Emotional Shesterkin returns to lead Rangers to exciting 2-1 win over Bruins in unpredictable shootout, Miller gets winner

Posted on February 16, 2022 by Derek

Twenty-four hours ago, there was a great college hockey game played up in Boston between Northeastern and Boston University. It was won by BU 1-0 on a late goal to lead the Terriers to the Beanpot Title on Monday night.

That was an exciting one-goal game that had tight checking, great goaltending and a tremendous finish. A night later at MSG, it was the Rangers and Bruins who battled tooth and nail for 65 minutes before an unpredictable shootout decided it. Thanks to a fired up Igor Shesterkin, who returned following concussion protocol, he led the Rangers to a 2-1 win in a long shootout won in the ninth round by unlikely hero K’Andre Miller.

What a game. The first one they’ve played in two weeks turned into one of the best of this Cinderella season. It didn’t start out that way. Predictably rusty from the 14-day layoff, the Rangers could barely do anything in the early going. A sloppy neutral zone turnover allowed the Bruins to score first when Charlie Coyle put in a rebound of a Craig Smith shot at 3:39.

While Boston took it to them, the Rangers couldn’t muster any sustained attack. They went over 12 minutes before getting a shot on goal. When Ryan Reaves did, the crowd gave a mock cheer. The Rangers only had two in the period. It was that tough to watch.

Despite only a handful of players looking awake, they only trailed by one. They were outshot 8-2 in the first. The positive was they started to get going the final six minutes. Even without testing Jeremy Swayman, who was superb making 33 saves on 34 shots, they put together some good shifts. The Bruins defended extremely well.

If they really struggled in the first, the second was much different. Playing at a much better tempo, the Rangers were the aggressors early and often in a much better second. You didn’t need to close your eyes. The action was fast and furious.

Finally able to forecheck and generate scoring chances, the Blueshirts took it to the Bruins. The ice was tilted for a good majority of the period. It started early with a flurry. Following a Swayman stop on Ryan Strome, he denied both Kevin Rooney and Greg McKegg point blank to keep the Rangers off the scoreboard.

The 23-year old Bruins rookie netminder out of Maine was very strong. Coming off a shutout at Ottawa, he carried his steady play into a classic rivalry against a better Rangers team. In fact, Swayman increased his shutout streak to five periods and over 100 minutes before the night concluded. Nearly half of his 33 saves came in a 15 shot second.

With his younger counterpart making it difficult for our shooters, that meant Shesterkin had to hold the Bruins at one. They played a smart defensive game without Patrice Bergeron and the suspended Brad Marchand. Although the Rangers had more shots the rest of the way, Boston did a good job keeping most to the outside.

The play was exclusively at five-on-five. No penalties were called the first forty minutes. There was no reason. You had a mostly clean hockey game being played by both teams. It made for a fun watch. The Rangers held a 15-9 edge in shots in the second. With the top six unable to get untracked, the third line showed flashes. Filip Chytil and Julien Gauthier each had chances. They played with Dryden Hunt.

One storyline that developed was the impressive play from Zac Jones and Braden Schneider. With Gerard Gallant indicating that Patrik Nemeth wasn’t ready to go, Jones got another opportunity and teamed up with Schneider on the third pair. The rookie tandem played very poised in their end and created some offense. Jones nearly connected with Gauthier. Schneider would later be a factor.

Still down a goal, Shesterkin made a good save on Taylor Hall. They would have another close encounter later. Adam Fox jumped into the rush on a counterattack and had a wrist shot gloved by Swayman. It was his first game back since the injury that against Columbus that kept him out before the All-Star break. He looked good. Fox finished with four shots in 24:24 to lead all Blueshirt skaters.

Jake DeBrusk got a good chance on a rush, but Shesterkin denied him. Before the second ended, Strome had another bid that was stopped by Swayman. When he wasn’t hitting the net, he was firing wide off the boards. Strome has no goals in the last eight games. They need him to pop a few.

Still trailing by a goal, the Rangers didn’t panic. With Boston opting to protect their lead, it was only a matter of time before someone got it tied.

For the most part, Gallant stuck with his four lines and three defense pairs. Outside of double shifting Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin for shifts in the final minute of the second, he didn’t feel the need to change things up. That formula paid off.

On a smart pass from Schneider up for Hunt, he was able to find a skating Chytil who kept his skate on the blue line to stay on side. He then took a low wrist shot that jammed Swayman just enough to let out a juicy rebound that Chytil put home for the big tying goal at 6:45. It was his fifth from Hunt and Schneider. He deserved it. This was one of his better games. Especially after missing time.

Not long after that goal, Hall got behind Miller on a stretch pass for a clean breakaway. With the game hanging in the balance, a very patient Shesterkin read Hall’s move and then easily handled his backhand in tight to loud cheers and chants of “Ig-or, Ig-or!!”

That sequence came with over 11 minutes left in regulation. It is uncanny how good Shesterkin is on breakaways. He stays very calm and reads the play well. His reaction is eerily similar to predecessor Henrik Lundqvist, who in his prime was superb at big moments too. How lucky can one team get with goalies? From Lundqvist to Shesterkin. Both stolen in drafts. Unbelievable.

Jones nearly had Reaves moments later. But his tip-in just missed. What I like about both Jones and Schneider is they’re not shy about jumping in. They both seem to know when to go. That’s important. For their age, they are pretty advanced. Schneider especially. He uses his size well. He delivered a clean hit on David Pastrnak, who was kept in check. Not easy considering how hot he’s been.

The first penalty of the game was called on Miller. After getting beaten inside, he took a retaliatory tripping minor on Charlie Coyle following being checked. It was an overreaction. However, the Bruins looked lost without Marchand and Bergeron on the power play. The best chance actually was shorthanded with a Fox shot hitting the crossbar. Shesterkin denied Matt Grzelcyk from distance with a player in front.

Shesterkin would later rob Anton Blidh twice with over five minutes left. Incredible. During a stoppage, things got heated when Tomas Nosek gave Jacob Trouba a cross-check. He responded with a few punches. Each received two minutes to create a four-on-four.

Following a Jones giveaway, he hustled back to break up a pass. That’s the skating and instincts you want to see. Of course, Strome missed on a wide open chance that he could’ve scored on. He was on the puck and attempted several shots with his five pacing the team. He needs to bury a few.

During the four-on-four, Miller got a step on Charlie McAvoy who took him down. Power play good guys. They should’ve declined it. Nothing happened. Curtis Lazar got a shorthanded chance forcing Shesterkin into a save. The power play was out of sync.

With under 10 seconds left, the Bruins made a late push. Shesterkin denied both Derek Forbort and Trent Frederic. He then had to make one final glove save on a last second Pastrnak bid off a lost draw. Zibanejad lost to Nosek. That stuff will really matter this Spring.

The three-on-three was fantastic. Each side had several opportunities to end it. Shesterkin stopped Pastrnak. Then Swayman made a glove save on Panarin and denied Trouba. He also kicked out a tricky low shot from Alexis Lafreniere.

Maybe the best save came from Shesterkin when he robbed Pastrnak on a backdoor pass to stone him of the winner. The crowd went ballistic. There was so much action in the five-minute overtime that it felt like the playoffs. Tons of end to end rushes and superb saves.

Things got testy when Craig Smith banged into Shesterkin after the play and illegally put the puck in. That caused chaos with Lafreniere going right after Smith and throwing punches. He deserved it for that crap. Both got matching minors. Smith for goaltender interference and Lafreniere for roughing. Good for Laffy sticking up for Shesty.

It was following a shot on goal that led to a stoppage with 40.5 seconds left that concussion spotters phoned down to the Rangers. Out came trainer Jim Ramsay to the ice to inform Shesterkin that he had to come out. An incensed Igor slammed his stick against the glass. He was intense. I don’t blame him. But that’s the rules. They want to make sure players are okay.

In a strange scene, Shesterkin tapped backup Alex Georgiev, who came in ice cold for the remainder of OT. Good thing he didn’t face any shots. That’s not easy. After a timeout by Gallant with six seconds to go, Kreider tried to go forward with the puck against Coyle. It didn’t work. While many wondered if Turk used the timeout to give Shesterkin extra time to recover, I didn’t. There was enough time for a shot.

With the drama building, out came Shesterkin back to the ice to cheers and more chants. This felt like a bigger scene. Not a regular season game. He really wanted to be in there to finish it. After they double checked upstairs, Shesterkin was cleared to return for the shootout. What a shootout it was.

As if there hadn’t been enough drama, out came DeBrusk who went with so much speed that it had to surprise Shesterkin. DeBrusk scored on a nice wrist shot blocker side. In the bottom of the first, a very patient Mika Zibanejad faked out Swayman with a forehand tuck to even it up.

After Shesterkin gave Pastrnak nothing by easily getting his glove on the second attempt, Panarin put on a series of moves before tucking a backhand around Swayman’s pads for a 2-1 lead. But with the pressure on, Coyle coolly evened it by beating Shesterkin glove side to set up an attempt from Lafreniere.

I liked what Gallant did there. He wanted to give the kid a chance to win it after what he did for Shesterkin. But the Broadway show didn’t end that way. Instead, Swayman read his move to the backhand to deny Lafreniere.

Following Round 3, it became a goalie duel. Nobody budged. It didn’t matter if it was a good shooter. Swayman denied Fox on a forehand deke. Shesterkin calmly gloved Hall’s shot by challenging. Even on a shootout attempt, Strome missed wide with plenty of real estate. Maybe he needs the same prescription glasses the Charlie Sheen character Rick Vaughn used in Major League.

McAvoy tried something different by going for a backhand to change the angle. Shesterkin wasn’t biting. After Swayman stopped Kreider, five more shooters came up empty including Smith, who was booed. When Gallant used Hunt, I wondered why he hadn’t tried Miller. A former forward who has speed, I suggested it. He finally listened.

I nailed this one. After fumbling the puck early which he admitted was due to nerves, Miller settled it and then made a great move around Swayman to tuck a forehand in for the shootout winner in the ninth round. What a great win. An unlikely hero. But that’s the kind of game it was.

It was really enjoyable. Most shootouts aren’t. This was. Between the Shesterkin blow up and then his return. To some of the attempts and saves. You had a few sweet finishes. It is one of the best games they’ve had. They find a way.

https://twitter.com/WatchingNY/status/1493779941715939337?t=mNKDgCZ051BGC_6VlkUp9g&s=19

Although the Pens rallied to win against the hopeless Flyers which was highlighted by goal number 500 for Sidney Crosby, who cares. Sure. They didn’t gain any ground. But it’s the Rangers who have played less games. They still have some big ones against Pittsburgh. It’s exciting. That’s the 2021-22 New York Rangers. Enjoy the ride.

