

2nd ⭐ Alexis Lafreniere, NYR (game-winner at 9:50 of 3rd, 1st goal of season, 5 SOG, 3 hits, +1 in 16:16)

1st ⭐ Igor Shesterkin, NYR (31 saves on 32 shots including 26/27 final 2 periods for 1st win of season)

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Hughes’ stick toss punctuates a scintillating OT winner

Posted on October 16, 2021 by hasan4978

Many times Opening Night can be misleading or just a one-off in a long season. There have been a few times where the Devils’ opener portended things to come – 2009 and 2019 when they blew huge leads in craptacular fashion certainly served to foreshadow disasterous starts that got both coaches fired by midseason. Conversely in 2017, the Devils’ young guns sent a message to the league in a convincing win over the Avs and that wound up foreshadowing a surprising playoff year. Of course, in most other years Opening Night really is just one game – for example the Devils started 0-3-1 in their first Stanley Cup year of 1995, and suffered a desultory 3-0 season-opening loss at the Rock to the Flyers before their last season of May and June hockey (2011-12).

Hopefully last night, we’ll at least look back at the opener as a statement made by one individual player…Jack Hughes who scored two huge goals, including a gorgeous OT winner that saved the Devils’ bacon after blowing a late 3-1 lead against the Blackhawks in the final minutes of the third. Make no mistake about it, the Devils are gonna need their meal tickets – Hughes, recent free agent acquisition Dougie Hamilton and fellow #1 overall pick Nico Hischier to lead the way out of the wilderness for this franchise. So far so good last night with two of them scoring three of our four goals, Nico was within a couple of inches of scoring off the post in the third, but hopefully many better days are ahead for him.

Before recapping the dramatic finish, let’s start at the beginning, or rather before it. There was a lot of anticipation for last night’s game, being the first one with unlimited fan attendance at the Prudential Center since the pandemic started last Spring. As much as I was looking forward to be back and glad to be back for my first home game in over nineteen months, I was also a bit annoyed the Devils were one of the few teams in the NHL without any kind of COVID policy or restrictions until a couple of days ago. The half-baked policy they rolled out at the last minute is an insult to our intelligence tbh, ostensibly you can enter the arena without a mask if you produce proof of vaccination and with a mask if you don’t, plus you’re only supposed to take off your mask for food and drink once you’re in the arena. Let’s face it though, you can’t really enforce a mask policy with over 15,000 people in the arena – everyone’s basically on their honor once they enter the building. Just adding in having to produce proof of vaccination ‘or a negative test in the last 48 hours’ would do so much more, and is actually enforceable unlike what basically amounts to a toothless mask request, but god forbid we annoy the chuds in our crowd such as the one a few rows in front of me that wore an ‘everything woke turns to ****’ shirt last night.

All that aside, it was nice to be back and enjoy the better elements of the crowd. Even if I didn’t miss the bumper to bumper foot traffic during intermissions and walking out after ‘sellout’ games. Sure, last night was called a sellout and it was closer than I thought it was going to be a few days ago, but I’m always skeptical of that when pockets of the upper corners had plenty of room in them. Those were about the only suspect areas though, it was definitely a solid turnout and a bit of a celebration all around. If the Devils made one mistake in the pregame, it was during their montage of a post-pandemic world when the governor’s voice was the first to be heard, and got met with sound boos. Pretty much any governor pre or post-pandemic would get booed, but especially with the current political climate that’s just something that potentially invites backlash all over the place. You don’t even need an excuse for that among certain people, like the yahoos that chanted ‘**** (our current president)’ on the way out of the arena after the game. Without getting into it much, that’s a rare bothsides issue that’s actually bothsides, but presumably most of the ones last night are people that don’t want politics mixed with muh sports, and yet they go and do it themselves.

That said, it was still a nice montage that fit the moment:

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1449072580468543488?s=20

In a sense, last night felt a little like coming back after the 2004-05 lockout, although slightly different since there was no hockey at all in that eighteen month interim. We had hockey last year, albeit from a distance for all but a small portion of the people who chose to go to games last year with limited attendance. I obviously wasn’t going to do that, especially before being able to get the vaccine itself. I wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as I could have been last night, in part because most of the time when you’re stuck in a crowd indoors it’s only for a couple minutes at most, you’re almost never in front of the same person except actually at your seat, which could have been an issue last night. Especially with the motormouth season ticket holder behind me who I noticed was at least wearing some kind of face covering for the moment. And fortunately for me and the guy next to me (who immediately commented that the guy in back of us was an *******), he left our section after the first period anyway. At least having an aisle seat I’m not stuck in the middle of a row, so there’s that.

