A Sad Ending for Coyotes

Posted on April 14, 2024 by Derek

It wasn’t supposed to end this way for the Coyotes. They were hopeful that Arizona would break ground on a new arena that would keep them in the desert.

Instead, the team was informed that they would be relocating to Salt Lake City. On April 17, they’ll play their final game at home against the Oilers at Mullett Arena. It’ll be an emotional night on Wednesday for the players, staff, and the loyal fans who’ve supported them.

Even if it’s on the campus of Arizona State with only 4,600 seats, it’s never easy to say goodbye. When it comes to the NHL, it’s happened enough times. Hartford said goodbye to the Whalers in 1997. They relocated to Carolina.

In 1996, the original Winnipeg Jets played their last game. They moved to Phoenix. That’s how the Coyotes were formed. Some big names wore the cool jerseys that featured the classic Coyotes logo. Jeremy Roenick. Keith Tkachuk. Teppo Numminen. Mike Gartner. Nikolai Khabibulin. Mister Coyote, Shane Doan.

The irony is that Doan’s son, Josh, has shown promise since debuting with the Coyotes. A 2021 second round pick, the former Sun Devil has four goals and four assists for eight points in nine games. In the club’s 3-2 overtime win over Edmonton, he had a goal and an assist. Doan has only known playing hockey in Arizona. It’s sure to be an emotional roller-coaster when the Coyotes play on  Tuesday.

What makes it harder is that most of the players don’t want to relocate. Who can blame them? There’s a personal connection to playing in a city. Even if the arena situation has been less than ideal, the players get used to it. It becomes about the fans who love the team. It isn’t easy.

Who’s to blame for this mess? You can point the finger at the league. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has bent over backward to try to make it work. While he’s an easy target, Bettman was only doing his job. He tried his best to help the Coyotes survive.

Ultimately, the real blame lies with the state. They never were committed to keeping the Coyotes in Arizona. There were arena proposals. But they never had the backing needed to stay.

It’s similar to what the Islanders endured with the Lighthouse project that never had enough support. Fortunately, they survived thanks to a new arena in Elmont. Otherwise, there would be no more Islanders. Imagine that.

The Penguins almost moved to Kansas City. Legend Mario Lemieux helped prevent that from happening. It’s hard to envision no Sidney Crosby as a Penguin. They’ve played at PPG Paints Arena in downtown Pittsburgh since 2010-11. They’ve won two more Stanley Cups since. Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been front and center.

Imagine if the Quebec Nordiques had survived. There wouldn’t have been any Colorado Avalanche. Nor Patrick Roy getting traded to the Avalanche to help them win a pair of Cups. It would never have happened if they stayed in Quebec. Especially given the rivalry between the Canadiens and Nordiques.

The Hurricanes have been pretty successful since relocating from Hartford in 1997. The Whalers had some good teams in the 80s. They didn’t have much success in the 90s. Former owner Peter Karmanos wanted a new arena. When he didn’t get it, he moved the franchise to Carolina. It caused Whaler fans to be conflicted when the Hurricanes won the Cup.

Ultimately, the product is about the players who play the game. But owners like Karmanos can make a franchise hated due to empty promises.

For Coyotes fans, it’s their turn to go through heartbreak. Their team remained in Arizona for nearly three decades. Even with the league doing what it could to keep the Coyotes afloat, it wasn’t enough to save them.

How exactly should Yotes fans feel about the statement released by Arizona Coyotes chairman and governor Alex Meruelo? Predictably, it didn’t go over well. There’s a lot of frustration, which is understandable. It isn’t easy when you know the end is coming. 

Imagine how star Clayton Keller feels. He’s only known NHL hockey as an Arizona Coyote. The 25-year-old former 2016 first round pick has become the leader of the rebuilding club. His 33 goals, 40 assists, and 73 points pace the team. He also led them in scoring the past two seasons.

Keller is signed through 2027-28 with a friendly $7.15 million cap hit. With the franchise moving to Salt Lake City, there’s no guarantee that he’ll want to stay. If he leaves, where will that leave the team in Utah?

At the very least, the Coyotes have some good young pieces, including rookie Logan Cooley, Doan, Dylan Guenther, Barrett Hayton, Mattias Maccelli, J.J. Moser, along with prospects Daniil But, Connor Geekie, Michael Hrabal, and Dmitry Simashev.

It’s hard to predict what will happen. One thing is certain. This Wednesday night will be emotional for everyone. Another sad ending.

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Panarin delivers in the clutch for Rangers in comeback win over Islanders

Posted on April 13, 2024 by Derek

They played earlier this afternoon in an ABC exclusive game seen on national TV. The rematch didn’t disappoint. Four days later, it was the Rangers who came out victorious over the Islanders.

It was earned. Artemi Panarin delivered in the clutch to lead the Blueshirts to a come from behind 3-2 win in the shootout over the Islanders at Madison Square Garden.

His game-tying goal came with 4:17 left in regulation. Held in check by a stingy Isles’ defense for most of the day, Panarin took advantage of a Vincent Trocheck faceoff win to fire home his team-leading 48th goal past Ilya Sorokin.

With their crosstown rivals clinging to a one-goal lead, the Rangers were able to draw even late in the third period. The Islanders iced the puck twice. That led to Trocheck winning the key offensive draw back to Panarin, who beat Sorokin from the left circle with a wrist shot to tie the game at two.

The big goal allowed the Rangers to force overtime. During the three-on-three, they had some good puck possession, but never tested Sorokin. A couple of unforced turnovers almost cost them.

Igor Shesterkin denied Mat Barzal after he stole an errant Panarin pass to get the best chance with seven seconds left in overtime. Shesterkin also delivered a huge stop on an Adam Pelech penalty shot with the Rangers trailing the Islanders 2-1 and under seven minutes remaining.

Panarin hooked Pelech from behind to set up the second Islanders’ penalty shot over four days. In a 4-2 loss at UBS Arena on Apr. 9, Barzal was stopped by Shesterkin 1:25 into the game. That’s twice that Shesterkin made key saves on penalty shots, adding another chapter to the historic rivalry.

In the shootout, Shesterkin was better than Sorokin. In the top of the first, Panarin came in and beat Sorokin with a forehand deke to the glove side.

Kyle Palmieri came out for the Islanders. He had Shesterkin beat, but his shot hit the goalpost. In Round 2, Mika Zibanejad tried to go high glove. But Sorokin shrugged it aside. Brock Nelson was foiled by Shesterkin down low.

That left it up to Vincent Trocheck. The new Steven McDonald winner went far side on Sorokin to clinch the victory on home ice. It was a welcome sight following a pair of losses, including a bad one to the Flyers on Thursday.

Unlike that one, the Rangers competed much harder. Coach Peter Laviolette made some lineup changes. Rookie Matt Rempe was in for Jonny Brodzinski. He took his place on the fourth line with Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey.

The biggest move was splitting up the defensive pair of K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba. They’d struggled mightily since Trouba returned on Mar. 28. In fact, they were on for only one goal for and a mind-numbing nine goals against. On Saturday, Miller played with Braden Schneider. Trouba worked with Erik Gustafsson.

It had to happen. With one game left on the schedule with the Senators visiting MSG on Monday, we’ll see how things develop. Zac Jones deserves to play that game to make his case. We’ll see what Laviolette decides.

By winning, the Rangers remained a point up on the Stars for the President’s Trophy. Dallas won their game over Seattle later in the day. Depending on what happens between now and Monday, that’ll determine what happens. The Hurricanes are still in play for the Metropolitan Division. If they win at Chicago tomorrow, that’ll force the Rangers to earn it with another win against Ottawa. Carolina wraps up at Columbus on Tuesday.