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Hockey Returns to The Garden, Rested Rangers host Bruins on ESPN Plus and local affiliates, Boston University wins Beanpot over Northeastern, Toffoli dealt to Flames, trade possibilities

Posted on February 15, 2022 by Derek

Hockey actually will return to The Garden later tonight. Incredibly, the Rangers are finally playing a hockey game on Tuesday when they host the Bruins. Too bad it won’t be on MSG.

UPDATE: Apparently, its one of those games where it can be seen locally on MSG or NESN. But for the rest, it’s ESPN Plus. Hot tip to Sean McCaffrey for the correct information. It’s also a 7 PM start time. Funny. But I checked the schedule last night. Glad to be wrong.

In another genius move by the NHL schedule makers, the first game in an eternity two weeks (ridiculous) can be seen on ESPN Plus. Whoopty do. I honestly hate how many of these games are being streamed. Sure. There’s a market for it. But is this really what they signed up for?

Editor’s Note: As noted above in the update, this only applies to outside markets. Sorry for the mix-up.

Fortunately, there’s a good option for non ESPN ➕️ subscribers to view the games you want to see. I don’t want to advertise it in this space. My issue is it’s not as fun streaming a game on a phone. Not everyone has your state of the art $2000 laptops or God knows what modernized devices there are. It sucks.

I don’t know how the ratings are. But it just feels like a gimmick. Of course, I have to hear from future boy all about how much better it is. Technology.

“Whatever happened to predictability, the milkman, the paper boy and evening TV. …” Full House moment for Bob Saget. It’s been on a lot. What can I say. It certainly applies these days. Danny Tanner would agree. Then the comedian who played him would tell a dirty joke. That in itself made Saget unique. He played a TV Dad, but was the opposite in real life. RIP 💜

I could go on about how I miss seeing these games on regular TV. Yes. I went there. Believe it or not, a good chunk of Rangers games used to be on the old Channel 9. Growing up in the 80’s was fun. The Yankees were on WPIX Channel 11. The Mets on WWOR Channel 9. I had a black and white TV without a remote control.

This is supposed to be a hockey blog. Or was. So much for that. I actually watched the Beanpot Final and really enjoyed it. Thanks to NHL Network for picking up the championship game courtesy of NESN. That was a great broadcast. No biased bull crap that you get with Bruins games. Just good play by play and analysis. It was nice to see Billy Jaffe doing color. He does pregame, intermission and postgame for the Bruins. How is he not doing games for a team?

Regarding the game that was aired on NHL Network, what a clinic. Boston University and Northeastern put on a show for the fans at TD Garden. For three periods, the two rivals didn’t give an inch. It was hotly contested. If you like team defense and checking with goaltending, this was spectacular. Boston University got a goal from Dylan Peterson with 2:48 left in the third period. He was the hero for the Terriers, who won their first Beanpot title since 2015. It was their 31st title.

You had over 17,000 fans there for the big game. A Boston tradition. If you wanted a perfect advertisement for fans to watch college hockey, this was it. Cheering sections for both schools with bands playing and dueling chants. It looked like an incredible atmosphere. They didn’t have one last year for obvious reasons. This was great.

I even got acquainted with a few names. You had Northeastern freshman goalie T.J. Semptimphelter making plenty of key saves against the better attacking BU. They really dictated the pace throughout. Although Northeastern picked it up in the second half, they didn’t generate enough chances on winning Boston University netminder Vinny Duplessis. He did wind up with 19 saves with most of his 10 third period stops coming after Northeastern pulled Semptimphelter, who won the Eberly Award for the goalie with the highest save percentage (.972). He stopped 69 of 71 shots including 29 of 30 last night.

Some of the players I noticed were prospects who have been drafted. That even included Rangers’ former ’18 seventh round pick Riley Hughes. The junior is the older brother of 18-year old 2022 Draft Eligible forward Jack Hughes. Yes. Another one. No relation to the Jack in New Jersey. They played on the same line and were noticeable during some shifts. I liked what I saw from the younger Hughes, who was around the net and fired a couple of shots towards Duplessis during a six-on-five.

The best opportunity the Huskies had was when during a wild sequence, Aidan McDonough got two chances at forcing overtime. After his first shot was denied by Duplessis, the puck somehow came back to him. With Duplessis scrambling around, McDonough sent a shot just over the net. If it had been on goal, he likely would’ve scored. He leads the Huskies with 17 goals and 25 points. Vancouver selected him in Round 7 in the ’19 Draft.

One Northeastern forward who caught my eye was Sam Colangelo. A slick skater who is good at creating offense, the Ducks’ 2020 second round pick was one of the most dangerous players for the Huskies. A member of the USA gold medal World Junior Championship team last year, he’s having a good sophomore year. Colangelo entered last night with 20 points (8-12-20) in 19 games. It looks like Anaheim might have another good young prospect who’ll be part of their future.

On the Boston University side, you had Luke Tuch working hard during most shifts. The younger brother of current Sabre Alex Tuch, he has some size and strength. A solid player on the cycle, he isn’t shy about delivering hits. He also took a big one after dumping the puck in. The younger Tuch was taken by the Canadiens in the second round of 2020.

I also liked Flyers former ’18 first rounder Jay O’Brien. A right center who transferred from Providence College last year, he’s a playmaking pivot who makes things happen. He’s fared well. Since joining the Terriers in ’20-21, the 22-year old O’Brien has 17 goals and 19 assists totaling 36 points over 35 games. He was 9-11-20 entering Monday’s big game.

Peterson’s winner was set up by Jamie Armstrong. He made a great pass across for a tap in from Peterson to finally get a puck past Semptimphelter. It was a terrific play. Usually in such a tight checking game, the goal comes off a bounce or deflection. Instead, BU got a pretty one to avoid overtime.

When the buzzer sounded, it was quite a celebration by the Terriers. You could tell how much it meant to the players. Now, I get the hype behind the Beanpot. You can bet I’ll be tuning in for every game in the future. It was the best game I could’ve watched on a light night for hockey.

When the Rangers take to the ice tonight, they’ll enter in third place with 64 points in 47 games. During their time off, both the Hurricanes and Penguins passed them in the division. Pittsburgh leads the Metro with 68 points in 49 games while the Canes are second with 67 in 46. Now, there no longer is a big difference in games played. The Pens play game 50 later against the Flyers. Carolina plays the Panthers tomorrow.

The time off allowed Adam Fox to get healthy. Ditto for Filip Chytil, who should be a go. During a recent team practice, he was back at center on the third line. Barclay Goodrow looks to be option A to fill the role of Kaapo Kakko on the second line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. Goodrow has been an interchangeable player. A good addition that Gerard Gallant can use in different roles.

Alexis Lafreniere stays on the top line playing the off wing with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Lafreniere admitted that the extra time off helped him continue to make adjustments to playing the right wing. Having scored in the previous two games (both wins), he noted that he wants to shoot the puck more. Lafreniere is on his one-timer side. An unselfish team player, he’s still learning in Year Two.

Having Fox back for the blue line should help steady things. He’ll rejoin partner Ryan Lindgren on the top pair and be back running the top power play. That’ll move Jacob Trouba back to power play two which is a better fit. Especially since it’s more of a shooting mentality. Trouba pairs with K’Andre Miller, who is making strides in his second season.

It appears that veteran Patrik Nemeth will return to the lineup. If so, he should be teamed with rookie Braden Schneider. The former first round pick has been steady since his promotion from Hartford. The poise with which he plays is something that can’t be taught. It’ll be interesting to see if Nemeth can be more consistent. He’s been the weak link in the top six. That signing never made sense.

For now, you’re looking at Libor Hajek and Zac Jones as the fourth pair. Both have filled in admirably with the younger and more skilled Jones impressing Gallant. He likes his poise and skating. Even though he’s undersized, Jones is a player to watch. It’ll be interesting to see what the organization decides between now and March 21. Do they upgrade the third pair by going after a proven vet like Mark Giordano or the suggested Vladislav Gavrikov, who is signed with Columbus through next year at an affordable contract.

The Rangers know they might need an upgrade at the right wing spot in the tip six. With an unknown injury keeping Kakko out for extended time, that’ll give Chris Drury more chances to work the phones.

One candidate went yesterday with the versatile Tyler Toffoli getting moved by the rebuilding Canadiens to the all in Flames. Montreal got back a 2022 first round pick and 20-year old Swedish prospect Emil Heineman. A ’23 fifth was also included as part of the deal. I like it for Calgary. They’ve made it clear they want to go for it in Johnny Gaudreau’s walk year with Matthew Tkachuk also a key restricted free agent this summer. They have a very good roster. Why not take a shot. They should be a tough out in the playoffs.

The Habs did okay with the return of a late first and Heineman, who sounds like a hard-working prospect. He represented Sweden at the ’21 WJC scoring once in five contests. This season, he has 11 goals and five helpers for Leksands IF in the Swedish Hockey League. Montreal will have more players available including left defenseman Ben Chiarot.

In terms of some potential options if they decide to go after a top six forward, there’s J.T. Miller in Vancouver, who’s said to be shopping many players aside from core pieces Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat, Thatcher Demko and Quinn Hughes. That means Brock Boeser could also be available. Miller was basically hinted at by Larry Brooks, who had more stuff leaked to him from the Blueshirts. He actually believes Chytil and Nils Lundkvist are a good starting point to acquire Miller. I disagree. Neither are proven. I think the Canucks would ask for better prospects along with the expected first round pick for their top skater. Miller has another year left on his deal.

Other candidates include Claude Giroux, Joe Pavelski, Gustav Nyquist and Vladislav Namestnikov. The latter two more top nine forwards who won’t be as expensive. Solid complementary players. That wouldnt be a bad way to go. Kakko likely will return. Whether he can improve his production remains to be seen. Adding quality depth up front is a necessity. That way we don’t have to ever see Dryden Hunt used in the top six. Plus Goodrow is better suited on the third line.

I’m not sure I’d go all in on this year. The Rangers have done better than expected. But are they ready to seriously challenge? I wouldn’t mortgage too much of the future. If they want to trade Vitali Kravtsov due to the relationship as part of a move that can help, I understand. Ditto for a defenseman like Tarmo Reunanen, who doesn’t seem to have a future in NYC. The Rangers boast a surplus of defense prospects. They can’t keep everyone.

I’ve seen some suggest moving Alex Georgiev. No way. He is the reliable backup behind Igor Shesterkin. If they want to move on from him with his contract up, they can in the off-season. He’s a RFA. Keep Keith Kinkaid in Hartford with Adam Huska. Kinkaid is insurance.