Given what I’ve already said about the crowd last night, it should be of no surprise that Mackenzie Blackwood got cheered unconditionally, just as every other player did during the pregame intros. I didn’t want to see him get booed last night in spite of my annoyance over a certain issue that will hopefully be rectified soon, but I was tempted to go all Baez/Lindor New York Mets-style and give him the thumbs down but I didn’t want to needlessly incite any of the clowns in back of me so I didn’t. Ironically Blackwood missed the game for non-COVID reasons with his heel still giving him issues after offseason surgery, so Jonathan Bernier got the start. Also missing last night were Damon Severson, Ty Smith and Miles Wood though hopefully at least one or two of them will be back by the time the Devils next play on Tuesday. Perhaps this has been the only season where I don’t mind the Devils’ habit of having spaced out games early, entirely due to the walking wounded.

Also in the pregame warmups, the Devils and Blackhawks wore special Jimmy Hayes-centric jerseys with the number he wore for each team on them. I was glad they left the actual montage of a tribute to the first stoppage in play since it would have been a bit awkward to put that and/or a moment of silence in the middle of getting the crowd revved up for their first home game in many months. Especially so when they showed his family in the crowd after the montage. How could you not just have a lump in your throat after that? Talk about bittersweet, the family gets to see the tribute and the crowd to their credit chanted his name after it, but I can’t imagine having to be at a hockey game months after an unspeakable tragedy like that given Hayes (and his brother Kevin) have both been long-time NHL players.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1449154269337341960?s=20

I’ve managed to go this far without commenting much on the actual game itself, which got off to a rousing start just seventeen seconds in when Hamilton scored on his first shot as a Devil. Talk about a grand entrance. It was a bit of an illusion though, as the Devils’ rink rust (not having played at all in nine days due to a late start to the regular season plus the final cancelled preseason tilt) started to show and play slowed down for much of the first two periods. One bad habit from last season that carried over to Opening Night this year was a terrible PK that went just 2-4 last night and were lucky to kill off the first one with Hamilton in the box in the opening period. Our luck ran out after Janne Kuokkanen’s penalty late in the first gave the Blackhawks fresh ice for their second-period power play, which Alex DeBrincat promply converted after a couple of cross-ice passes made it through the crease unimpeded by our top defensive pairing of Hamilton and Ryan Graves. Do we even try to coach the PK anymore?

It was mostly dull stuff in the second period until Hughes’ first moment of individual brilliance on the night, or perhaps brilliance with a slice of luck mixed in as his turnaround shot found the screen in front by Yegor Sharangovich and made it to the back of the net to give the Devils back the lead at 17:58. Hughes’ first goal seemed to spur the Devils on as they picked up their play late in the second and early in the third, where an unlikely hero gave them some insurance. Or really two unlikely heroes – Dawson Mercer (playing his first NHL game) put a hard wrister on net that got loose in the crease, and Andreas Johnsson actually made a nice play to go around Connor Murphy on the inside to poke the puck in. For Johnsson it was redemption after he missed the net on a shorthanded breakaway in the first period. After his awful season last year I bitterly joked – with a tinge of truth – that I would have been just as confident in Colin White or Anton Volchenkov on the breakaway than Johnsson…for you younger fans, White and Volchenkov were lead-footed stay-at-home defensemen not at all likely to score on a breakaway. Hopefully more moments like his goal in the third will show up the doubters like me.

Johnsson’s goal gave the Devils a cushion they seemed likely to maintain until geting a tough break on a double minor high sticking call on Mercer, where he wasn’t even looking at the player and on first glance his stick seemed barely waist-high but if the officials want to call that and let an obvious boarding penalty go at the end of regulation then that’s the game we gotta play. Shockingly, we killed off the first part of the double minor without incident but when the Blackhawks pulled their goalie to make it a 6-on-4 the PK predictably caved in, though Michael McLeod came oh so close to putting in an empty-netter that would have ended the game as a contest. Of course instead of the game being 4-1, it was 3-2 after Kirby Dach scored with just under four minutes remaining. And also of course the game would come down to another empty-net extra-man situation in the final moments. I wasn’t even that fatalistic, somewhat nervous but I thought we’d get the job done – and of course we didn’t. Dominik Kubalik’s goal with just twenty-six seconds remaining in regulation led to my first outburst of the season (well, if you want to call a one-word curse and kicking my own seat an outburst) and I had visions of the 2009 and 2019 blown lead openers dancing in my head.