The Bruins are playing the Penguins. They can still earn the top seed by running the table and getting help from the Senators. They don’t have as many regulation wins as the Rangers or Hurricanes. So. They have to beat out both on points.

At least for one day, the Blueshirts can be happy with a franchise record 28th comeback win of the season. That resiliency is a big reason for why they sit atop the standings. It’s the character they possess that’s made them successful.

Unlike the no-show the other day, they started better against their biggest rival. In fact, they got the game’s first five shots on Sorokin before the Isles settled in.

In particular, Zibanejad had some good jump early. He was much more noticeable during his line’s five-on-five shifts. He was effective throughout the game. There was even a Jack Roslovic sighting with the former Blue Jacket getting a shot right on Sorokin.

Eventually, the Islanders got their legs moving. Following a good shift by the Nelson line, Bo Horvat got a step on Ryan Lindgren to get off a backhand that Shesterkin stopped. They continued to turn it around. Shesterkin made stops on Palmieri and Casey Cizikas, who had a couple of glorious chances.

After the Isles’ onslaught, Mike Reilly went off for holding Alex Wennberg. The vaunted Rangers top unit did everything but score on their first power play. They had the puck for the entirety. Crisp passing led to some great opportunities. Zibanejad was all set up in the left circle but wasn’t able to elevate a hard Trocheck pass.

The Islanders survived thanks to some shot blocks and a few saves from Sorokin. Late in the period, they’d get a couple of power plays.

After easily killing off a Goodrow holding minor, the Rangers were shorthanded once more due to Kaapo Kakko high-sticking and drawing blood on Robert Bortuzzo. The double minor carried over.

In the second period, Lindgren boarded Barzal to give the Islanders an abbreviated 5-on-3. When it expired, a Nelson giveaway led to Schneider scoring a shorthanded goal to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 4:33.

Chris Kreider moved the puck to Zibanejad, who found Schneider open for a shot in the slot. After Sorokin made one stop, Schneider followed up his own rebound for his fifth goal of the season.

On the next shift, the Islanders thought they tied the score. Hudson Fasching looked like he had the tying goal. However, Laviolette successfully challenged offside. On the replay, Palmieri was just ahead of the play. It was close. He was pushed by Goodrow. That was enough to overturn the goal.

Despite losing out on the goal, the same Islanders line would get one a bit later. Some hustle from Fasching led to Palmieri getting the puck down low for Nelson, who batted his own rebound off a diving Shesterkin and in for his 31st goal. That tied the score with 8:18 remaining.

With the game tied, Rempe finished a check on Bortuzzo to some cheers from the crowd who chanted his name. When he was out for shifts, Rempe had some good battles with Alexander Romanov. They definitely gave it their all. That mostly came when Rempe was behind the Islanders’ net.

In the final minute of the period, the Islanders went ahead. On another strong shift from the Nelson line, Fasching escaped a Schneider check to spin around and center a backhand pass across that Nelson finished to make it 2-1 with less than 28 seconds left.

On the replay, it looked like Palmieri held Miller’s stick. Whether intentional or not, he got away with it. Similar to Goodrow when he shoved Palmieri offside.

The Rangers trailed by one entering the third period. They’ve been a good comeback team in the third. That proved true.

In the first part of the third, they got some shots on Sorokin, who handled them without a problem. He didn’t face much traffic. An area the Rangers will need to do better when the playoffs start next weekend.

Another Lindgren penalty put them shorthanded. It didn’t matter due to the Isles’ power play being so bad. They had no shots.

When play returned to even strength, though, the Islanders created some chances. Shesterkin was sharp. He stopped Barzal and Palmieri. His biggest save of the game came when Panarin was forced to hook Pelech from behind to deny a breakaway. He was awarded a penalty shot.

So. It was the Islanders’ defensive defenseman versus Shesterkin. Pelech moved in methodically before taking his shot that Shesterkin made the crucial stop on with 6:56 remaining.

After a Sorokin save on Roslovic, the Islanders iced the puck. Trocheck came out to take the offensive draw. The Isles again iced the puck. Then, Trocheck beat Horvat on the second faceoff back for a Panarin wrist shot that was in the back of the net quickly. Just like that, the game was tied.

With one game left, Panarin needs two goals to become just the fifth Rangers player to score 50 in a season. The 50-goal club consists of Vic Hadfield (50), Adam Graves (52), Jaromir Jagr (54), and Kreider (52).

In overtime, Panarin had a bad giveaway in the neutral zone with time winding down. Barzal made a strong move to get off a good wrist shot in the left circle that Shesterkin reached back with his glove and snapped up.

That clutch stop led to Panarin and Trocheck sealing the deal in the shootout. It was a very good game between the rivals. The Rangers took the season series 3-1. Unless they cough up first place, they likely won’t see the Islanders in the first round.

The rivalry games between these teams remain pinnacle. Imagine if they played each other six times. Ask the schedule makers to explain that one.

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Chytil practices after previously being ruled out for season

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Derek

Filip Chytil wasn’t supposed to be a playoff option for the Rangers. Previously ruled out for the season due to suffering another concussion while on the ice back in late January, he skated without a non-contact jersey at this morning’s practice.

There’s still no timetable for his return. Due to the salary cap, Chytil can’t play in either of the Rangers’ final two games. How close he might be to being medically cleared to dress for a game in the playoffs isn’t certain.

When it comes to Chytil, his health comes first. The Rangers have to use extreme caution. One more hit could be the end of his career. That’s how risky bringing back players from head injuries is. There’s an unknown dynamic attached.

If he is able to come back and participate in the postseason at some point, nobody can predict how much Chytil will contribute. The playoffs are a different level of intensity. Things are tighter. There’s more physicality. That makes it all the more dangerous.

Chytil had success in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs by scoring seven goals to help the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Finals. It was the play of his line with Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko that made an impact during that run. Their ability to skate, forecheck, and contribute offensively was a key factor.

If he were to return, Chytil would likely slot in on the third line. He rotated in during practice. Alex Wennberg currently centers Kakko and Will Cuylle. It’s hard to say who would drop down if Chytil comes back. The third line has developed some chemistry due to their ability to win board battles and generate opportunities.

Here’s an idea. What if Jack Roslovic continues to struggle playing on the first line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider? Would coach Peter Laviolette ever consider inserting Chytil on the right side during the most pressure packed games? The right wing issue hasn’t gone away. There’s still not enough offense produced at five-on-five by the Zibanejad unit.

At this point, it’s only a hypothetical. It’s far too early to conclude if or when Chytil can return. Only the player and Rangers know.

Handle with fragile care.

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Rangers lack intensity in concerning loss to Flyers

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Derek

Make it two consecutive losses. At least they competed against the Islanders on Tuesday night. The Rangers lacked intensity in a concerning 4-1 loss to the Flyers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

Facing a desperate opponent who was just trying to cling to hope following a 9-3 blowout defeat to the Canadiens, the Rangers played arguably their worst game of the season. They were soft and easy to play against.

The Flyers previously entered on an eight-game losing streak in which they were outscored 42-18. You wouldn’t have known it by how they played. They competed much harder for every puck and won almost every battle. They outworked the Rangers, who looked disjointed.