In regards to Boston, they’re without Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, whose latest lunacy resulted in a six-game suspension. I like The Rat. But he should seek help. Get a therapist. These incidents reflect poorly on him. He’s too good a player to be so ridiculous. At some point, enough is enough.

The Rangers must smother top B’s finisher David Pastrnak. He’s been on fire for a month, quietly creeping up the leader board. A presence on the power play and at even strength, Pastrnak is on a serious hot streak. They’ll want to pay close attention to him.

Taylor Hall has picked it up recently. He plays on the same line with Pastrnak. Those are the Bruins’ most dangerous forwards.

Goaltending has been an issue lately. Ever since all-time Bruin Tuukka Rask retired due to his hip not reacting well to games, Boston has struggled. Linus Ullmark is the number one goalie. He’s had a solid first year. Jeremy Swayman is the future in net who’ll continue to split time.

The Boston defense is led by Charlie McAvoy. A physical presence who can use his size to finish checks, he also is a good skater that can contribute offensively. While players like Fox, Cale Makar and Victor Hedman get all the accolades, McAvoy is one of the best defensemen in hockey. He might not put up the gaudy numbers of the other three, but McAvoy us a complete player. His importance to the B’s can’t be underestimated.

Boston hasn’t played well recently. That means they should come in with something to prove. Do they stick with Swayman, who shutout Ottawa over the weekend? Ullmark is the starter.

This is the second meeting of three between the classic Original Six rivals. The Rangers took the first meeting in Boston 5-2 on Nov. 26. The third and final game isn’t until April 23 at MSG.

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Devils fall short to Penguins despite a goal from Hughes in return, Hischier extends goal streak to four in defeat

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Derek

It didn’t quite end the way they wanted it to. Even with captain Nico Hischier staying hot by getting the tying goal to extend his goal streak to four, the Devils wound up on the wrong side of a tough 4-2 loss to the Penguins in Newark this afternoon.

The defeat prevented them from picking up a third straight win, which would’ve constituted as a winning streak. Instead, the Pens did enough to earn the victory that moved them into first place in the Metropolitan Division. They are a point up on the Hurricanes and four ahead of the forever idle Rangers.

It was a winnable game. But in a season series where the road team has prevailed in each match-up, the home ice didn’t matter. Especially considering the Devils last two wins came on the road against Montreal and St. Louis.

Even the return of star center Jack Hughes wasn’t enough to get the victory. Back after missing time due to COVID Protocol, the 20-year old All-Star scored his career high 13th goal in just 29 games. For the season, the former top pick has 28 points (13-15-28). In Year Three, Hughes has certainly been productive. His offensive improvement was expected. He still has to work on being more responsible defensively.

Jon Gillies made another start in net. Without Mackenzie Blackwood or Jonathan Bernier, it’s the 28-year old journeyman who coach Lindy Ruff has relied on. With recent ’20 third round pick Nico Daws backing up, it makes sense to lean on the more experienced Gillies.

He was okay. Facing one of the league’s top teams, Gillies made 31 saves on 34 shots. However, he’ll tell you that he should’ve had at least one goal. But overall, he played well enough for a third string netminder. As much of an issue as it’s been this season, goaltending wasn’t why they lost.

Following a scoreless first period where each side had eight shots apiece, it was the Devils who struck first. On a good play started by Pavel Zacha in the neutral zone, he got the puck to Yegor Sharangovich, who was able to lead Hughes into the Pittsburgh zone. The crafty top center was able to beat Tristan Jarry with a good wrist shot blocker side up top for his 13th at 7:02. The shot even impressed the Pens feed.

Following the goal, the Pens nearly came right back. But a quick reacting Gillies was able to get across and kick out a Jake Guentzel point blank shot to rob the top Pittsburgh finisher. It was a great save that kept the Devils in front.

However, the one-goal lead was short lived. On a strong cycle from former Devil Brian Boyle, Chad Ruhwedel passed the puck to Mike Matheson, whose long shot from the blue line snuck past a visibly frustrated Gillies to tie the score at 13:16. It was one he should’ve had with the puck going right past his glove and in.

The Devils would take an undisciplined bench minor with 90 seconds left in the second. Although they didn’t score on the power play which extended 30 seconds into the third period of a tie game, the Penguins technically took advantage when a Kris Letang one-timer was redirected home by Bryan Rust at 36 seconds of the third. The goal came six seconds after the penalty expired.

Now trailing by one, the Devils got a good bounce to even it back up 2:15 later. After receiving a pass from Tomas Tatar, Hischier was able to find enough room to take a shot from the right circle that took a Devils’ carom right off Letang and the post for lucky number 13 at 2:51. The goal extended his goal streak to four straight. Over the last four games, he has five goals and an assist. Hischier is up to 30 points (13-17-30) in 43 games.

Another minor penalty hurt their momentum. Nathan Bastian got called for tripping Jarry, who could’ve had one himself. Although they again successfully killed another Penguins power play, the Devils couldn’t get any momentum off of it.

Instead, it was the hard work of the Pittsburgh checking line that made the difference in a game where Sidney Crosby was kept from scoring his 500th goal and the returning Evgeni Malkin (Covid Protocol) was a non-factor. On a good forecheck from Staten Island native Zach Aston-Reese, he fed Matheson for a long shot that rebounded off Gillies right to Boyle, who out-muscled Ty Smith to get his sixth on the rebound at 6:58.

It’s astonishing that Boyle wasn’t on a roster last year. Now 37, the veteran center still is getting it done in a fourth line checking role on a deep Pens roster. He can still effectively kill penalties and take a few draws while also scoring the occasional goal. His grunt work proved to be the difference in this one. He finished with a goal and assist.

Although they had their chances in the third with 13 shots, the Devils never could find the equalizer against Jarry. That also included a power play Tatar drew on defensive defenseman Brian Dumoulin with under nine minutes left. They went 0-for-2 on the man-advantage.

If there was an area Pittsburgh excelled at, it was keeping most of the Devils’ shots to the outside. There weren’t many openings for Hughes or Hischier. Hughes got one good shot on Jarry from the left circle. But it was low and easily handled by the Pittsburgh starter. If he was able to see it, he stopped it.

Once time got near the one-minute mark, Ruff lifted Gillies for an extra attacker. However, strong defensive work from Crosby got the puck to Rust for a two-on-one. He passed for Guentzel, who deposited his 24th into a vacated net with 67 seconds left. That sent fans to the exits.

It wasn’t so much that the effort wasn’t there. It was the Pens simply doing enough to win on Super Bowl Sunday. They got more contributions from their supporting cast. That allowed them to come away with the two points.

It won’t get any easier for the Devils. The two-time defending champion Lightning visit The Prudential Center on Tuesday at 7 PM. This is the make up game for one that was postponed in early January.

It’s the only game on the schedule due to the mandatory bye week. I don’t get the need for it. They just had an All-Star break. You get a Christmas break too and for American teams, most have Thanksgiving off. It doesn’t make much sense.

The Devils fell to 17-27-5 in 49 games. After Tuesday, they don’t play again until the following Thursday on February 24 at the Pens. That will be followed by a back-to-back at Chicago.

Battle Of Hudson Three Stars 🌟 🤩 ✨️

3rd 🌟 Jon Gillies, Devils 31 saves on 34 shots

2nd 🌟 Mike Matheson, Pens goal (7), plus 🍎, 4 SOG, +1 in 16:04)

1st 🌟 Brian Boyle, Pens game-winning goal (6th), assist, 3-for-5 on face-offs, +1 in 10:42)

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Hischier leads Devils to good win over Blues

Posted on February 11, 2022 by Derek

If you win once, nice. Win two in a row and it’s a step in the right direction. Win three in a row, that’s called a winning streak. It has happened before.

At least that’s how I envision Hasan following tonight. After humiliating the Canadiens to the point of replacing Dominique Ducharme with Marty St. Louis behind the bench, the Devils had a more impressive win by defeating the Blues 7-4 in St. Louis last night.

It’s probably one of their best wins of the season. It came against a good opponent that’s playoff bound in a strong division. Plus it was on the road with travel after whipping Montreal 7-1 two nights prior.

Skating again without Jack Hughes (Covid Protocol), the Devils used a quick start to get the jump on the Blues. They scored the game’s first two goals before St. Louis realized they had to start playing.

On some good work down low by the third line of Dawson Mercer, Jesper Boqvist and Andreas Johnsson, they forced St. Louis into a turnover. Justin Faulk panicked with the puck sending it right to P.K. Subban, whose shot beat Jordan Binnington unassisted at 2:12. It was his third goal.

Continuing to dictate the play, the Devils got a great individual effort from fourth line center Mike McLeod, who increased the lead to two at 15:07. Taking a Damon Severson outlet inside his zone, he took off through the neutral zone and then used a pick to get in and deke Binnington to go forehand for his third goal in two games. A strong move and nice finish for a hard-working player.

It didn’t take St. Louis long to respond. Finally put on notice that they couldn’t take the Devs lightly, they replied back only 30 seconds later when Klim Kostin put home an Oskar Sundqvist centering feed in the slot past former Blue Jon Gillies. He made the start against the team he only got into one game for due to their goalie depth.

After a solid first period in which they doubled up the Blues in shots 10-5, the Devils took a one-goal lead to the locker room. They had to kill off a Severson minor for interference on Pavel Buchnevich early in the second. Following that, it was mostly St. Louis.

Unlike the opening period, the Blues played with more intensity. Able to start sustaining pressure in the Devils zone, they finally tied things up.

After coming close a previous shift, they outworked the Devils down low where Brayden Schenn was able to steer in a Colton Parayko rebound past Gillies for his 11th at 5:13. On the play, Buchnevich occupied the front of the net where Ty Smith defended while Subban got caught on the wrong side for the tying goal.

Things continued to go wrong in the period. A mishap allowed Faulk to atone for his mistake by capitalizing on a Devil one for his seventh unassisted at 15:03. That gave the Blues their first lead. It also made it three consecutive goals against the Devils. They needed to stop the bleeding. Something Ken Daneyko mentioned during the telecast.

After a tough period in which they were outscored 2-0 and outshot 14-9, it would’ve been easy to fall apart against a quality team at their barn. Especially given the Devils’ fragile state. Instead, they picked themselves up by playing a strong third period to earn the victory.

Trailing by one, they got a crucial penalty kill on a Jonas Siegenthaler delay of game. The right names showed up to lead the comeback. On a good Smith outlet for Hischier, he gained the St. Louis zone and drew players before finding Yegor Sharangovich open for his ninth at 9:08. It was a good read from Hischier, who had a great game finishing with two goals and an assist.