Fortunately the 3-on-3 OT – and against a non-conference foe at that – provided a chance for instant redemption and it came with one of the best individual efforts you’ll see all year. Open ice helps but still, Jack skated circles around both defensemen and Blackhawks goalie Kevin Lankinen while Graves stood at the side of the net as basically a spectator with a bird’s eye view for both Hughes’ brilliant goal and his awesome celebration, tossing his stick into the stands. Finally hockey has its own version of a bat flip celebration although I suspect it’ll be met with the same stuffiness from the suits and traditionalists that the bat flip is by the baseball traditionalists.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1449191239438458882?s=20

This was definitely a glass half-full/half empty type of game. You don’t like giving up the 3-1 lead late or surrendering two PK goals, but you do like outscoring the Blackhawks 3-0 in five-on-five action and the fact that two of your go-to players scored three of the four goals. Bernier was solid in his debut and for the most part the Devils’ D held up against a decent offense despite missing an entire middle pairing’s worth of starters. I can’t say I have much faith in our special teams right now but at least there are other things to potentially build on for the moment until and if they ever get straightened out. At least the Devils managed to win a home game, which they didn’t do a lot of last year.

Devils Three Stars:

  1. Jack Hughes – 2 goals, a +1 and one spectacular celebration
  2. Dougie Hamilton – goal and a +3 in 25:54 of icetime
  3. Yegor Sharangovich – assist, a +2 and a screen in front of Hughes’ first goal

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Tough Lineup gets exposed by Ovechkin, Caps in forgettable Season Opener

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Derek

This was one to forget. It’s a good thing the Rangers have another game tonight when they play host to the Stars in the home opener. Everything that could go wrong did in a disappointing 5-1 loss to the Caps on Wednesday night in hostile territory.

For some reason, coach Gerard Gallant opted to start backup Alex Georgiev over starter Igor Shesterkin in the first game. It made no sense whatsoever. They’re paying Shesterkin to play the majority of these games. You’re telling us he can’t make back-to-back starts in the first two games? Granted. The Rangers start off with a busy schedule that includes a visit at Montreal Saturday for three games in four nights. It definitely was a head scratcher. The

Even though Georgiev allowed five goals on 27 shots, this wasn’t his fault. As Gallant pointed out afterwards, they were undisciplined taking too many penalties. The Caps scored three power play goals to take full advantage. That included T.J. Oshie putting in a rebound to open the scoring with Patrik Nemeth watching following a slashing minor. The penalty kill left too much space down low for a cross ice pass that Oshie was there to knock in.

Even though they trailed early on, the Rangers had the better of play for most of the first period. At one point, they led in shots 13-6. But that soon changed. The Capitals began to take over. They would turn things around by getting 15 of the next 16 shots.

Maybe playing the tough lineup was a mistake. If Gallant thought there would be bloodshed with Tom Wilson, he was sadly mistaken. While Sammy Blais established himself with some thunderous hits, there were no fisticuffs to the amazement of Wayne Gretzky on the NHL On TNT. In fact, the highlight of the first game on the station was a funny intermission segment featuring NBA analyst Charles Barkley, who wore recently retired Predators goalie Pekka Rinne’s glove and blocker to try to stop Gretzky on five shots. He was lucky enough to make one save. That was more fun than the game.

Most of the chances for the Blueshirts came in the first half. Vitek Vanecek stayed right with Adam Fox to deny his early bid. He also denied Kaapo Kakko, who was one of the best Rangers finishing with five shots. He looks a lot more confident. On one opportunity, he took an Artemi Panarin pass and shot quickly only to see Vanecek get across and make the big stop. If Kakko continues his progression from preseason and the first game, the goals will come.

But while the third year Finn was very noticeable throughout, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome and Panarin were barely identifiable. Neither Panarin nor Zibanejad registered a shot on goal. Kreider eventually did when he was able to tip in a Strome feed down low over Vanecek for a power play goal that broke up the shutout. However, none of the four leaders were good. In fact, a missed keep in from Panarin resulted in a Caps goal from rookie Hendrix Lapierre off an odd man rush. His first NHL goal came thanks to a nice feed from Oshie, who took advantage of Jarred Tinordi to help set up their third goal.