Peter Laviolette opted to stick with the same lineup as Tuesday. Maybe he should’ve rested some players. Mainly Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Both were non-factors. The same can be echoed for K’Andre Miller. He had a miserable night with partner Jacob Trouba, who continues to fumble pucks away and blow assignments.

If they want to have success in the postseason, those four players will need to play a lot better. There are issues for the still first overall Blueshirts, who remained a point up on the Stars due to Dallas losing 3-0 to Winnipeg. However, first place is no longer a lock.

The Hurricanes can come back to win the Metropolitan Division if they take care of their remaining three games and get help from either the Islanders or Senators. Carolina trails the Rangers by three points. However, they’re tied in regulation wins with 42. A win on Friday at St. Louis would allow them to pull within a single point and go ahead in the first tiebreaker.

With the race still up for grabs at the top, along with a wild chase at the bottom, many things won’t be decided until either Sunday or Monday. That’s how close everything is.

The Penguins moved into the second wildcard with a 6-5 overtime win over the Red Wings. They’re a point up on both the Wings and Capitals, who suffered a bad 4-2 loss at the Sabres. The Islanders secured two points in a 3-2 overtime win over the Canadiens. They look like they’ll finish third in the division.

As for the Rangers, they’ll want to burn the video footage of the loss to the Flyers. Aside from a power-play goal from Artemi Panarin, who is up to 47 goals with two games remaining, there was nothing else positive to take away from Thursday’s game.

On the Flyers’ first goal, a hustling Miller scrambled back to recover against Travis Konecny, only to lose his edge. Konecny then found a pinching Cam York, whose shot deflected off Will Cuylle and went upstairs to beat Jonathan Quick at 4:21.

Trailing by one late in the first period, the Rangers took advantage of a bogus charging call on Erik Johnson to capitalize on a five-on-three. With the first penalty set to expire in three seconds, Panarin took an Adam Fox pass and then faked before firing a wrist shot inside the near goalpost past Samuel Ersson to tie the score.

Earlier, Fox received the Rod Gilbert “Mr. Ranger” Award in a pregame ceremony. The scary part is as he went over to accept it from Mrs. Gilbert, he tripped and fell on the carpet. It’s a good thing that he was okay and able to crack a smile. The last thing this team needs is an injury to their star defenseman.

The second period was an eyesore. Unlike most of the second periods they’ve had, the Blueshirts were abysmal. On what was a bad bounce, Bobby Brink had his soft wrist shot go off of Miller’s stick past Quick with Ryan Poehling in front to restore a one-goal lead for the Flyers.

Before that goal, Vincent Trocheck was all set up in the slot on an early power play. But Ersson made a sprawling save to deny him. Ersson, who’d struggled mightily, made 24 saves to win for the first time since Mar. 23. In his last start versus the Rangers, he allowed six goals on 27 shots in a wild 6-5 overtime loss on Mar. 26. A game Fox got the winner in.

With less than nine minutes left in the period, Garnet Hathaway collided with Quick during a stoppage. His skate came up and hit the Rangers goalie, who responded by slashing Hathaway. Even if it was accidental, you can’t have that happening. Each player earned two minutes for the shenanigans.

Astonishingly, the four-on-four produced nothing. Both teams defended well. There was diligent checking during it and no scoring chances.

On a play indicative of how poorly they played, Zibanejad skated with the puck and had it stripped by Konecny, who led an odd man rush in the opposite direction. On what was a brutal defensive sequence, in which there were too many passengers, Poehling got the puck back over for Konecny, who scored his 32nd to make it 3-1 in the final minute.

In particular, Zibanejad didn’t hustle back. He got caught puck watching. It was a very soft play by a player who’s struggled at five-on-five most of the season. Making matters worse, both Miller and Trouba were caught out for the goal against. Miller finished a minus-3.

At the buzzer, Barclay Goodrow went after Hathaway. Travis Sanheim stepped in. Goodrow received four minutes for cross-checking and roughing while Sanheim got two for roughing. That gave the Flyers a power play to start the third period.

Quick only had to make one save while shorthanded. The penalty kill did a good job to keep the deficit at two.

Unlike the lackluster second, the Blueshirts came out with more purpose. They took the body. Trouba finished some checks, including a heavy one on Owen Tippett. Braden Schneider had a pair of hits on Morgan Frost. The energy got the crowd into it. But it didn’t last long.

On another hiccup, off a faceoff in the Flyers’ zone, Fox got caught pinching inside the blue line. That left Panarin to defend Noah Cates. He blew past Panarin and beat Quick from the right circle to make it 4-1 with 14:04 remaining.

There would be no comeback this time. Instead, the lethargic Rangers only mustered two shots in what amounted to garbage time. For some reason, they weren’t ready to play.

At this point, you don’t want to overreact to a bad loss. But the way they’ve played is a little concerning. They usually get off to slow starts, falling behind. Then, they rally to win games. In the playoffs, things tighten up. They’ll need to be sharper when the puck is dropped in over a week for Game 1.

Laviolette might want to insert Matt Rempe for the rematch with the Islanders on Saturday afternoon. Jack Roslovic continues to struggle. Rempe’s energy can be used with two games left.

Zac Jones should also get back into the lineup. Laviolette has to keep him ready. Jones has proven he can be a regular. I imagine Igor Shesterkin will start tomorrow. Depending on what happens this weekend, that’ll determine what’s decided for next Monday.

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Rangers fume over missed call in frustrating loss to Islanders

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Derek

A day later, there’s still been some discussion over how last night’s game ended between the Rangers and Islanders at UBS Arena.

For the Manhattan side of the historic rivalry, frustration boiled over following a 4-2 loss to the little brother in Long Island. A missed call with just over 10 seconds remaining didn’t go over well with the Rangers.

On a play behind the Islanders’ net, Vincent Trocheck was fouled from behind by Noah Dobson. The Islanders defenseman gave him a shot that sent Trocheck down to the ice. He coughed up the puck, which led to Anders Lee scoring into an open net to seal a big win for the Islanders. They remained third in the Metropolitan Division with 87 points.

After Lee’s goal, Trocheck fumed at ref Kelly Sutherland. He wasn’t alone, either. Linemate Alexis Lafreniere also said something. Both got misconducts to end the night six seconds before the final buzzer sounded.

It’s understandable why Trocheck was upset. Dobson got away with one. It was either a cross-check or boarding minor penalty. If that’s called, the Rangers’ dangerous power play would’ve had a six-on-four for 10 to 11 seconds. There’s no guarantee they would’ve tied it. But you get why they had words with Sutherland, who didn’t have a particularly good game.

There’s too many instances when paid officials aren’t getting the calls right. This has been a common occurrence during the season. Even with video review, they don’t always interpret the rules correctly.

The Islanders could’ve been called for a couple of penalties late in regulation as they held on (held being the operative word) for dear life. They built a three-goal lead with a dominant first period in which the Rangers were missing in action.

Only 1:25 into the game, Mat Barzal was hooked down from behind by Adam Fox to negate a breakaway. He was awarded a penalty shot, making it the earliest one taken in Islanders’ franchise history. However, Barzal’s feeble attempt was eaten up by Igor Shesterkin.

Shesterkin’s big save early didn’t prevent the Islanders from storming the lethargic Blueshirts for three goals due to putrid defense. Mike Reilly had his shot bank in off of Ryan Lindgren’s skate to put them up 1-0 at 4:12.

A Dobson shot was tipped in by Bo Horvat eight and a half minutes later to make it 2-0. Less than two minutes later, the Rangers got caught scrambling around. That allowed Brock Nelson to find a wide open Kyle Palmieri in front for an easy tap in that made it 3-0.