With the game tied at three, Mercer reacted to a hard hit from Blues defenseman Niko Mikkola on Boqvist. On the play, Mikkola stepped up in the neutral zone and caught Boqvist against the boards with his stick in a strange position. Mercer took exception. The two exchanged punches. They each received two for roughing.

Mercer’s response would prove pivotal. It resulted in a four-on-four. With more open ice, it was the Devils who took advantage. On what can best be described as some soft coverage by the Blues, they allowed Sharangovich to skate freely into their zone and drop the puck for Subban. He then made a good cross-ice pass for Hischier, whose shot beat Binnington under his arm. That gave them a 4-3 lead with 8:26 remaining.

As the minutes dwindled, the Blues searched for the equalizer. It never came. Gillies made some timely saves. He stopped 27 of 31 shots to earn his second consecutive win. It got interesting late.

On what should’ve been the coup de grace, Jimmy Vesey took a Siegenthaler lead pass and then turned the Blues into traffic cone before catching Binnington by surprise with a good backhand inside the far goalpost for his seventh at 17:41. With only 2:19 left, that made it 5-3.

But before they could get comfortable, Buchnevich skated through a maze of Devils, who puck watched. He then was able to somehow find Schenn in front for a tip in that cut the lead to one with still 1:43 left. Schenn beat Subban on the play for his second of the game. But it was the loose play from the other skaters that allowed that goal to happen. Much too soft.

Fortunately, that didn’t end up costing the Devils. Following a Faulk long shot on net, Gillies aggressively moved the puck for Severson, who cleared the zone. With the St. Louis net empty, a hustling Boqvist got to the loose puck first and put in the empty netter with 1:19 remaining. The smart play from Gillies gave him an assist. A nice reward.

With time winding down, Hischier added a second goal into a vacated net to put the finishing touches on the Devils’ second straight win. They now have two days off before playing host to the Pens on Super Bowl Sunday. Start time is 1:30 PM.

There definitely are some positives. Hischier has goals in three straight and five points. He’s up to 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points in 42 games. For a second game in a row, Smith had an assist. He has three apples over the two wins. With a goal and two helpers, Sharangovich had a three-point night. A streaky scorer, he’s up to 21 points (9-12-21). Boqvist has four goals and two assists in his last six games.

Can the Devils build on the effort they got from key players? They have 34 games left. Obviously, there won’t be any playoffs. However, management has to be evaluating players. Especially with the trade deadline less than five weeks away.

Battle Of Hudson Three Stars 🌟 🤩 ✨️

3rd 🌟 P.K. Subban, Devils 3rd of season plus 🍎, 2 SOG in 16:18

2nd 🌟 Yegor Sharangovich, Devils game-tying goal plus 2 🍎, +1 in 16:09

1st 🌟 Nico Hischier, Devils 2 goals plus 🍎, 14-for-25 on face-offs, +1 in 19:07

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Game 666 very Devilish, The Rat strikes again, break up the Senators, Tuukka Rask announces retirement

Posted on February 9, 2022 by Derek
History.com

The Devils played Game 666 on the NHL schedule last night when they visited Montreal. It was a good omen. Coming off a seventh straight defeat, they turned the tables on the woeful Habs by routing them 7-1.

Montreal is the worst team in hockey. Somehow, they have gone from an astonishing run to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup appearance since ’93 to an eight win awful team whose record is so futile, Habs fans are counting down to the end of the season. Eight total wins in 45 games is appalling.

Maybe playing Game 666 is why everything went right for New Jersey. It’s a Devilish number. It’s based on The Book of Revelation. Referred to as the Antichrist, it’s considered the devil’s number. However, it can also be viewed as a positive due to an optimistic spiritual message. Whatever the reason, 666 treated the Devils well.

A lucky 13 players registered points in the 7-1 victory. Thirteen being another interesting number. For years, the Devils never handed it out under former GM Lou Lamoriello. He believed it was unlucky. Current captain Nico Hischier wears number 13. Ironically, he’d score one of the seven goals on Tuesday night.

How good was the game? Seven Devils recorded two points. That included rookie Dawson Mercer, who finally ended a long scoring drought by getting his 10th from Jesper Boqvist and Ty Smith. He’d gone the first 14 games of the new calendar year without a goal. Mercer also had an assist on the Hischier tally that made it 3-1.

Boqvist also had a goal and assist in the win. A former second round pick in 2017, he’s got five points over his last five games including three goals. A positive sign for the 23-year old Swede. The Devils need to see progress from more of their younger players. Ty Smith has struggled this season. However, he set up a pair of goals.

Former first round pick Pavel Zacha had a goal and helper. Checking pivot Mike McLeod chipped in with two goals including the first of the game on a rebound in front past Montreal goalie Cayden Primeau. Even disappointing vet Tomas Tatar got his ninth versus his former team to close the scoring.

The touchdown and extra point were all in support of Jon Gillies. He made 30 saves on 31 shots to notch his second win as a Devil. Given his struggles since coming over from St. Louis, it had to feel good.

Ditto for coach Lindy Ruff, who finally saw his team get a win. They are still without Jack Hughes, who’s in Covid Protocol. He must miss at least one more game before becoming eligible to return.

The Devils next play on Thursday when they visit the Blues. They will be back home for the Penguins on Sunday afternoon.

In other news, Brad Marchand lost it literally at the end of a Bruins’ 4-2 loss to the Pens last night. One of the game’s best players, he is sometimes his own worst enemy. Nicknamed The Rat appropriately, he struck again when he sucker punched Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry during a scrum with the game decided.

It was a cheap shot from an ornery player who makes mystifying decisions. Especially given his talent. There was no reason for the left punch to Jarry’s head. Fortunately, he was fine. Of course, Marchand wasn’t done delivering a high stick to Jarry’s mask. He was assessed 12 penalty minutes including a match penalty at 19:35 by ref Wes McCauley. The right call.

A match penalty is an automatic league review. With him being suspended three games earlier this season, Marchand faces a stiffer punishment for his lunacy. He’s been given an in person meeting by the Department of NHL Player Safety. That means he could be looking at over five games. Given his track record, it will be deserved.

One question is what goes through his head. For a superstar who also is a unique personality, it doesn’t make sense. By now, the 33-year old left wing should act his age. The best player on the Bruins cost himself at least five games or more which can hurt his team. Even though they look like a playoff lock, his decision was selfish last night.

As big a fan as I am of Marchand the hockey player, I was perturbed with his idiocy. Is it an anger management issue on the ice? This isn’t to say there haven’t been stars who crossed the line. Theo Fleury played with the same fire. However, as we now know, much of it was due to his past history dating back to juniors. It’s not worth repeating because it truly disgusted me and many hockey people.

In another game, the Senators scored the first four goals to defeat the Hurricanes 4-3 at home. Ottawa has played better lately. Even without key center Josh Norris, they’re getting contributions throughout the lineup.

Led by captain Brady Tkachuk, who scored twice, they caught Carolina by surprise. Improving sophomore Tim Stutzle assisted on a pair including the game’s first goal 71 seconds in on a great baseball bat deflection from Tkachuk. He also passed in front for another strong Tkachuk finish 40 seconds into the second that made it 3-zip.

Alex Formenton also tallied and Chris Tierney beat Antti Raanta following a sloppy Andrei Svechnikov turnover that made it a 4-0 lead. It was enough to hold off a Canes’ third period rally.

Anton Forsberg made 42 saves including 13 in a busy third. Although Carolina made things interesting on goals from Svechnikov, Brendan Smith and Vincent Trocheck, they couldn’t force extras.

Credit the Sens for playing well enough to get the home win. At 16-22-4, they’re about where one would expect. A rebuilding team with Tkachuk, Norris and Stutzle the clear building blocks along with defenseman Thomas Chabot, they’re playing respectable hockey. Matt Murray is finally healthy and playing better. Forsberg has supplied a solid backup. Would a goalie starved team such as Edmonton come calling?

And finally, it looks like Tuukka Rask has played his final game for the Bruins. The winningest netminder in Bruins franchise history, he tried to come back from hip surgery. After a solid start, he struggled. Apparently, he didn’t feel as good physically after a loss to Anaheim on Jan. 24.

If it’s indeed over, the affable 34-year old Czech netminder had a great career. After Boston stole him from Toronto for Andrew Raycroft, Rask first backed up Tim Thomas on the Stanley Cup championship team. Eventually, he took over and won 308 games while posting a 2.28 GAA, .921 save percentage and 52 shutouts all with the Bruins.

Among the highlights included a Vezina and two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals in ’13 and ’19. Despite some of the unfair criticism he received over those two losses, Rask performed extremely well. Leave it to Boston fans to not appreciate how great a goalie he was. They just got beat by the Blackhawks and Blues. It happens.

https://twitter.com/iancmclaren/status/1491225087328256001?t=DzUPlGJy3gyF9t78ZaMmqw&s=19

If he formally announces his retirement as has been speculated in The Athletic, happy trails to Tuukka.

UPDATE: Tuukka Rask made it official this afternoon. At 34, the Boston Bruins netminder announced his retirement from hockey. Best wishes.

Rask will be missed. He truly was a great goalie.

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The Good, Fun and Eh of All-Star Weekend: Hughes and Zegras highlight Skills Competition in Vegas, Metro takes All-Star Game

Posted on February 5, 2022 by Derek

On Friday and Saturday, the NHL held All-Star Weekend in Vegas. It didn’t disappoint. Especially the Skills Competition that aired on both ESPN and ESPN Plus.

With the marquee event in Vegas, they went all out to create some intriguing competitions for the players to participate in. At least the traditional Fastest Skater and Hardest Shot remained intact. Although I was a bit disappointed in how many players took part in the latter.

Perhaps the most out there idea was having players shoot at targets outside T-Mobile Arena at the Billagio. Rather than the original targets we grew accustomed to which I prefer, they decided to move this event outdoors into the elements which included a waterfall and actual ocean for participants to deal with.

I’ll admit this was a unique idea they came up with. You had two rounds. Semifinals had players looking to score into four different goal targets on the water. Obviously, the two fastest times advanced. Perhaps my favorite participant was Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson. The three-time Olympian sure wowed the competition by firing pucks into the four targets in just over 16 seconds. She nearly made the final.

Roman Josi was able to eliminate Lamoureux-Davidson as the final shooter to advance to the final against Zach Werenski. So, you had two defensemen pitted against each other. The curveball was they had to shoot at five targets instead of four. It made a huge difference for Werenski, who won the Fountain Challenge while Josi had issues with the fifth and final one. It reminded me of Jonathan Huberdeau in the semifinal when he butchered the four.