Previously, another penalty allowed the Caps to go to work on the power play. This time, Alex Ovechkin combined with Evgeny Kuznetsov to set up Justin Schultz for a one-timer that deflected right off Zibanejad and past Georgiev. There was nothing he could do about it. It was just bad luck. The only goal he should’ve had was the Lapierre tally 24 seconds later. Even though it was a tough chance due to only Tinordi being back, Lapierre snuck his wrist shit through Georgiev to become only the sixth Washington Capital to score his first goal as a 19-year old. Not bad for a player who dropped in the 2020 NHL Draft due to injury history. The Rangers traded out of the pick to select defenseman Braden Schneider. Lapierre is a center who will be good. So will Schneider. But he’ll have to wait.

The penalties took the Rangers out of the game. Their inability to avoid putting a historically good opponent on the power play really cost them. For every hardworking shift from Ryan Reaves, there wasn’t enough fluidity. They want to get in on the forecheck and wear opponents down. That wasn’t the case Wednesday night. Instead, there were a combined 34 penalty minutes and 11 power plays. No fireworks. The Rangers won at the physicality out-hitting the Caps 27-12. The problem was while they did finish checks, Washington focused on playing smart hockey. Even lightning rod Wilson didn’t step out of bounds. Unless you consider an accidental trip of Blais where his stick got caught in Blais’ skate something to heinous.

It wasn’t as if the Rangers didn’t have chances. Even as they got dominated at five-on-five where the Caps held a 17-12 edge in shots and scored once, the New York guests had looks on the man-advantage. But they didn’t cash in on their first four. The Caps got the saves from Vanecek (stopped 8 of 9 shorthanded). Unfortunately, Georgiev didn’t make the stops (6 shorthanded saves on 9 shots). Not that he was to blame. The first one was a smart passing play started by Ovechkin for a Kuznetsov shot that Oshie put home. The second was Kuznetsov finding an open Schultz at the point for a one-timer that went right off Zibanejad and in. By the time the third period rolled around, all Blais could do is watch from the penalty box as Ovechkin pounced on a weird carom off Anthony Mantha’s chest to surprise Georgiev, who lost sight of the puck. It was another bad bounce. That’s hockey.

By that point with 17:23 remaining in the third, the Caps were ahead 4-0. A Dmitry Orlov cross-checking minor on Jacob Trouba finally handed the Rangers another power play. This time, they made a simple play to get on the scoreboard. After Panarin slipped the puck to Fox, he moved it over for Strome, who looked pass all the way. His perfect shot pass for Kreider at the side of the net allowed the longest tenured current Ranger to do what he does best. He neatly deflected the puck over Vanecek into the net for his first of the season at 9:13. That cut the deficit to 4-1.

There was some brief hope that they could make it a game. Following Barclay Goodrow, who was quiet, hi-sticking Orlov, eight seconds later, Oshie took down Fox to even it up. That created a four-on-four. But even in a situation that likely benefited them, the Blueshirts couldn’t get much going. There wasn’t any room. Credit the Caps for playing strong defensively. They were diligent checking and didn’t allow Panarin, Zibanejad or Fox to create anything.

Shortly before the Oshie penalty expired, Kuznetsov made a smart read. Noticing that Ovechkin was still on with the Rangers only having an abbreviated eight second power play, he made a diagonal pass off the corner boards. With the Great Eight flying, K’Andre Miller got turned around. His late reaction allowed an attacking Ovechkin to recover the puck and break in on Georgiev and easily beat him with a nifty backhand for goal number 732. That allowed the living legend to pass Marcel Dionne for fifth all-time in goal scoring. In a game he was questionable for, the amazing 36-year old Russian sniper again reminded the hockey world why he could someday challenge Gretzky’s record. Not only did he get his first two goals, but helped set up a pair as well for a four-point effort to earn the game’s First Star. Remarkable.

That was it for the scoring. Not much else happened of note. Once a game is decided, you always wonder if things will turn nasty. Other than a few scrums, there wasn’t much. No message sending. Not enough intensity shown. Dryden Hunt, who they chose to play over Julien Gauthier, logged less than 10 minutes. I fail to see why he’s on the roster over the exiled Vitali Kravtsov. Libor Hajek sat out along with Nils Lundkvist, who watched Tinordi get turned around and turn over the puck a few times. No doubt he’ll make his NHL debut tonight. Hopefully, that means no Trouba on the second power play. Gauthier should get in and play third line, which was ineffective except for Blais. Filip Chytil was also very quiet.