Erik Gustafsson was caught out of position on the goal. He was on for two of the three Isles’ goals. A Laviolette favorite from his time spent in Washington, DC, Gustafsson’s game has slipped. Whether it’s partially due to a recent injury that kept him out for a few games, it’s hard to say. He’s a good skating defenseman who’s contributed well offensively. He’s not as consistent defensively.

As much as Laviolette loves what Gustafsson brings, he must consider super sub Zac Jones for the sixth spot on the Rangers’ defense. Jones has gotten exponentially better since the start of the season. The 23-year-old is a superb skater with good instincts who reads and reacts to plays well. Expect Gustafsson to start the postseason next week. If he struggles, Laviolette shouldn’t hesitate to play Jones.

As bad as they were in the first, you knew the Rangers would come back stronger. As has been their trademark, they responded well to adversity by scoring twice in a much better second period. The Islanders aided the comeback by taking penalties. That allowed the power play to go to work.

With Reilly off for interference, Mika Zibanejad set up Artemi Panarin for a shot pass that Chris Kreider tipped in past Semyon Varlamov for his 39th goal of the season. He’s now up to 110 power-play goals for his career – ranking second behind all-time franchise leader Camille Henry (116). Kreider recently passed Hall of Famer Rod Gilbert in a 5-2 home win over the Canadiens. He shows no signs of slowing down with a man up.

After failing to capitalize on a second straight power play, the Rangers took full advantage of a third in a row to pull within one. With Dobson off for delay of game, Adam Fox moved in and beat Varlamov with a wrist shot that had a double screen from both Kreider and Trocheck to make it 3-2 with 4:59 left in the second.

By that point, it looked like the Blueshirts would rally to tie it up. The Islanders had all kinds of problems clearing their zone. The Rangers applied heavy pressure for most of the remainder of the contest.

That included a 12-4 edge in shots during the third period. The Islanders went long stretches without any puck possession. They were frequently pinned in their zone by the Rangers. On one long shift, it looked like they were on a power play. However, they were unable to find the equalizer.

Varlamov made the key saves en route to being named the game’s first star with 31 stops on 33 shots.

The closest the Rangers came was when their best line had the Islanders on fumes. Panarin sent a shot that just missed wide late in regulation with Shesterkin on the bench. That was the opportunity.

The Islanders blocked a few shots to hang on. But not without some controversy. Why Sutherland didn’t make the obvious call on Dobson for decking Trocheck from behind we’ll never know. It was a horrible miss.

After the game, Laviolette overreacted to a play involving Adam Pelech and Zibanejad. They collided at center ice with Zibanejad getting the worst of it by going right into Pelech’s shoulder to go down with 11:09 remaining.

As Islanders coach Patrick Roy asserted, it was accidental. Not on purpose as Laviolette charged. Fortunately, Zibanejad was back on the bench set to return had the Rangers forced overtime. Jonny Brodzinski took some of his shifts along with Alex Wennberg. Both were effective.

So, too, was Kaapo Kakko, who looked visibly frustrated after having a shot snapped up by Varlamov. He’s shooting the puck more, tying with Fox for a team high five shots. They’re not going in. He’s playing with much more confidence. Hopefully, that will bode well for the playoffs.

The Rangers are one up on the Stars for the President’s Trophy. Each has three games remaining. With 110 points, the Blueshirts own the first tiebreaker due to three more regulation wins (42-39). They’re also three points ahead of both the Bruins and Hurricanes.

They’ll return to action on Thursday night when the fading Flyers visit Madison Square Garden.

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A tale of two vastly different years

Posted on April 10, 2024 by hasan4978

One year ago to the day last season, we were getting ready for Game 1 of the playoffs and a hotly anticipated series with the Rangers after setting a franchise record for wins in the regular season. Not that I particularly want to remember Game 1, or Game 2 for that matter, but even looking like we were going to get drubbed in a playoff series is still better than the outlook this April 10 – where we’re picking up the pieces after yet another elimination day. Our removal from the playoff picture was finally confirmed last night after a 5-2 loss to the Leafs, with other OOT results ensuring the Devils won’t make the playoffs for the tenth time in the last twelve seasons.

Mercifully this season has three now-meaningless games (at least for us) left in the next week, and only one more home game – which yes, I will be at and kind of hoping it does have some meaning for the Isles. Then again, would I really care if bumping the Isles out of the playoffs meant say, the collapsing Flyers or rancid Caps make it and are just cannon fodder for the Rangers or whomever in the first round? It would be a further humiliation in a sense if Lou Lamoriello’s Isles made the postseason for a fifth time in six seasons with a couple of deep playoff runs included in that, but honestly this group deserves the humiliation of that, or perhaps even the realistic nuclear scenario of a certain rival team winning it all.

Of course, we have enough of our own problems to attend to without worrying about what the Isles or Rangers do this Spring. How current GM Tom Fitzgerald deals with those issues will go a long way toward determining what season was closer to being the fluke – last year’s breakout or this year’s regression? Sure you can’t expect 50+ wins and 110+ points every year, but I was hoping we were at least past the days of watching lotto drawings and ending our season in early to mid April. The fact we could possibly finish under NHL .500 with as few as 79 points and such an anticlimactic, early exit is inexcusable by any metric.

We know what the…marquee issues are this offseason, namely goaltending and coaching. There are few – if any – easy solutions for either, but things need to at least get better than they were this year when the Devils inarguably had the worst goalies in the league for 3/4 of the season, and quite possibly also the worst coaching staff in the league though there’s no metric really to measure that. Starting with the coaching – the fact we’ve already had one coach fired and another almost certainly a week away from being dismissed off the same staff speaks volumes. Especially since each hire was at least in part influenced by Fitz’s personal relationships with both.

If you’re Lindy Ruff, you might feel a touch vindicated that the team’s results haven’t improved under the uninspiring Travis Green but when a team underachieves as badly as this one, there’s plenty of blame to go around. There’s no point in rehashing all my grievances over Lindy and as far as Green goes, it’s hard to believe the new coach bump has actually led to the team going backwards in every area except goaltending. Sure, trade deadline defections didn’t help but come on now…without even half of these blown multi-goal leads in the last three weeks we’d likely be in the ‘playoff hunt’ till the final game at the very least instead of being stuck in the purgatory of being 5-7 points back for the last several weeks. We didn’t start games well with Lindy and haven’t finished them well under Green, sure signs of an underachieving team.

Of course overall goaltending didn’t help, especially in Lindy’s case when all three of our pre-trade deadline goalies wound up with strikingly similar splits (all of them bad):

Vitek Vanecek – 29 starts w/a 3.18 GAA and .890 save percentage

Nico Daws – 20 starts w/a 3.15 GAA and .894 save percentage

Akira Schmid – 15 starts w/a 3.15 GAA .895 save percentage

I intentionally left out won-loss records cause honestly Vitek’s got inflated by a lot of early season games where we did have a largely healthy roster that was able to outscore his mistakes, but in the long run they have to get better play from the guys in between the pipes. Was the improvement from post-deadline acquisitions Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen a matter of personnel change or system change to a far more conservative approach under Green? Probably a little of both plus in Allen’s case you could tell he just has more moxie than Vitek and more experience than either of our kids from his first start when he gave up two goals on three shots in the first period – then he told the team during intermission he would clamp down and he did in a surprise win at Dallas.