While this event was enjoyable, I feel it could’ve been even better if they had spectators cheering on the competitors outside. I also wouldn’t have minded seeing guys like Huberdeau and Claude Giroux, who were eliminated, jumping into the water. That would’ve been amusing.

Maybe it’s just me because I’m a traditionalist. I preferred the old targets in the one net when you had sharpshooters Ray Bourque, Mark Messier and Jeremy Roenick going four for four. Those were classics. I never felt they needed to change that. Whether it was the lame electronic devices or the water which at least was entertaining, it was always a signature event. We’ll see what they come up with next.

Another event I loved was the breakaway. Not to be confused with the consecutive saves streak that featured each division tandem with the Atlantic duo of Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jack Campbell taking that with nine straight saves. This one featured Manon Rheaume in net. The only female goalie to play in an NHL preseason game doing so for the Lightning, she had fun against a creative cast of players that included Jack Hughes, Trevor Zegras and Alex DeBrincat. Home favorite Alex Pietrangelo won due to some home cooking from Jon Hamm, who guest judged with Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and other legends.

However, it was Hughes and Zegras who stole the show. They really put on one for the fans, who were mesmerized by their unique tricks with even some magic provided by the lone Devil representative Hughes. He really is fun to watch. It’s obvious he and good friend Zegras have a bromance going dating back to their days playing for the US National Team when they were teenagers.

Think this kids don’t have personality? It looks like it’s the young American centers leading the way into the future. Look at this from Zegras, who preempted Hughes with the Dodgeball blindfold gimmick to score lacrosse style on Rheaume.

Even DeBrincat came up with something as fun. He had to follow Jack Hughes, who provided the abracadabra that featured Mini Me Jack Hughes scoring with both tossing their sticks into the crowd. I liked what DeBrincat did. It was also creative. It got Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr involved with him completing a pass for a skating DeBrincat, who then controlled a football and beat Rheaume while decked out in full Hangover get up as Allan. Carr’s Raiders teammate wide receiver Hunter Renfroe played the part of Mike Tyson with a fake tiger.

I thought of all the contests they had, this was the best because it embodies the direction the league needs to go. It’s an All-Star Weekend. Why not showcase the young stars by having some fun. They already altered the game format with the three-on-three two 10-minute period semifinal and final for a winner take all cool million.

In terms of fastest skater, it was an upset. Connor McDavid didn’t take home his fourth title. The door was left open due to most of the skaters having problems with the final turn. That screwed up Dylan Larkin, who started out well only to finish badly. Rangers All-Star Chris Kreider led off with a 13.664. If he’d started a bit faster, he might’ve won. He actually beat out McDavid, who had a tough finish.

The winner was dark horse Jordan Kyrou. He beat out Adrian Kempe and Kreider to take the fastest skater. McDavid went 13.690 to finish fourth.

Hardest shot only had four shooters. They included Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech, ever popular Tom Wilson, Timo Meier and Victor Hedman. Not surprisingly, Hedman took it by firing 103.2 on his second attempt after a 102.7 to crack 100 MPH twice. Something the other three shooters couldn’t do.

Maybe they should’ve had a warmup. Having only four shooters definitely took away from a once big event where you had guys like Al Iafrate, Zdeno Chara and Shea Weber bombing away for much faster shots. Iafrate still is tops before all the wacky technology came in.

While I enjoyed the save streak because we got to see all eight goalies with Cam Talbot Mic’d Up having fun while faring well, it was not surprising to see Vasilevskiy and Campbell turn aside the Metro Division. Though Kreider provided this highlight vs Vasilevskiy by pulling a Kucherov on the Lightning netminder.

As for the actual three games, it was the Metro over the Pacific 6-4 and the Central over the Atlantic 8-5 to advance to the championship. In the final, Claude Giroux scored twice and Jack Hughes had a goal and assist including this beautiful pass for a Chris Kreider goal as the Metro won the championship 5-3 over the Central. Tristan Jarry stopped 14 of 15 shots.

Hughes had a great weekend. He had four points (3-1-4) in the two wins and could’ve been MVP over Giroux. He also was a big hit in Vegas with his buddy Trevor Zegras, who eerily reminds me of the epic Jeff Spicoli character played by a young Sean Penn in Fast Times At Ridgemont High. It’s his quirky and cool demeanor which seems to be similar to Hughes. Imagine these two in the same locker room.

That is how I envision their relationship off the ice. It’s also what I see in Zegras, who seems like the coolest guy in the room. Very marketable. Are you listening, NHL, TNT and ESPN?

I know there were quite a few hockey fans who don’t care for what the NHL All-Star Weekend has become. I get it. The game is a glorified exhibition. However, if you can enjoy some of the creativity they do with the Skills Competition and chill out, then there is fun to be had. How can you not laugh at what Hughes, DeBrincat and Zegras provided? All American too.

Personalities. It sure beats the usual boring answers you get from most players. If they try, it really can still be “the coolest game on Earth.”

A second half awaits. For some teams, they’ll start up by Tuesday, February 8. For others like the Rangers, there’s no games scheduled until Feb. 15. With the trade rumors heating up and the games intensifying, it should be interesting. Drop the puck!

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Kreider again stars in good win over Panthers to go into break the right way, Strome stands up as Rangers respond to coach’s challenge

Posted on February 2, 2022 by Derek

If this were a summary of the first half, then the Rangers certainly followed the script. In what was a good win to enter the long break, they defeated the Eastern leading Panthers 5-2 at The Garden.

The character building victory over a playoff contender was the perfect finish as they enter the All-Star break. Unfortunately, they won’t play another game for two weeks due to the mandatory week bye. Not that there’ll be much complaining.

Here the Rangers are with 30 wins in 47 games with 64 points. An identical amount to the first place Hurricanes who have five games at hand. That doesn’t matter. The very fact they’re at that many points before the 50 game mark defies logic. But it’s also a credit to how the players have responded to coach Gerard Gallant. More often than not, he pushes the right buttons.

The biggest reason for team success revolves around Chris Kreider and Igor Shesterkin. Kreider continues to score at a great clip with two more to pad his career best total to 33 goals including a league best 17 on the power play. Might he be in the Hart discussion? There’s no debating the silent assassin Shesterkin, whose impact has been enormous. He made 34 saves on 36 shots to pick up his 22nd win in 29 games. The Vezina frontrunner has a 2.10 GAA and league-leading .937 save percentage.

Those are the most valuable players of the pre All-Star break for this team. You can add Adam Fox’s name as well. He is a game-breaker and huge difference maker on the blue line. That makes the win over a healthy Cats all the more impressive. They did it without Fox, who missed a third straight game. He has two weeks to recover before the Bruins come to town on February 15.

They might not have played well in the previous two games. The blown two-goal lead in a disappointing loss to the Wild on Henrik Lundqvist Night. Then, the garbage performance against the Kraken, who outplayed them by a wide margin. But K’Andre Miller to the rescue to steal two points. It didn’t stop a furious Gallant from voicing his displeasure to the media. Most notable was this quote.

“We’re a better team than that.” He’s right. This isn’t to say they’re on the same level of a Carolina, Tampa, or even Florida, who they won two of three from to take the season series. But nobody can deny that they aren’t on the right track.

At the moment, the New York Rangers are a good team capable of doing more. What that is remains to be seen. Are they by any stretch of the imagination a great five-on-five team? Not yet. However, they are very good on special teams. Kreider’s 17 PPG attest to that. Mika Zibanejad has 10. Both could go 20/20. When is the last time a Rangers’ duo both scored 20 apiece on the power play in a regular season? If I had to guess, I’d say Messier and Graves during the 90’s. But it could go back further to the GAG Line in the 70’s. I’ll research it.

As important as five-on-five is to being successful, so too are good special teams. An area this team excels at. Maybe it isn’t such a bad thing. They’ve won many games due to the combination of key goals on the man-advantage, strong penalty killing and timely stops from Shesterkin.

If there was a positive, it was how well they played the third period to protect a one-goal lead by finishing off the dangerous Panthers with another Kreider power play goal and an Artemi Panarin empty netter to beat a team that usually does a lot of damage in the third.

They weren’t all that good defensively the first two periods. They allowed too many easy Florida transitions that at times were scary. You can’t play that style against them. They were fortunate to be up. Credit Alexis Lafreniere for taking advantage of a mistake to net his 10th even strength goal from Kreider that tied it. Kreider then got the first of two on the power play thanks to a great breakout started by Shesterkin.

Even better than the much more disciplined third that saw Gallant shorten up to three lines which were able to forecheck and defend better, you had Ryan Strome standing up for himself. It was late in the second that Mason Marchment drilled him from the blind side to send Strome hurting to the bench. It wasn’t that late, but Gallant was visibly upset. Strome answered the bell after intermission.

Over five minutes into the period, Strome had taken a number. When he came together with the pesky Marchment who just came off a career best six-point game in a Cats’ laugher over Columbus, the fiery second line pivot didn’t wait. He dropped the gloves and Marchment engaged him. It was the smaller Strome who got the blows in and knockdown to cheers. The crowd loved it. So did Gallant.

One noticeable difference from last year is how willing our players are to get into the battle and respond. The additions of Ryan Reaves and Barclay Goodrow have been home runs for Team President and GM Chris Drury. Both have made a huge difference in how the team plays. They’re no longer a predictable vanilla bore.

Reaves’ impact goes beyond his statistics. Look at what he does. He drove the net for the Zibanejad goal that was accidentally put in by defenseman Gustav Forsling at 35 seconds in. He forechecks well and finishes checks. Gallant has been able to rely on him for more shifts without Kaapo Kakko or Fil Chytil. You can argue he’s contributed more than either young gun. Ditto for Goodrow, who had no trouble sliding into Strome’s center slot and take a few shifts with him in the box. Not to mention his 10 goals are a career high. A versatile high character player who’s won two Cups.

The mentality has changed for the better. Not in our wildest dreams did we envision the Rangers where they are in the standings. But what I liked most about tonight was how they shutdown the Panthers in a tighter checking third. You didn’t see Barkov or Huberdeau (very quiet) get loose for breakaways. There also weren’t as many openings for key Florida defensemen like Aaron Ekblad and MacKenzie Weegar to fire uncontested shots. An issue the first 40 minutes.

Simply put, this is one of the best wins of the season. It has to be a confidence boost. After being outshot 15-7 in a lopsided first despite being tied, the Blueshirts came back to outshoot the Cats 28-22 the rest of the way. That included a 13-9 edge in the third. Well. Really 12-9 if you subtract the Panarin goal on the vacated net.

At the start, Zibanejad took advantage of a Florida miscue in the neutral zone to create a two-on-one situation with Reaves. His centering feed deflected off Forsling and by Spencer Knight for the game’s first goal at 35 seconds. When you’re hot, you’re hot. If Reaves doesn’t drive the net, no goal. Give Gallant an assist.