Not enough players pulled their weight. If they do that on an emotional night where they’ll honor the memory of legend Rod Gilbert, it’ll be cause for concern. Gilbert was front and center long after his Hall Of Fame career all spent with the Rangers. The all-time franchise leader in goals and points was the team ambassador who always greeted adoring fans with a big smile. Whether at games or Rangers special events, he was a prideful man of class. His number 7 was the first jersey the franchise retired. It will hang from the rafters with pride all season. Hopefully, the players representing the Blueshirts remember that by honoring him the right way.

They have to turn the page. The Stars should be good. It shouldn’t be an easy game. We’ll see how they respond.

The Rangers did show improvement in one key area. They dominated on face-offs winning 61 percent by going 31-and-20. Kevin Rooney was the best center winning 8 of 10. Chytil went 6-and-2 while Zibanejad won 8 of 13. Goodrow went 5-and-2. Only Strome struggled finishing 4 of 12. This is an area to follow. They’ll get tested by a good face-off team later.

THREE STARS OF THE GAME

3rd ⭐ T.J. Oshie, Caps (PPG plus 🍎, +1 in 14:57)

2nd ⭐ Evgeny Kuznetsov, Caps (3 🍎, +1 in 21:22)

1st ⭐ Alex Ovechkin, Caps (2 goals and 2 🍎 including goal number 732 to pass Dionne for fifth all-time)

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NHL Division Rankings and Playoffs

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Derek

With two nights in the books for a full NHL season, it’s time to take a closer look at how we see each division stacking up. Of course, this won’t be accurate because it’s nearly impossible to get everything right. So, I’ll just do it by ranking and then try my best to setup the playoffs.

One thing to remember. This doesn’t take the injury factor into account. Nor the COVID cases with it already costing Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon a game which his team still won.

Don’t forget that the four divisions are back along with the unconventional top three seeds plus two wildcards in each Conference. It’s never easy to predict. There are usually a few surprises that sneak up on us. Here goes nothing.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division

+1. Florida Panthers

*2. Tampa Bay Lightning

*3. Toronto Maple Leafs

#4. Boston Bruins

5. Montreal Canadiens

6. Detroit Red Wings

7. Ottawa Senators

8. Buffalo Sabres

Metropolitan Division

+1. Carolina Hurricanes

*2. New York Islanders

*3. Philadelphia Flyers

#4. New York Rangers

5. Washington Capitals

6. Pittsburgh Penguins

7. New Jersey Devils

8. Columbus Blue Jackets

+Division Winner

*Playoffs

#Wildcard

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Central Division

+1. Colorado Avalanche

*2. Dallas Stars

*3. Minnesota Wild

#4. St. Louis Blues

#5. Winnipeg Jets

6. Chicago Blackhawks

7. Nashville Predators

8. Arizona Coyotes

Northwest Division

+1. Vegas Golden Knights

*2. Edmonton Oilers

*3. Vancouver Canucks

4. Calgary Flames

5. Los Angeles Kings

6. Anaheim Ducks

7. Seattle Kraken

8. San Jose Sharks

+Division Winner

*Playoffs

#Wildcard

NHL PLAYOFFS

EAST

Division Semifinals

(M1) Hurricanes over (W2) Rangers

(M2) Islanders over (M3) Flyers

(A1) Panthers over (W1) Bruins

(A2) Lightning over (A3) Maple Leafs

Division Finals

Hurricanes over Islanders

Panthers over Lightning

Conference Finals

Hurricanes over Panthers

WEST

Division Semifinals

(C1) Avalanche over (W1) Blues

(C2) Stars over (C3) Wild

(N1) Golden Knights over (W2) Jets

(N3) Canucks over (N2) Oilers

Division Finals

Avalanche over Stars

Golden Knights over Canucks

Conference Finals

Golden Knights over Avalanche

Stanley Cup Finals

Hurricanes over Golden Knights

Conn Smythe Sebastian Aho

Art Ross Connor McDavid

Rocket Richard Auston Matthews

Hart Nathan MacKinnon

Norris Cale Makar

Vezina Darcy Kuemper

Selke Aleksander Barkov

Calder Trevor Zegras

Comeback Player Brian Boyle

Breakout Player Nick Suzuki

Best Signing Dougie Hamilton

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NHL ’21-22 Season Preview: Storylines to Follow

Posted on October 13, 2021 by Derek

A day into a new season following a good return to hockey for ESPN featuring one of the most iconic themes and the cool story behind it told by Justin Bieber, we get the introduction to the NHL On TNT tonight. It features a highly anticipated game between bitter rivals, pitting the Rangers against the Capitals in DC. Will there be fireworks 🎆🎇 between Ryan Reaves and Tom Wilson or is Jarred Tinordi going to have a rematch after avenging former Boston teammate Brandon Carlo last season? Hopefully, there will be good hockey too for Wayne Gretzky to analyze.