Of course you also can’t overly buy into this quasi-junktime stretch either given Allen and Kahkonen’s recent track records before they arrived. Allen should be a backup next year, while Kahkonen would slot in nicely as a swing #3 – if we didn’t already have Utica backloaded with younger goalies (Schmid, Daws and Isaac Poulter). Given that Allen’s under contract for next year and Kahkonen isn’t, it’s obviously far more likely Allen returns but they still need to make a big move for a 1A goalie. All of the kids looked like they need more time in Utica, though Daws would probably be fine in the Allen role as a 1B if they don’t overwhelm him with too many starts in a row the way they have in both of his callups after initial positive early impressions. Where that solution comes from and how much it costs is up to Fitz, but we’ve had enough seasons of moneyballing goalies that have backfired where we really can’t afford to risk punting another season on inadequate or injury-prone guys.

Obviously, whoever comes in next year would also be helped by a better system then our ‘everyone tries to play everywhere except where they’re supposed to play’ chaos system we used under Lindy. It was one thing to play that system when you had vets Damon Severson and Ryan Graves as your #4 and #5 defensemen, another when you’re breaking in two kids (Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes) with key roles and giving another inexperienced guy (Kevin Bahl) increased minutes as well. Not to mention our turnover at the forward spot didn’t help team cohesion defensively either. Still, the D needs to be addressed even with the return of Dougie Hamilton from injury and the increased maturity of Nemec and Luke, preferably with a LHD who brings a physical element to a finesse blueline.

We also need to properly evaluate the other returning vets we do have – like the team itself, is John Marino closer to last year’s breakout form, or this year’s guy who looked like the Penguin discard we thought he was two years ago? Jonas Siegenthaler has gotten even more away from his form of 2-3 years ago than Marino, and these are supposed to be the stabilizing forces on a D with a lot of youth on it. And I’m sorry, he may be the most well-liked guy in the room but they absolutely cannot bring back Brendan Smith unless he’s going to be used where he should be – as a swing forward D and short-term fill-in due to injury. Given the fact he’s already been overused by two coaches, I don’t really trust a third Fitz pick won’t do the same.

Up front is the hardest position to critique for a variety of reasons so let’s start with the low-hanging fruit…our depth certainly needs improvement. Whereas last year we had enough depth to scratch guys who had the talent to score thirty goals (Yegor Sharangovich) or play a fairly regular shift on one of the best teams in the league (Jesper Boqvist), this year the depth took a tremendous hit. When you have at least one of Max Willman or Chris Tierney – who are basically AHL/NHL tweeners – taking a regular shift, not to mention Kurtis MacDermid and his four minutes a night then you’re clearly lacking up front but hey, at least he gave us this moment.

Sure, the Mike McLeod situation didn’t help our depth either, but it certainly shouldn’t have been a total surprise that he could possibly be exiled due to the cloud over the Hockey Canada scandal. Imports like Tomas Nosek failed, while Nathan Bastian seemingly just didn’t provide as much of a spark this year as in prior seasons. The less said about the Alex Holtz situation, the better at this point. You wouldn’t even know he had 16 goals based on the way he gets marginalized, and with a roster that has such depth issues it’s doubly inexcusable. Of course, it’s also true you wouldn’t even know Holtz was taking a shift if he didn’t have those 16 goals since he adds little else and you would think two coaches and a GM all can’t be wrong about this guy constantly needing a kick in the butt. I guess we’ll find out at his next stop. Of all our issues, the back line forwards is both the lowest in terms of marquee value and the one I’m most confident Fitz will eventually address.

When it comes to the top six, the picture is less clear and more gray. Specifically where it comes to star forward Jack Hughes and 2022-23 breakout Dawson Mercer. Of course everyone knows Hughes is all-world offensively, but having two separate shoulder surgeries at this point of his career isn’t ideal from a hockey standpoint. And some of his maturity issues – which cropped up as the team started to lose more and he had to manage injuries – also need to be addressed. In many ways getting punked with two straight losses to the Kings after his infamous ‘they pay to see me play’ chirp was a fitting prism for this year’s Devils as a whole, along with his two crippling giveaways in a December loss to the Flyers. Great talent, but bad habits, hubris and thinking they were better than they were proved to be a big part of their downfall in the end.

At least Hughes you can largely say put up the point total he should have with 74 in 62 games, in spite of clearly managing a shoulder injury for the last couple months of the season to the point where he couldn’t take faceoffs. To this end I’ll give him credit, it’s hard to criticize a player for wanting to play. Of course it’s also hard not to criticize the Devils for trying to have their cake and eat it too. They clearly knew Hughes was hurt given the fact he didn’t play at center the last couple months and didn’t even practice the last few weeks. Yet after making a move toward waving the white flag by dealing Tyler Toffoli and Colin Miller at the deadline, they still ran out Hughes for weeks after that in a faux playoff chase before finally, mercifully shutting him down last night. To me it kind of smacked of what Hughes himself said…’they pay to see me play’. I’m not sure it’s a coincidence he played until just before the next to last home game of the season.

Obviously Hughes will be here, so should Mercer but his downturn this season needs to be examined at least. After a 27 goal, 56-point +22 season last year which led to him being untouchable in a Timo Meier deal, he regressed to 20 goals, 33 points and a -24 this year in spite of again playing every game. His durability was the only thing that hasn’t regressed. Did he, like the team as a whole lose some of their competitive desire this year? Did a bad start just destroy his confidence? I wouldn’t trade him at a low ebb of his value but by the same token, sometimes you kind of need to move on from talented guys for non-hockey reasons a la Lou trading Jason Arnott and Petr Sykora during and after 2021-22.

At least with Timo himself, there’s a bit less uncertainty than there was two months ago given his resurgence back into the player we traded for. How much of that resurgence you want to chalk up to good health and how much it is playing RW and getting more first-unit power play time will likely never be measured. I could do without Timo himself constantly insinuating that it was the latter when even he himself admitted he wasn’t fully healthy until several weeks ago, but hey so long as he actually shows up from the opening faceoff next season and doesn’t get benched several games in, he can say what he wants so long as he keeps producing.

While there’s no question about captain Nico Hischier or winger Jesper Bratt – both among the few players to live up to either their contract or rep this season – there’s definitely question over who’ll replace Toffoli (still only one goal behind Nico and Jack for the team lead after being traded more than a month ago) on the wing? Holtz would have been the logical long-term replacement but he’s more than likely on his way out of town after the organization seemed to blame him from everything for everyone else’s mistakes to Lindy’s firing. They also have to upgrade over Ondrej Palat, obviously with his deal he’s not going anywhere but after an injury-plagued first season followed by a meh 11-goal, 31 point second season you can’t really pen him in for the top six either.

Before Fitz even answers the personnel questions above though, he needs to examine why a team that so much was expected of achieved so little. Why did this team continue to play down to inferior opposition time and time again? Why did they start games so poorly under Lindy and end them so poorly with Green? Why was there so little pushback physically at any point in the season until the glorified junktime sideshow against the Rangers? Writing this season off as an injury-caused anomaly sunk by bad goaltending and coaching is being nieve. Especially since you picked the goalies and coaches, Fitz. You can’t count on the amount of good health all your key players enjoyed in 2022-23. And you ran and hid for most of the season when things started to spiral sideways. Accountability needs to start at the top.

It’s going to be a long offseason, difficult decisions should and need to be made. The one good thing about getting bounced early is that time is on your side. Of course for a fan, it’l be a long, boring wait to see the resolution develop on stuff we have no control over. On the one hand I’m relieved I don’t have to deal with this group of underachievers anymore after next Monday’s home finale (and I’ll be walking out of my seat shortly before the final buzzer, this team doesn’t deserve a sendoff), on the other it’ll be two months before anything aside from perhaps the coaching change happens, and another six months before meaningful hockey again. As this’ll be my last blog for a while, figured I’d better give the full season recap slash offseason preview before going back into hibernation from hockey.