The rest of the first was controlled by Florida. Playing their usual fast skating and countering style, they really dictated the pace. The Rangers had no forecheck. They had nothing going. But held the lead until Florida thought they had the tying goal. Owen Tippett took a drop pass from Ekblad. However, the Rangers successfully challenged. It was just offside to negate it.

Following a stoppage, A.J. Mleczko reported back to Bob Wischusen and Brian Boucher that Florida interim coach Andrew Brunette told his team not to worry and get it right back. Ironically, they did following her report. It came from a familiar face.

On a strong rush from Sasha Barkov, he moved the puck for Jonathan Huberdeau, who found a wide open Anthony Duclair. With confusion between Libor Hajek and Zac Jones, the Duke made no mistake beating Shesterkin upstairs to tie the game with his 19th at 10:44. It was a beautiful snipe by the former Ranger. He really has become a good player in Florida. It took him a few teams before he found a home.

For most of the remainder of the period, the Rangers were on their heels. They kept giving up the dangerous Panthers’ transition where they pinch a defenseman high for wide open looks. Particularly Weegar. He had some great opportunities. He had five shots on goal. Shesterkin came up with the saves.

Aside from an ineffective first power play that saw Zibanejad miss way wide on a one-timer, there wasn’t much happening. Miller did get one good shot on Knight, who blockered it aside. He had a strong game. Gallant leaned more on the pair of Miller (26:04) and Jacob Trouba (team high 27:41). Ryan Lindgren and Braden Schneider were used as the second pair in the big match-up on ESPN Plus. Thank God for an alternative to view the game.

Tied at one, the second didn’t start the way the Rangers wanted it to. Sam Reinhart got a step on Miller, who hustled back and went for the stick check. Of course, the arm went up from the ref once Reinhart fell down. I didn’t like the call. He didn’t hold Reinhart. It looked okay.

Instead, the Panthers went on the power play. After Ekblad handed off to Barkov inside their zone, he skated freely into the Rangers’ zone and found enough space to surprise Shesterkin with a wrist shot that went off the goalpost. The puck came right to Reinhart, who put in a backhand rebound as Hajek watched. He was culpable on the Duclair goal.

This was more on Shesterkin, who didn’t expect a shot. I don’t know what purpose having Hajek in the lineup over Nils Lundkvist serves. He is bad. How they opted to keep this guy over Vitali Kravtsov really irks me. Not going any further with that.

With the Panthers ahead, it didn’t last long. A mishap between Ekblad and Radko Gudas allowed an attacking Kreider to steal the puck and pass in front for a Lafreniere backhand that went right through the wickets of Knight at 3:27. His tying goal answered the Bennett power play goal 1:09 later. It was big. That made it consecutive games with a goal for Lafreniere, who got to 10 at the break.

Following Zibanejad drawing a Gudas tripping minor, the Rangers again managed nothing on the power play. They were out of sync. It’s a good thing they got more opportunities because it made a critical difference later on.

The dangerous Carter Verhaeghe drew a pair of minors on our side. He is a very sneaky good skater who can find open space to create chances. Sometimes, he gets lost in the shuffle for the Cats. He was good with Tampa too. But became a cap casualty. The good news is the Rangers were able to kill both penalties. On one, Zibanejad nearly had Kreider for a shorthanded breakaway. But the pass was too strong, allowing Knight to recover.

Despite the period having more special teams, neither goalie faced a lot of shots down a man. When the play was at even strength, the Rangers did a better job playing physical and getting shots on Knight, who was allowing rebounds. The increased physicality and more simple approach worked. They got better as the second went on.

With the game still tied, Strome drew a hooking minor on Verhaeghe by staying on his skates and getting a step. After Panarin fiddled around with the puck refusing to shoot on the delayed call, the power play went to work. On what was a smart play by an aggressive Shesterkin he quickly moved the puck up for Panarin who then led Strome for a two-on-one. He patiently waited and made a great pass across for a sweet Kreider finish for the go-ahead goal with 2:35 left.

In discussing the play during the conference call, Kreider indicated that he’s never had a goalie who can play the puck like that. It wasn’t a Lundqvist strength. He noted the difference, indicating that it makes the job of the defense easier. Shesterkin is similar to Andrei Vasilevskiy, who also is another Russian star goalie who is good at being the third defenseman. No wonder he’s got all the hardware in Tampa.

Leading by one entering the third, the Blueshirts stepped it up. Gallant decided to sit his fourth line. Considering they are off for a while, the move made a lot of sense. I thought the key to the period was the checking line that featured Reaves, Kevin Rooney and Greg McKegg. They were on for the first shift and set the tone by getting the puck in and cycling. A sharp contrast to the previous two periods. Reaves nearly had McKegg for a goal later.

It was at that point that Strome dropped Marchment for his cheap shot. In a one-goal game, he had enough faith in the other skaters to fight his own battle. It sure helps to have a guy like Goodrow, who can shift over to center.

It also was good to see Lafreniere play an assertive game. After being moved back on the top line, he was visible throughout. Whether it was attempting more shots or finding open teammates, he was good. By now, we understand that it isn’t going to come easy for him. But the improvement overall has been noticeable. Hopefully, he can build on it when play resumes.

At a key point of the third, Zibanejad skated past Marchment, who hi-sticked him. Power play, Blueshirts. Given the chance to help improve their chances of winning, they did. It was a great pass from Zibanejad between the skates of a Florida defender right to Kreider for a tip in for number 33 at 14:39.

One line they did stifle was the Florida third line. That’s the one that features Anton Lundell, Reinhart and Marchment. They’d just torched the Blue Jackets by combining for 16 points. Lundell looks like the Calder frontrunner with Detroit defenseman Moritz Seider. He entered with 32 points and a plus-26 rating. He was held in check.

If you only give up one five-on-five goal to the explosive Panthers, you’re doing something right. It’s not to suggest they didn’t have chances. They scored once on 30 shots while the Rangers got two goals on 31. A big improvement against a quality opponent.

With Knight somehow confused that Brunette was screaming for him to come to the bench to make it five-on-five with Barkov off for tripping Zibanejad, the Panthers never got anything. Instead, a loose puck in the neutral zone came to Panarin who easily skated it out and sent it home for his 13th unassisted at 19:19.

This was a satisfying win. One the Rangers can feel proud of. Now, they have two weeks off. Kreider will go to the All-Star Game as their only representative. A well deserved honor. Fox will miss it. Zibanejad, who was voted in, decided to use the time off. Shesterkin also will be off. He’s the best goalie in the division. But I’m not complaining.

What is there to be upset about? This team is in a good spot. With 35 games remaining, there will be plenty of meaningful hockey the rest of the way. That’ll include big games versus division rivals Pittsburgh and Washington. Plus Carolina. Yes. There will be the Islanders too. Plus Boston twice.

The fun lies ahead. Kudos to the Rangers on where they are. Let’s enjoy the ride.

Battle Of Hudson Three Stars 🌟 🤩 ✨️

3rd 🌟 Igor Shesterkin, NYR 34 saves on 36 shots including 25/27 first 2 periods, 22-5-2, 2.10 GAA, .937 save percentage in 29 GP, Игор!

2nd 🌟 Mika Zibanejad, NYR goal plus 🍎, 10-for-19 on face-offs, +1 in 22:00, 49 points at the break

1st 🌟 Chris Kreider, NYR 2 goals for league-leading 33 including 17 PPG, assist, 33-14-47, +13 in 47 GP, MVP caliber

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Another low point in a decade of them

Posted on February 1, 2022 by hasan4978

A few hours before actual Groundhog Day, I feel like the Bill Murray character in the movie watching this Devils team, or barely listening to the latest disgrace for this franchise, falling behind 5-0 to the Leafs at home in the second period of another dead effort, a night after blowing three two-goal leads and not even coming up with a point in regulation (as if it still matters). Now we’re at 6-0 and I still don’t know what to say really. I feel compelled to write something, anything since we’re coming up on the All-Star break in a month where mercifully there isn’t going to be a lot of hockey, just a handful of the makeup games from earlier in the season during what would have been the Olympic break.

It’s hard to know what to say in part because there’s too many things wrong with this team, and organization to really focus on any one thing. You want to slag on the coaching? Okay but this ain’t the night to do it with Lindy Ruff on leave after the death of his father. There’ve been plenty of other nights to criticize the coaching, whether it’s Ruff or perennial stand-in Alain Nasreddine but we’ll leave that for another day. So let’s start higher up on the food chain, specifically with Tom Fitzgerald, whose face will be on a milk carton if he doesn’t address the current state of the team during the All-Star break. His corporate-speak assessment of the answers being in the room looks even more laughable after a night like this (currently 7-1 in the third).

While it’s obviously too late for the GM to do anything to affect this season for all intents and purposes, it’s never too early to start on next year – and maybe send a message that some people who have been sacred cows aren’t going to be spared a ticket out of town or any form of punishment if these kind of ‘efforts’ continue. As much as I love the guy, Fitz clearly made a mistake going all-in on Nico Hischier as the captain too soon. There’s nothing you can really do about it now, but I do sometimes wish the C wasn’t so sacrosanct that you couldn’t take it off a player’s jersey for a game as a punishment in the vein of bumping someone down lines or healthy scratching them. Even when someone as respected as Jacques Lemaire tried to do it with Jamie Langenbrunner in 2010, it became a controversy.

Sure, Nico’s by all accounts a first-class individual. It’s just too bad he kinda…sucks right now on the ice. It’s also not ideal to have a locker room full of milquetoast people – nice kids most of them, but with any winning group you need some guys who aren’t afraid to get in people’s face when it’s required, whether they’re wearing a C or not. In our obsessive quest for youth, youth and more youth we haven’t had a player with any hint of an edge personality-wise in a long time. Even post-Scott Stevens there was still a certain amount of accountability with the veterans on the team that filtered down from team Czar Lou Lamoriello. You need that in any locker room, I don’t care if you’re a win-now team or looking to learn how to win.

It just speaks to the lack of balance in this organization on multiple levels. Many of the problems date back to Ray Shero and his overreliance on small, skill players without any regard to balancing out the roster with size and toughness but we still haven’t done enough to alleviate that issue. It says something that one of our better players the last few weeks has been fourth-liner Nathan Bastian, a pickup from waivers. Maybe in a vacuum, or on a different team a guy like Tomas Tatar would be a nice piece. Here he’s just redundant. We have six or seven perimeter finesse guys like Tatar and only one Bastian.