The bigger storyline is the Lightning. They already lost last night to the Crosby and Malkin less Penguins, who spoiled the fun of a nice Stanley Cup banner ceremony by winning 6-2. It still was memorable for the fans, who patiently waited two years to witness the first back-to-back champion since the Pens (’16 & ’17). Before that, you have to go all the way back to the Red Wings (’97 & ’98). Now, the Bolts aim for the first three peat since the Islanders dynasty. They won four straight from 1980 to 1983. Speaking of which, the current Islanders have unfinished business after coming so close to dethroning the Lightning last Spring. They’ll have captain Anders Lee back and the game’s oldest player in Zdeno Chara.

If the Lightning can win three in a row, they’ll have to accomplish it without the superb third line of Yanni Gourde, Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman. Some new faces will be asked to step up including former Hab veteran Corey Perry. The stars remain with a core that features Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Ondrej Palat, Ryan McDonagh, Anthony Cirelli and Alex Killorn. Most teams would kill to have half that nucleus. They’ll be in contention again with serious challenges coming from the Islanders, Panthers, Hurricanes, Maple Leafs and possibly the Bruins and Canadiens if they can succeed without Carey Price and Shea Weber. Big if.

There are up and coming teams such as the Rangers, who feel with key additions Goodrow, Sammy Blais and Reaves, can help make them a more complete team that’s ready to compete. It’ll still depend on the improvement from kids Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and K’Andre Miller with Igor Shesterkin a huge key. If you’re looking for potential surprises, maybe the Red Wings will be more competitive thanks to adding Nick Leddy and Alex Nedeljkovic. Keep an eye on Lucas Raymond. I’m not suggesting they’ll make the postseason, but they could be a bit improved. So should the Devils thanks to landing big fish Dougie Hamilton along with Ryan Graves to help their blue line. Is Dawson Mercer ready for prime time? Jack Hughes will need to have a breakout year while Nico Hischier stays healthy. We’ll see what happens with Mackenzie Blackwood, who still isn’t vaccinated. Jonathan Bernier was brought in for goalie help.

Out West, it looks like a two horse race between the Golden Knights and Avalanche, who still must prove they can overcome their second round woes. Colorado has a new starting goalie in Darcy Kuemper with Philipp Grubauer leaving for the brand new expansion Seattle Kraken. They gave Vegas a game last night even coming back to tie the game before losing 4-3 on an unlucky bounce. That’s hockey. It was a nice introduction with the Golden Knights putting on the fantastic show that makes it Vegas prior to opening puck drop.

Already, Nathan MacKinnon has COVID and won’t play in the Avalanche’s first game later. Even though the league is almost 100 percent fully vaxxed with only four players remaining to get the shot, there’ll still be positive cases throughout a full 82-game schedule. We know vaccinated can get it. Especially when they’re around so many people. In this case, teammates and opponents along with coaches and trainers. What at least is known is how to handle these cases so there isn’t a repeat of what happened between the Devils and Sabres. Asymptomatic cases shouldn’t be as bad as long as there isn’t a spread.

What can Cale Makar do over a full season? Ditto for Adam Fox, who won the Norris over 56 games last season. How excited are we to see what Oilers superstar tandem Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl can do? Will one or both get 50 goals and how many points can McDavid reach? Is 150 possible? Edmonton will be exciting and should be a playoff lock in a weak division with only Vegas ahead of them. Who else makes it?

The Avalanche play in a better division featuring contenders Dallas, Winnipeg, Minnesota, St. Louis and Chicago, who should be improved with the additions of Marc-Andre Fleury and Seth Jones. Don’t forget captain Jonathan Toews is back. Add that to Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat and they have an exciting roster. Colorado is the class of the Central featuring MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen, Makar and wildcard Nazem Kadri. Will he again do something boneheaded to hurt his team? This is a very competitive division with only the lowly Coyotes looking like they’ll be very bad despite a few good players. Have you seen the goalies? Expect a good year from Eeli Tolvanen of Nashville, who are hoping Juuse Saros can carry the load in net.