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Trocheck recognized by fans as the Steven McDonald Award winner

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Derek

Prior to last night’s game against Montreal, the Rangers held a special ceremony on the ice. For the 36th year, the Steven McDonald Award was presented by son Conor McDonald and Mom Patti Ann.

Conor hit all the right notes during his speech before announcing that Vincent Trocheck was the Steven McDonald Award winner. Trocheck skated over and hugged Patti Ann, Conor, and his wife before accepting the prestigious honor.

In a great tradition, $25,000 was donated by the Rangers to the Steven McDonald Foundation. NYPD officers were in attendance for the pregame festivities.

Trocheck is a deserving winner. A driving force throughout the season, he’s been a big key to the team’s success. Once Filip Chytil went down to a concussion, Trocheck stepped up and centered the second line with Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere.

That scoring line has carried the Blueshirts at even strength. The versatile Trocheck has had his best season. In 78 games, his 25 goals, 50 assists, and 75 points have matched a career high set back in 2017-18 with the Panthers. The 50 helpers are a new personal best. Trocheck needs one point over the final four games for a new career high.

Not only has he produced consistently. But the 30-year-old veteran center has been splendid overall. He’s won 58.6 percent of faceoffs to rank fourth in the league – trailing John Tavares, Nico Sturm, and Sidney Crosby. His work in the dot has turned around the Rangers, who previously weren’t that successful as a team. They rank seventh overall, winning 52.3 percent.

Trocheck has also provided strong work on the penalty kill. He scored a shorthanded goal in a 6-5 win over the Flyers on Mar. 26. Trocheck’s defensive awareness makes him the team’s most effective center. He finishes checks and plays a strong game. It’s that attention to detail that’s appreciated by both teammates and fans.

It’s nice to see him get rewarded for his extra effort. He’ll no doubt play an important role for the Rangers when the playoffs start. They’ll need Trocheck to continue to impact games.

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Devils’ disappointing season draws to a close next week

Posted on April 8, 2024 by hasan4978

Sadly the most exciting moment of the season was this nonsense which brought back visions of the 2012 line brawl at the Garden, and one that occurred after I was officially checked out of the season following another disastrous blown lead against the Penguins of all teams at home the night before. I still don’t really feel like talking much about the team per se, literally the only two games I’ve watched all the way through in the last few games were the Penguin home games I’ve been at. With the Mets already looking like a rancid team at the start of baseball season, local sports is a bit of a wasteland for me at the moment – but I’m not a Yankee/Ranger fan like Derek and countless others either, oh well.

All I’ll say about Line Fight 2.0 is that for one of the few times in his tenure, I agree with Travis Green when he implied maybe the line fight doesn’t happen last week if Rempe hadn’t run away from Kurtis MacDermid after taking out his second Devil skater in two games. Ultimately the game itself was just as predictable as the pregame shenanigans were, with the Devils blowing yet another late lead and even forcing the diehards to concede the playoffs aren’t happening this year.

Not that I truly thought the Devils still had a realistic chance at the playoffs last Tuesday when I turned up for the Penguin game, despite the fact we seem destined to spend the entire season in the purgatory of 5-7 points out of a playoff spot, just close enough to foster visions of a tease but every time we have a chance to get really close we botch it, like the Buffalo game a week and a half ago where we got off to a 2-0 lead and somehow lost in regulation. Or the Penguin disaster where we were up 3-1 in the third period and it looked like yet another ‘who’s your daddy’ type of moment before the Penguins turned that narrative on its head with five third-period goals. I was so incensed I left after the Penguins took the lead, which is a new one for me. Usually I’m not leaving a one-goal game in the third period, but the fact the Devils got behind two before I got out of the building justified that decision clearly. I was looking on Twitter for a lowlight of this game and found this from P by P announcer Bill Spaulding:

If that stat alone isn’t a perfect prism for what’s wrong with this team, the fact the team and coach couldn’t even agree on the cause of that meltdown was. Multiple team members said they played scared when the Penguins were mounting their comeback, while interim coach Travis Green attributed it more to immaturity and lack of focus. Not only is it evidence of a disconnect but honestly…they’re both probably right. This team has lacked focus all year, but also with the amount of multiple goal leads they’ve blown in the last few weeks since our airhead assistant took over, I’m sure a here we go again air took over after our third or fourth one in short order. Funny thing is under Lindy Ruff, the team started games badly and under Green, they’re ending games just as poorly. Maybe the problem isn’t just the coaches when these players can’t play sixty minutes?

Coaching is really the main reason I’m writing this blog to be honest, not to bag on our recently fired or soon-to-be fired coaches anymore, but moreso to push back against this dumb narrative I’ve seen among Devil fans everywhere from message boards to even some off-board friends that former assistant (and current Predators coach) Andrew Brunette was somehow the reason for the team’s record-breaking season last year. Given we just played them and their team is going to the playoffs while ours isn’t, now seems the most apt time for this pushback rant. All the time I hear Devil fans parrot the ‘Lindy was crap every year except when Brunette was the assistant’ line as proof positive of Brunette’s influence here. It reminds me of a scene from one of my favorite TV shows, The West Wing when CJ remarks to the president about how his Ryder Cup joke cost them in Texas and Bartlet responds in classic Barlet fashion:

Moral of that clip and my sidetrack is that you can’t assume just because one thing happens after something else happens, that the prior event was the cause. Yes, Brunette is clearly a better coach than Lindy or clueless Green – which isn’t exactly a high bar to clear. Imo, his record gets a little overstated at this point though – especially since he’s had less than two full seasons as an actual head coach. He did a good job with Florida as they set records but he wasn’t the coach at the start of the season when they started 7-0 either, nor was he the coach last year when they went to the Finals or this year when they’re still in the running for another President’s Trophy. I’m not saying anyone could have hit 120 points with that team in 2021-22, but clearly they were headed that way under their previous coach before he was outed for being a psychopath. People also act like the Nashville team he took over this year is completely devoid of talent and was a perennial loser…they’ve been competitive for two straight decades! They had 92 points last year and have 94 points in 78 games this year, that isn’t exactly a huge overall jump in spite of their recent 900-game unbeaten streak.

More to the point though, he wasn’t the head coach here! He wasn’t running things, as much as people want to attribute last year to him and no assistant coach in NHL history hast ever had a 30-point type impact on a team. If you believe he was running things then how was it only the case last year, but not every other year with all of Fitz’s other hand-picked assistants? You can’t just give the head coach no credit last year and all the blame this year. Special teams are the one thing you can overtly credit assistants on, but even the power play – which Brunette was ostensibly in charge of – wasn’t appreciably different numbers-wise last year compared to this year:

Last year – 21.9% (13th in the NHL), this year – 21.7% (14th in the NHL)

So clearly if the coaching was so much better last year but the numbers are similar, that has to mean the personnel is better this year or at least similar…and this is the biggest fallacy of all. People act like this is the same team as last year, and it’s not in so many ways that it’s mind-boggling how people attribute our dropoff to some assistant coach. Did Brunette keep Dougie Hamilton healthy last year when he had a 74-point season and set a franchise record for goals from a blueliner? Our power play looked awesome the first month of the season when Dougie was healthy this year, but then has gone in the tank for most of the season since his injury. His absence has clearly had a domino effect on the blueline as a whole too, where we had to not only replace departed UFA’s Damon Severson and Ryan Graves, but Dougie as well after the first month. As much as young defensemen Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec have impressed at different times this season, that kind of changeover has a domino effect, not to mention Jonas Siegenthaler being in and out of the lineup with injuries (and dropping off from what he was two years ago when in the lineup) and the deadline trade of Colin Miller further depleting the defense.