There’s certainly plenty of blame to go around with the players themselves, especially after an ‘effort’ like tonight. They gave about as much effort in the first two periods as I have toward going to games lately, which is to say none. I’ve no-showed at the last three home games (all losses), which I couldn’t even sell online and after about fifteen minutes – or however long it took Toronto to get its first four goals in the first period – I wasn’t regretting my decision to no-show either. Really the only reason I kinda sorta wanted to show is that there’s only one other home game for about a month that I could even go to, after cashing out on the Pittsburgh makeup game on Super Bowl Sunday for my last account buyback credit toward next season’s tickets. Of course next season it’ll really only be one ticket…or none if they don’t let me keep my aisle seat solo.

Honestly what’s the point of going right now anyway? Apart from the team losing, it’s not exactly a communal atmosphere with everyone in masks and nobody else I know actually going to games right now either. If I’m going to watch the games solo in an sterile atmosphere, I’d rather just watch them at home or get other things done while having the game on in the background, if I bother turning it on at all. I don’t really envy the sales reps who are supposedly going to be sending out renewal information any day now. Good luck with that one, after a month of Devil tickets being completely worthless on the marketplace or in game experience.

It’s not like I have any great attachment to this team at the moment regardless. It’d be one thing if we still had guys here part of the winning teams but that’s over with now. Now it’s just a bunch of kids who still don’t know how to win, and who knows if they ever do figure it out? You know Nico given his C and long-term extension is going to be here for a while. So is Jack Hughes, after the long-term extension he signed earlier this year. Other than those two, Jesper Bratt – who’s pretty much been the team MVP this year – or Dougie Hamilton (who’s still recovering from a broken jaw and COVID), I wouldn’t exactly take anyone else off the table in terms of moving them in the right deal. Of course there’s very little left apart from those four that anyone else would actually take in a trade, other than more futures or a kid like Dawson Mercer who I wouldn’t want to move. But doing nothing is no solution either.

Fitzy can start by figuring out how he’s going to prevent a repeat what happened with the goaltending this year. Sure it was incredibly bad luck to have both Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier injured before the season even started but that’s no excuse to then run both guys into the ground while they were still hurt (this team’s injury management on the whole has been pretty suspect at times the last couple years), needlessly burn through your #3 option in Scott Wedgewood – lost to waivers during the five minutes both goalies were actually playing at the same time – and have nothing left but raw kids who aren’t ready for the NHL and a career minor league scrub who’s doing his best but doesn’t belong in the league. Harsh but how can you say any different with numbers like these:

That isn’t to say all of our woes in giving up goals are on the minor league goaltenders themselves. God only knows you need to look at plays like this in Toronto last night and the forever mercurial Damon Severson for proof of that:

I mean really now…it’s one thing to fail to take away the pass, another to let the shooter shoot, but to not even attempt to do either is just either mind-bogglingly stupid or actual sabotage. This is what Severson’s been his whole career though, the minute you want to like the guy he reverts back to his cowboy up inconsistencies. I give Fitz credit for trying to address the D with offseason additions like Hamilton and Ryan Graves plus Jonas Siegenthaler late last season, but clearly more needs to be done. Even accounting for the fact Hamilton hasn’t been around lately, they haven’t gotten what they needed out of guys like PK Subban and especially Ty Smith, who would have probably benefitted from a stint in Utica, but heaven forbid we get rid of Jack’s roommate and buddy.

Even with our defense and goaltending woes, we still need more from forwards not named Bratt or Hughes, although I would have preferred not to have Hughes get a charity berth in the All-Star game coming off a hideous game like this, even if he did get the only goal in junktime. Representation is kind of a joke when you have the three-on-three format and eight teams to pick eleven players from to begin with anyway, plus to be truthful Bratt deserved it more on merit but not surprisingly the golden boy with the bigger name got the representation selection. Still, at least Bratt and Hughes are pacing around a point a game so far and Bratt’s pretty much been a driver of whatever line he’s been on. Third in points is Andreas Johnsson, who’s actually gone back to being a ghost the last two months since no longer having Bratt to prop him or the rookie Mercer up. Nico’s gone back to being a ghost for the last two weeks, while Pavel Zacha has been haunting houses for the last couple months and Janne Kuokkanen’s still in witness protection.

Like I said earlier though, too many problems with this team to harp on any one, and not enough solutions now. Your move Fitzy, something needs to be done – if not to change the fortunes of the team then to at least help the culture.

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Miller’s goal with 33.7 seconds left allows disappointing Rangers to escape with win over feisty Kraken, Gallant displeased, Zibanejad stays hot

Posted on January 31, 2022 by Derek

K’Andre Miller scored with 33.7 seconds left to give the Rangers a 3-2 win over the feisty Kraken at MSG on Sunday. Despite the victory helping them pull back into second in the Metropolitan Division a point ahead of the Pens (4-3 losers to Kings), coach Gerard Gallant was less than thrilled with how his team played.

To be blunt, he had every reason to be annoyed. The Rangers didn’t deserve to win. They got badly outplayed by a scrappy opponent that nearly doubled them up in shots (42-24) and were the better team.

It wasn’t exactly a win you could be too excited about. Sure. Miller got the game-winner at 19:26 thanks to a big face-off win from the sizzling Mika Zibanejad. Give an assist to Chris Kreider, who banged into an incensed Riley Sheahan, who thought there should’ve been an interference penalty. Instead, it wasn’t called. That allowed Miller to step in and fire his third past Seattle starter Philipp Grubauer.

Was it a penalty? Maybe. I actually thought so. But Joe Micheletti called it ‘incidental contact.’ Opinions vary. No matter whether it was or not, it wasn’t called. Here’s an interesting viewpoint from Kraken captain Mark Giordano.

“There’s not much you can say about it,” the veteran defenseman told Geoff Baker in a story that appeared in The Seattle Times. “That wasn’t a breakdown or anything like that. It was just a faceoff win with a pick and they score. So, that’s about it. But other than that we played pretty hard tonight.”

“I thought we played a really good game throughout,” Giordano added. “I thought we generated a lot of shots. … We threw a lot of pucks towards [Shesterkin]. You’re not going to get more than two or three on that guy most nights. He’s a top goaltender in the league for a reason and made a lot of big saves.”

The praise for Igor Shesterkin was noteworthy. He might not be going to Vegas for the All-Star Game. But there’s little doubt about his impact on the Rangers’ season. Through 46 games, Shesterkin is 21-5-2 with a 2.10 goals-against average (GAA) and a league-leading .937 save percentage. At this point, he’s the favorite to win the Vezina followed by Juuse Saros and Andrei Vasilevskiy. To a lesser extent Freddie Andersen, Tristan Jarry and Jack Campbell.

Without the unflappable 26-year old Russian netminder, where would they be? Of course, one could debate similar merits over top defenseman Adam Fox. He missed his second straight game. They definitely can use him. He won’t be available for the final game against the Eastern Conference leading Panthers on Tuesday. Fox will become eligible to return from the injured reserve when the Rangers are back in action post break on February 15 against Boston.

For a second consecutive game, the three defense pairs went like this. Ryan Lindgren was paired with Braden Schneider. Miller stuck with regular partner Jacob Trouba. Libor Hajek and rookie Zac Jones teamed up as the third pair. Neither played over 13 minutes. But were okay throughout with Jones picking up his first point of the season on an Alexis Lafreniere goal at even strength.

If there’s an issue contributing to the five-on-five struggles, it’s the lack of forward depth. Without youngsters Kaapo Kakko and Fil Chytil, the Rangers are very top heavy. Even when they were healthy during the first half, they had a combined nine goals. Hardly enough production for third and fourth year players. Both will need to improve in the second half. Chytil is closer to returning while Kakko could be out a while.

The trio of Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin have provided the heavy lifting for the offense. Along with second center Ryan Strome and the versatile Barclay Goodrow, it’s mostly been the play of those five forwards that have contributed to wins. With Fox pacing NHL defensemen in scoring with 47 points in 44 games, you know who Gallant leans on. That’s especially true for the power play where Zibanejad joined Kreider into double digits with his 10th power play goal. Each could reach 20 by season’s end.

When you subtract Kakko and Chytil, it gets real thin up front. Lafreniere has been elevated to the top line with Zibanejad and Kreider. His ninth goal during the second period snapped a nine-game scoreless drought. The 20-year old former 2020 top pick is still figuring it out in Year Two. The positive is that his skating has looked better the last two games while moved up. The negative is his penchant for taking undisciplined penalties. Especially the one that allowed Mats Zuccarello to tie the score on Friday night. He must avoid such unnecessary penalties if he doesn’t want to ride the pine.

The astonishing thing is that Lafreniere now is tied for second with Panarin and Goodrow in even strength goals (9). Only Kreider has more with a team best 14. Zibanejad has seven along with Strome. It gets bad after Kevin Rooney, who’s been stuck on six since Dec. 7. They can’t rely on guys like Dryden Hunt, Julien Gauthier, Greg McKegg and Ryan Reaves for goal production. However, that’s not the main job description for Reaves or Hunt with both providing grit.

It would seem that Team President and GM Chris Drury will need to make an upgrade to bolster the bottom six. What would a player like Vladislav Namestnikov cost? He’s been a solid contributor for the Red Wings with 12 goals. He definitely would be an upgrade on the third line and could be used in a checking role. What’s more? He’s played here before. The 29-year old has a cap hit of $2 million on an expiring contract. Considering the history between the Rangers and Detroit GM Steve Yzerman, it’s worth exploring. It probably wouldn’t cost too much.

With bigger holes to fill in the top six (unless Kakko, Lafreniere or Chytil improve) and on the third pair (Giordano, Chiarot, Staal?), it’ll be interesting to see what the organization decides to do as we draw nearer to the March 21 trade deadline. The Rangers should get healthier thanks to a two week break. By the time they return after Tuesday’s game versus the Cats, they’ll have five weeks to assess things.

A lot can happen over that span. Will they be all in or only partially committed if a trade makes sense? I’m not as high on acquiring a Jacob Chychrun for too many assets. They’ve been burned before. What about an underrated left D like Vladislav Gavrikov? He’s signed through 2023 at an AAV of $2.8 million. It wouldn’t be cheap, but might be a better option than the overpriced Chychrun.

These are good questions to ask. Of course, no answers will be provided until the Rangers make the key decisions with their personnel. It could depend on where they feel they are. This is a good team that’s exceeded expectations up to this point. Who ever would’ve believed they’d be 29-13-4 with 62 points while being amongst the elite? As has been evident in some of their play in losses to a few of the upper echelon teams, they might not yet be quite there. Shesterkin covers up a lot of mistakes along with the heavy hitters.