Which of these teams can take third and fourth in the Northwest?Calgary with Jacob Markstrom looking for a bounce back season while the future for Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk look cloudy? The Canucks, who wisely got both Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes signed. It’ll depend largely on netminder Thatcher Demko, who has a better backup with Jaro Halak supplanting Braden Holtby. Bo Horvat remains an underrated center, who can do a bit of everything. They need Brock Boeser healthy. He isn’t to start the season. If he ever was 35 to 40 goals is possible. What about the promising Kings, who signed Phillip Danault and boast Arthur Kaliyev and Alex Turcotte to go with Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick, who could be at the end. LA will be interesting. So should Anaheim despite looking not ready to return to the postseason. Trevor Zegras will turn heads and compete for the Calder Trophy along with the Habs’ Cole Caufield, Panthers goalie Spencer Knight and perhaps Vasili Podkolzin of Vancouver.

The Kraken have an experienced group led by Mark Giordano and Jaden Schwartz with a good goalie duo in Grubauer and Chris Driedger. The question will be scoring. They’ll rely on Jared McCann and a few others to surprise like Vegas had in ’17-18. The Sharks aren’t expected to do much. Not that they’ll be bad. They have proven performers like Logan Couture, Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier. But Evander Kane is under NHL investigation for a host of issues off the ice. He’s a good power forward. Right now, he’s not on the roster. They’re prepared to move forward without him. Can Adin Hill and veteran James Reimer keep enough pucks out of the net? Don’t bank on it. This could be a team that sells at the trade deadline with Hertl an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Is anyone worse than the Sabres? They did compete hard towards the conclusion of last year without former injured captain Jack Eichel. Eichel remains a headache for Buffalo fans with the star center wanting to be traded anywhere at this point. It’s a touchy issue with Eichel due to his neck injury. He wants to get a different surgery while the Sabres team doctors don’t. Whoever acquires him better hope he gets what he wants and can be ready to go by the second half. My bet is on either Vegas or Los Angeles. I honestly don’t expect him to play. This could be another Eric Lindros situation. Their starting goalie is Craig Anderson. It’s gonna be a long year in Western New York.

So, who will make the playoffs which unfortunately go back to the silly top three in each division and the two wildcards without reseeding. They need to change it back or adjust it. We’ll have rankings and playoff picks and more coming up later.

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Rangers Season Preview: Playoffs or Bust for more balanced roster

Posted on October 13, 2021 by Derek

Tonight is the beginning of the next chapter of Rangers hockey. Under new leadership with proven coach Gerard Gallant behind the bench and Team President and GM Chris Drury presiding over a more balanced roster, it’s playoffs or bust for the 2021-22 Blueshirts.

The talk is over. Now, it’s time for this 23-man roster they’re going with for now to back up their words. Actions speak louder than words. Gallant emphasizes an aggressive forechecking system that will include finishing checks and standing up for one another. With key additions to help toughen up the roster, these Rangers won’t back down. It’s what makes the super hyped season opener against Tom Wilson and the Caps on TNT so intriguing. What will happen? Will it distract from getting the all important result? It’s two points that’s most important.

For the most part, training camp and preseason went smoothly. Both Ryan Reaves and Ryan Strome avoided serious injuries. Unfortunately, the news that came down surrounding former first round pick Vitali Kravtsov is an unnecessary distraction for now. We’ll see how the organization handles an uncomfortable situation. One both sides are at fault for. The quicker they move forward, the better off everyone will be. It can’t turn into a long soap opera. What’s done is done. Kravtsov will likely be moving on. A disappointing result that could weaken the roster. However, it is more balanced. Let’s take a look at why.

FORWARDS

With Mika Zibanejad signed, that’s one less headache to worry about. Now, the top center can go about his business by helping lead the team on the ice. He said the playoffs are the focus. It’s a place they haven’t truly been since 2017. Both Zibanejad and Chris Kreider are the lone holdovers from that excruciating second round series loss to the Senators. They make up two-thirds of the first line which includes second-year left wing Alexis Lafreniere. With a year under his belt, the 2020 top pick is a key player to watch. Can he make an impact with Kreider shifting to the right side for now? He just turned 20. Lafreniere is a mature kid who has tremendous skill. We’ll see if he can continue to build off the final month of last season.

Kaapo Kakko is the key to the second line, or line one A. Looking leaner and faster, he had a good preseason. In his third year, the ’19 second pick is poised for a breakout year. Playing with Strome and superstar Artemi Panarin, who won’t have the preposterous false accusation he faced last year, Kakko has a chance to have a big season. He will get power play time and penalty kill under Gallant, who isn’t afraid to trust some of his young players. Speaking of young players, Filip Chytil is another important player for this team to succeed. Entering his fourth year, he is fresh off a hat trick in a warmup against the Islanders. It’s all about consistency for the third line pivot, who for now will be joined by proven winner Barclay Goodrow and Julien Gauthier. They’ll hope the bursts Gauthier shows will start to have results. Especially without Kravtsov.