When it comes to Dougie specifically though, let’s be real – if they didn’t have this shot in the playoffs last year do they get embarrassed by the Rangers after being down 2-0? That’s rhetorical, we know the answer to that.

People assume because Severson and Graves have both stunk this year since moving on (and because the future and to an extent the present is bright for the two highly-prized rookies) that somehow replacing them was no big deal, but it was a luxury to have them as your #4 and #5 defensemen as opposed to this year when kids are playing big minutes and also you have to roster stiffs like Cal Foote once injuries hit, one of the two now-departed pieces of crap in the wake of the Hockey Canada scandal. You also give guys like Kevin Bahl or Brendan Smith minutes and roles they really shouldn’t have when you have a trickle-down effect, granted it doesn’t seem like this organization needs much of an excuse to play the latter. If you think that highly of the guy’s leadership then make HIM the doggone head coach next year. I’m not sure anyone’s leadership qualities should be beyond reproach after this year but that’s another debate for another day – and no I’m not taking a swipe at Nico Hischier necessarily although it’d be nice if he was more…pointed towards teammates sometimes when they have continued mental lapses.

It’s not just the defensemen that have changed over from last year though. Timo Meier was hurt on and off for at least 2/3 of the season before magically finding his health, and his game at the same time (and it started just before Lindy got fired, so it wasn’t all a Lindy issue there, though it would have been nice to play him in the role GM Tom Fitzgerald acquired him for on the power play and in the top six). Clearly Jack Hughes’ on and off injures have been a factor in the fact he hasn’t played center and is avoiding contact even more than normal. If I was going to grade players on their season, Jack would be the toughest one to grade. Sure he’s pacing at about 100 points and that was even higher before the first of his injuries early in the season, but he’s also had his moments on and off the ice where he clearly lacked focus and discipline this year and that needs to change before he becomes our version of Ilya Kovalchuk when he was a Thrasher. Flashy player who brought nothing else but points, at least ironically before he came here and Jacques Lemaire taught him to be a more complete player. Last year our big three of Jack, Nico and Jesper Bratt were healthy and producing for the whole season as well as Dougie, this year all except for Bratt have missed double-digit games due to injury.

I haven’t even gotten into goaltending and the clear differences there, what’s the point? Unless you think Brunette would somehow have gotten Vitek Vanecek’s head straight after he was already short-circuiting late last year, or kept Nico Daws from being overworked and Akira Schmid from being overwhelmed and looking like a one-hit wonder behind said unstable defense.

This isn’t to excuse this team’s immaturity at all, or the fact their mindset has clearly changed after having success. God knows I’ve ranted against both plenty of times and think all the Devils’ fans whining about coaching is a way to avoid thinking something is fundamentally wrong with our ‘talented’ roster. I’m just pointing out that we don’t exactly have the same roster this year that we did when we were scratching guys who were capable of thirty-goal seasons in the NHL (Yegor Sharangovich). Guys like Chris Tierney and Max Willman would have remained buried in the AHL all last year with that roster, this year they’re getting regular shifts and Fitz’s response to the Matt Rempe circus act this year was to bring back a designated goon.

If you’re going to be critical of the team, at least look at it with a critical eye. Simplistic reasoning is almost never the answer, especially when the simplistic reasoning is clearly a reach. It’d be one thing if Brunette was the actual head coach of the team but he wasn’t, and this idea he was running things behind the scenes like some puppetmaster is clearly just trying to shoehorn in a narrative without even acknowledging other significant changes have taken place between last year and this year in personnel, much less how the people still here have responded to a taste of success and an injury list clearly much more populated than last year. Devil fans have jumped the shark on Brunette basically from minute one when he got cheered like he was the savior-in-waiting just before the infamous opening night boos for Lindy last home opener.

Quite honestly, I’m just a bit tired of hearing and reading that from all sides. We have enough issues as it is without prematurely calling Brunette the next Bill Walsh, let go by the Bengals before going on to success in San Francisco. Plus it’s not like we outright fired him a la Walsh. When were we supposed to make him the head coach, after he got let go in Florida and Fitz had already promised Lindy a third season publicly? Or promote him after Lindy was the head coach for a team that set a franchise record in wins?

Maybe Brunette will turn out to be the one that got away and lead to Fitz’s downfall as a GM, but assuming that’s already the case is just looking for another reason to be negative. God knows we have plenty of legit reasons for that after this season, and plenty of other issues to address.

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Laviolette rides the Goodrow line in win over Red Wings

Posted on April 5, 2024 by Derek

Sometimes, even the best teams need a spark. For coach Peter Laviolette, that was provided by the Barclay Goodrow line in a Rangers’ 4-3 win over the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.

For most of the season, Goodrow’s struggled offensively. Before he scored a goal at Arizona on Mar. 30, he’d gone 40 games without one. Despite that, the 31-year-old well-respected veteran always gives a consistent effort. Utilized as a checking center and key penalty killer, he’s trusted by Laviolette defensively.

Facing a Red Wings team in the wildcard hunt, Goodrow was at his best scoring twice to lead the way. It was the strong play of the Goodrow line at even strength that Laviolette rode to the win.

The trio of Goodrow, Jimmy Vesey, and Jonny Brodzinski made an impact with their effective forecheck and grit. Not only did they combine for two goals. But they were the Rangers’ best line against the Red Wings.

Laviolette rewarded them with more ice time at even strength than the top two lines. Neither the first or second line was noticeable. Mika Zibanejad (12:06), Chris Kreider (11:34), and Jack Roslovic (7:34) all saw less ice time at full strength.

Goodrow (13:39), Vesey (13:23), and Brodzinski (13:24) earned the promotion. They made things happen at five-on-five. Laviolette also used the third line more. Goalscorer Will Cuylle (12:46) had a good night along with Alex Wennberg (13:35) and Kaapo Kakko (14:07).

The Rangers’ bottom six forwards made the most of their shifts. It was an off night for Panarin, Trocheck, and Lafreniere. They’ve carried the offense for the majority of the season. They didn’t have it.

Zibanejad and Kreider continue to have their problems at five-on-five. Roslovic hardly played. He’s been hit or miss. The former Blue Jacket received a 24-second shift on the power play for a total of 8:07 of ice time.

The Rangers will need more out of Zibanejad and Kreider when the playoffs start. They must drive play at five-on-five. They can’t rely on the power play. Kreider came through with his 107th career power-play goal to break a 3-3 tie score in the third period. He tied Rod Gilbert for second on the Rangers’ franchise list in power-play goals – trailing only Camille Henry (116) for the most in team history.

That can also be echoed for the defense pair of K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba. Although they weren’t caught on for any of Detroit’s three goals, the Red Wings generated some quality chances against them.

Jonathan Quick made some good saves, including a nice glove stop on J.T. Compher. Quick had a good night stopping 31 of 34 shots to pick up the victory.

Two nights removed from the line brawl against the Devils that featured rookie Matt Rempe, he came out of the lineup. Laviolette went back to Brodzinski on the checking line. He rewarded the coach with a superb performance, finishing with two assists and a team high six shots. He also won 4 of 7 faceoffs.

In the first period, with the game scoreless, Cuylle faked out Austin Czarnik by calling for a pass in the neutral zone. He stole the puck and used a defenseman as a screen to fire a wrist shot past Alex Lyon at 5:58 for his 13th goal of the season.

Over a minute later, Andrew Copp came right back with his 16th on a nice feed in front from Joe Veleno. Copp was left alone by Zibanejad, who went to help Braden Schneider behind the net.

With the game still tied late in the period, Goodrow took a Vesey pass in the slot and beat Lyon for his first of the game with under 30 seconds remaining to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

But early in the second period, the Red Wings were able to draw even. On some sustained pressure, Compher was able to redirect a Jeff Petry feed past Quick at 1:24. After taking a pass from David Perron, Petry was able to slide the puck by Ryan Lindgren to Compher for the tying goal.

The Red Wings went ahead on the power play with 6:41 remaining in the period. Dylan Larkin drew a hooking minor on Erik Gustafsson. He would get rewarded by slamming in a Perron rebound for his 30th to put the Wings ahead 3-2.

On the following shift, Laviolette sent out his best line. Vesey and Brodzinski combined to create a rebound that Goodrow steered home to tie the score only 25 seconds later.

They would see more shifts for the remainder of the game. So, too, would Wennberg, Cuylle, and Kakko. Those were the players who were going. Their simple approach worked better against the Red Wings than the top six.

In the third period, Perron took an undisciplined, high-sticking minor when he caught Miller in the offensive zone. It took less than a minute for the Rangers to take advantage.

Panarin moved the puck foe Zibanejad in the left circle. Instead of shooting to score, he made a heady play by softly passing it in front for Kreider to deflect on Lyon for a rebound that he put in for his 37th goal.

Shortly after, they were forced to kill off a Trouba high-sticking minor on Shayne Gostisbehere. Quick came up with two saves, including one to deny Lucas Raymond.

When the Red Wings went for it late by pulling Lyon for a six-on-five, Quick again stopped Raymond with over a minute left. The Wings had one more chance. However, Robby Fabbri passed up a wide open shot in the slot. Instead, he opted for a tough pass that never made it to Raymond in front. 9

That missed opportunity could definitely cost the Red Wings. They didn’t even get a point. Had they forced overtime, they would be in the second wildcard over the slumping Flyers, who lost to the Sabres. With the Capitals losing 4-2 to the Hurricanes, the Flyers remain in the wildcard. They have five games left.

The Penguins look like they’re going to make it. They’re playing the best right now. Sidney Crosby is trying to will them in. Evgeni Malkin is suddenly playing better, and Michael Bunting is scoring key goals. They’re doing this with Alex Nedeljkovic, who’s been getting the job done.

The Pens host the Lightning tomorrow afternoon. If they win, they’ll have 83 points. Nobody wants to see Crosby in the playoffs. Let me rephrase. If you’re the Rangers or Bruins, do you want to face the Pens in the first round? That wouldn’t be the best matchup. Neither would seeing the Lightning, who’ve played much better down the stretch.

There are a lot of different playoff scenarios. Nobody knows what’s gonna happen. So much can change by next week. We’ll see how things play out.

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Participants react to Line Brawl

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Derek

Wednesday night was eventful at the world’s most famous arena. A line brawl broke out at the start of the game played between the Devils and Rangers.

The most anticipated fight between heavyweights Kurtis MacDermid and Matt Rempe didn’t disappoint. The two went toe to toe exchanging blows for a few minutes at center ice. Both knew it was going to happen.

“MacDermid was like, ‘We’re going right now.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I know. I think there’s a reason why we’re starting.’”, Rempe told reporters after Thursday’s practice.

“He’s a real tough customer. That guy is a big boy. Strong, been one of the toughest guys in the league for a long time, and he has his job to do. You gotta respect that.”

MacDermid changed his tune on Rempe after the game in the Devils’ locker room.

While the fans got what they wanted to see, nobody could’ve predicted that there would be five fights all going at once. When the puck was dropped, Jimmy Vesey took on Curtis Lazar first. Since they dropped the gloves before anyone else, they were allowed to stay in the game. The other eight participants, including Rempe and MacDermid, were tossed from the game due to the rules.

“I thought I was going to have a good 5 minutes in (the penalty box) with the fellas. We were going to be cuddled up in there, getting cozy and having a good time… I had no idea that was a rule. I was like, ‘Dang it. My TOI didn’t go up that game.’”, Rempe said.

Nobody had K’Andre Miller fighting John Marino. Jacob Trouba battled Chris Tierney. Barclay Goodrow went up in size to take on Kevin Bahl. It was fight night at The Garden.

“The fans got what they wanted out of that,” Brendan Smith pointed out. “Good atmosphere, good game. … It gets the blood boiling, the fans enjoy it.

“I think everybody got their dollar’s worth. And it’s an expensive building.”

Smith is no stranger to playing on the other side. He was a well-respected Ranger for over four seasons. He played the same honest, gritty, hard-nosed game he does now for the Devils. He understands how much energy MSG can have when the fans are revved up.

“I’ve never seen that, I don’t know if that’s ever happened,” Chris Kreider said following getting the game-winner on the power play with 4:57 left in regulation.

“To have 80 percent of them then be shown the gate, it’s just a weird dynamic.”

Even the coaches got heated. Upset with Devils interim coach Travis Green, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette went over to the glass between the benches and had some choice words.

“Our guys were reacting to what was happening on the ice,” said Laviolette, who admitted that it was the emotions of the game. “I thought they did a fantastic job. All five of them.”

What didn’t get lost is how the remaining 14 skaters stepped up in the absence of the four players who were ejected on each side. That forced the coaches to juggle their lines and double shift key defensemen.

It made for a unique back and forth game. The Rangers went from up 2-0 on goals by Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere to down 3-2 on Devils’ goals from Ondrej Palat, Brendan Smith, and Nico Hischier. They then rallied for the final two goals in the deciding third period when Kaapo Kakko tied it and Kreider won it.

There also was plenty of excitement around the league. The game was broadcast on TNT. Former Ranger Henrik Lundqvist couldn’t contain his enthusiasm for the line brawl. He was clapping in the studio.

There was a lot of love from hockey insiders. Even if not everyone loved seeing the fracas, it’s part of the game. When players fight, fans get out of their seats to watch the action. On March 19, 2012, when the Devils and Rangers clashed similarly at center ice, I heard the crowd going crazy and raced out of the restroom to see Stu Bickel take on Ryan Carter, Brandon Prust battle Cam Janssen, and Mike Rupp fight Eric Boulton.

There was blood everywhere. It took a while for the maintenance workers to clean up the ice. That was memorable.

Lundqvist was part of that game. Janssen sarcastically pointed to him when he went to the penalty box. Similar to Wednesday night, the Rangers won the game.

Unlike that season, when the Devils got revenge by eliminating the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals, there won’t be a rematch in the postseason. The Devils are headed for a disappointing playoff miss. The Rangers remain atop the league with 106 points. Their next game is at Detroit tomorrow night.

Things will be back to normal. The Rangers lead the Bruins and Stars by a point for first overall. Following Friday night, they’ll return home to host the Canadiens on Sunday night. It’ll be a special pregame ceremony with the Steven McDonald Award presented to the Ranger who went above and beyond the call of duty. Vincent Trocheck deserves the prestigious award. Panarin is the Team MVP. We’ll see how the fans voted.

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