Adding Sammy Blais, who also won a Cup in St. Louis, looks like a wise move. It was tough to subtract Pavel Buchnevich. But Drury was thinking long-term about the cost of extending Zibanejad and Adam Fox. The latter who will get a big contract soon. If Blais continues to bring the well rounded physical game like he did with the Blues, he’ll be a fan favorite. Don’t forget they also got a second round pick back. The active Blais hits hard. He could see power play time due to his willingness to drive the net. He’ll start with Kevin Rooney and popular former Golden Knight Ryan Reaves on the fourth line. This is a significant improvement from last year. It’s the kind of edgy line that will forecheck, bang and bring the energy that was often missing. Opponents notice Reaves when he’s out there. Dryden Hunt is the extra forward. He will get the nod on the third line for the Caps. He looks like a solid depth player who plays an honest game. Was keeping him and Libor Hajek worth the Kravtsov headache? Time will tell.

DEFENSEMEN

Adam Fox is the headliner of a blue line that will have a different look to it. Gone are Tony DeAngelo, Brendan Smith and pretty soon Hajek, who for some odd reason was kept on the roster because he’s waiver exempt. Whatever the case maybe, the top four remains intact. That means Ryan Lindgren teaming up with the rating Norris winner Fox, who looks to have an even better year. What can he do for an encore over a full 82? Gallant will try to manage his minutes more by leaning on K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba. Miller looked better in camp while Trouba had some issues. Hopefully, they get ironed out as he’s a key player at even strength and on the penalty kill. By adding Patrik Nemeth, who isn’t going to do anything crazy, he’ll be the guide for rookie Nils Lundkvist to lean on. The first round pick has the skating and offensive instincts to contribute. He’ll get second power play duty. The only question is how he’ll handle the workload in his end. He’s not a big guy. For now, the Rangers will carry eight defensemen with Jarred Tinordi the key extra who gets the call tonight over Lundkvist with Wilson in his sights. Keep an eye on Zac Jones, who begins in Hartford. The question is for how long.

GOALIES

The goalie portion is all about Igor Shesterkin. He’s the man. Interestingly, Henrik Lundqvist will get to take in some of his games. The former Ranger who’ll have his number retired, was hired by MSG Network as an intermission guest analyst for 20 games. That should be interesting to watch. With Shesterkin under a new contract that pays him well, he must be consistent and avoid the injury bug that’s plagued the early part of his career. Shesterkin is capable of having a good season. The Rangers are depending on him. Alex Georgiev is the backup. He wasn’t pleased with last season. Between the scuffle with DeAngelo following a miscommunication that cost the team a point, and some inconsistent play, he knows he must be better. The good thing is he and Shesterkin are the same age and can push each other. In today’s NHL, you need both goalies to be successful. This position must perform up to expectations to make the playoffs in a tough division.

COACHING

Gerard Gallant is a good hire. I won’t use the word great because I don’t want to do that. He’s a much more experienced bench boss than David Quinn, who at times treated the Rangers like a college team. That doesn’t work. Players are happy with Gallant so far. He’s very honest and has a dry sense of humor that will keep things loose. Having had amazing success in Vegas where his pupil Reaves was an integral part of the Golden Knights reaching a Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural year, Gallant won’t be afraid to push buttons. He also doesn’t seem shy about giving some young guys different roles. I like using Kakko on the penalty kill. Ditto for Blais, who is very active and good at takeaways. He also won’t be as up front with the media about some of his decisions for games. I like that. Too often, the people who cover the team try to interject themselves and play fantasy coach or GM. The buck stops with Turk.

PREDICTION

In a competitive Metropolitan Division that returns the contending Rangers South, the Hurricanes along with the Islanders, Capitals, Penguins and what should be the improved Flyers and Devils, the Rangers must take care of business in the key rivalry games. That means doing better versus the Islanders and breaking even against the Canes. There aren’t as many divisional games as there should be. But the four point and three point games matter. Especially over a full season. They must take advantage of the weaker competition and bank two points. In my mind, they can finish anywhere from third to sixth. It’ll depend on how well they handle the schedule. To be on the safe side, I have them fourth sneaking in as a wildcard.

New York Rangers 4th, Metro 94 Points

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