Playing the expansion Kraken for the second time, the Rangers again struggled to earn a victory. When they met in Seattle, they didn’t exactly win style points. But found a way. This was eerily similar.

Despite getting outplayed and outshot 14-6 in the opening period, it was the Rangers who got the game’s first goal. It came from a familiar face on the man-advantage. With Alex Wennberg off for tripping, it took less than a minute for Trouba and Panarin to combine to set up a Zibanejad one-timer from his office at 11:46. His 17th on the power play kept his great month going. In January, Zibanejad has nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points. He would add assists 10 and 11 later for a three-point day.

With the sharp Shesterkin keeping the Kraken frustrated, that allowed Zibanejad to set up a Lafreniere goal at 4:23 of the second to increase the lead to 2-0. On a good read from Jones, he passed across for a wicked Zibanejad one-timer that rang off the goalpost. With Grubauer scrambling around, Lafreniere pounced on the rebound to put it home for number nine. His nonchalant reaction said it all. Relief.

If there’s one thing that’s been an issue, it’s the lack of attention to detail. Turnovers have been common during an up and down stretch. It took the Kraken less than three minutes later to get back within one on Jared McCann’s 18th. On the scoring play, three Rangers forwards got trapped in the Seattle zone. That allowed the Kraken to transition for a three-on-two rush with Marcus Johansson and Jordan Eberle combining to feed McCann for a wrist shot that beat Shesterkin at 7:17.

More disappointing was the lack of response. They allowed the more aggressive Kraken to grab the momentum. With only six more shots on Grubauer, the Blueshirts made life hard on Shesterkin. He stopped 10 of 11 shots in another slop fest. When both Sam Rosen and Joe Micheletti are pointing out the mistakes during the telecast, that’s usually not a good sign. Lucky for them, they have Shesterkin. He wound up making 40 saves on 42 shots in earning the game’s First Star.

Although the intensity picked up in a higher volume third period, the Blueshirts never could put away their pesky opponent. There also was the matter of the officiating. You had a first-year linesman who wouldn’t drop the puck right away. This caused confusion and lead to boos from the crowd. There also were some calls made that were questionable while others were ignored. It didn’t make sense.

In between the penalties and howling due to the delay in face-offs, the teams combined for 29 shots. Seattle again had more with a 17-12 edge. They outshot the Rangers for the game 42-24. A wide margin that wasn’t a fluke. They played harder. They really deserved a better fate.

Even though Shesterkin made some big stops, it was Grubauer who gave his side a chance at the comeback. During a four-on-four following bogus calls on Vince Dunn (hooking) and Kreider (holding) three seconds apart, Miller made a great defensive play. He cleanly stripped a player at the Rangers’ blue line and turned it into a clean breakaway. One on one with Grubauer, he was turned away by the veteran goalie who calmly blockered it into the corner.

It was also Grubauer who flat out robbed Panarin on a one-timer ticketed for the upper portion of the net. He was set up perfectly and fired in the left circle. But Grubauer was able to get the shaft of his stick on it to push it over the top of the net. Astonishingly, that was Panarin’s only shot. This after he was invisible on Henrik Lundqvist Night with also only one shot. As great a point producer as he is, the Rangers can use more shots from the Bread Man. They aren’t loaded like Florida, Tampa or Carolina.

As the Kraken continued to press for the equalizer, Zibanejad got nabbed for tripping up McCann. This was a legit call. It took away their best penalty killing forward with over three minutes left. That would prove crucial.

After failing to get anything going due to splendid work from Goodrow and Rooney, the Kraken finally lifted Grubauer for an extra attacker. Now playing two men up as the power play was set to expire, they finally were able to execute a perfect play to tie the game up.

Following a face-off win, McCann moved the puck over for Giordano on the right side. He fooled everyone by making a perfect dish for a great Yanni Gourde one-timer that went short side top inside the bar on Shesterkin. That tied the score with 68 seconds remaining. I knew they were going to tie it. Just had a feeling. It was how well they played and how lousy the Rangers were.

It sure looked like it was destined for overtime. While it might’ve been fun to watch some three-on-three, K’Andre Miller had other plans. After being foiled by Grubauer earlier in the period with a chance to ice it, he would win the game.

It was as simple as Zibanejad winning an offensive draw back to Miller. Before he wound up, Kreider bumped into an unsuspecting Sheahan who threw his hands up. No whistle. Play on. Miller had enough room to move in and fire a snapshot past Grubauer for the winner at 19:26. The goal was his first since Nov. 21.

It was nice to see a much critiqued kid get the winner in that fashion. While it was unexpected, it gave Miller a nice grin after the buzzer sounded. He got congrats from happy teammates. It was also good to see a player help Shesterkin get the win. He does so much for this team. He can’t do it alone.

If there was one thing I noticed, it was backup Alex Georgiev again giving Shesterkin a hand tap. Not cool. What is his problem? Is he that jealous of Shesterkin? He really strikes me as a weird dude. Who knows what the story is.

I’m glad Gallant called out his team for their inconsistent play. Normally, he accentuates the positives following wins. Not yesterday. He sees it. They have to get better. If not, their slip in play will start resulting in losses. It also was the right time with the Panthers on tap.

That one will be the third and final meeting. The teams split the first two. Now, they’ll settle the score at 2 Penn Plaza on Broadway. Who knows. You could see these teams meet in the playoffs. For the Rangers, that better be later.

One thing I fail to comprehend is how they’re about to wrap up the season series with the Cats and have already done so with ‘rivals’ like Vegas, Colorado, Nashville, Chicago and Arizona. They have yet to play the Pens. Only one game has been played versus the Islanders. Ditto for the Caps and Devils.

How does any of this make sense? Only the NHL.

Battle Of Hudson 3 Stars 🌟 🤩 ✨️

3rd 🌟 K’Andre Miller, NYR scored game-winner with 33.7 seconds left in regulation, team high 4 SOG, 4 hits, 3 blocks, +1 in 23:46

2nd 🌟 Igor Shesterkin, NYR 40 saves on 42 shots, 9-0 when making 40 saves or more

1st 🌟 Mika Zibanejad, NYR power play goal plus 2 🍎, 12-for-19 on draws, 6 attempts, +2 in 19:08

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Zuccarello and Wild spoil Lundqvist Night, Rangers again inconsistent in frustrating loss on tough call

Posted on January 29, 2022 by Derek
All photos taken by Derek Felix courtesy MSG Network via New York Rangers.

There will be no debate. Henrik Lundqvist Night was a rousing success. Of course it was. The highly anticipated jersey retirement of Number 30 to the rafters of Madison Square Garden lived up to the billing on the marquee.

It truly was spectacular. The Garden always gets these special nights right. The Rangers organization is to be commended on using the right touch to honor the winningest netminder in franchise history. They did it right by having the last great goalie Mike Richter kickoff the festivities followed by Sam Rosen.

Then a very emphatic speech from former teammate Kevin Weekes before Rosen handed off to the calm, cool and collected Lundqvist. He never shed a tear. He spoke eloquently and with purpose thanking everyone. He did it with the class of a King while smiling and laughing.

If only that magic moment carried over to the game. Similar to Thursday night, the game started off well. In fact, they played a very good first period to take a two-goal lead to the locker room. Instead of building on the goals scored by Barclay Goodrow (career high 10) and Chris Kreider (league-leading 31st), they forgot to play the second period.

This one was on them. For a second consecutive night, they let an opponent back in a game and it cost them. After outplaying the Wild by a good margin in an energetic opening period, the Blueshirts fell apart. Minnesota carried the play for large stretches. Their two-goal period turned around the game.

The end result was a bitter 3-2 loss at MSG. It had a gut wrenching conclusion. An apparent tying goal was waved off by ref Jon McIsaac. On a wild sequence that saw former Lundqvist pupil Cam Talbot stop Mika Zibanejad in front, both Zibanejad and Ryan Strome went for the loose puck. But as it got put in over the goal line, McIsaac had already blown the whistle to negate the tying goal with less than two seconds left in regulation.

It was his contention that the play wasn’t a goal due to Strome’s stick pushing Talbot’s pad into the net. After a video review, they upheld the call on the ice. While it was confusing due to the rule, they did put up a video of Strome making contact with Talbot. However, it also appeared that he helped sell it. Was it the right call? By the letter of the law, probably. Was it debatable? If you asked Zibanejad as one reporter tried to, he didn’t agree before declining any further comment.

Pete Blackburn of Bally Sports had the best view in his Tweet. Strome does make contact with the goalie pad of Talbot. The interesting part is the puck was not in the vicinity. It was put in afterwards by Zibanejad at the 3.1 mark following the Strome push. I guess in the end, I have to side with McIsaac. Somehow, he got it right. Despite my assertion that I thought the Rangers were robbed, he got it right.

It was definitely hard to tell watching it. Even after Rosen noticed the contact with help from the MSG production truck. As fans of this team, we get emotional. Sometimes, we see things with our hearts instead of our heads. The irony is I replied to Jamie Hersch in a kidding fashion by remarking that nobody understands the rule. Only to get a serious reply from some expert Wild fan with no sense of humor. At that point, I didn’t care. The game was over. Some fans can be pretty arrogant. It was a lost cause.

I am going to echo what coach Gerard Gallant said in the postgame. That isn’t why they lost. The bottom line is the last six periods, they haven’t been consistent enough. Not at five-on-five. Not offensively or defensively. Even having Igor Shesterkin didn’t help them beat a very good Wild team who people are sleeping on. And isn’t it poetic that old Lundqvist friend Mats Zuccarello played a big part in the Minnesota victory? He notched the tying power play goal and helped set up Frederick Gaudreau’s winner.

For all the experts who pinned the Columbus loss on Alex Georgiev, who I’m not thrilled with, defense and lack of discipline again were their undoing. Even prior to Kevin Fiala and Zuccarello scoring goals 1:29 apart in the second half of the middle stanza, you had Ryan Lindgren screw up on a pinch in that allowed Gaudreau to draw a penalty shot when rookie partner Braden Schneider held him from behind.

Igor Shesterkin stops Frederick Gaudreau on a penalty shot. Video taken by Derek Felix courtesy MSG Network.

In a fitting moment made for The Garden, Shesterkin patiently outwaited Gaudreau before easily denying his backhand in tight to keep the Rangers ahead by two at the 2:56 mark of the second. Rather than grab back the momentum after a clutch save from their Vezina candidate, they did a whole lot of nothing. Unacceptable.

Give the Wild credit. They battled hard. That included Zuccarello and Strome getting into it during a scrum in front of the benches. Strome gave Zuccarello a cross-check. The gritty Jordan Greenway responded with his own to put both players in the box back in the first period. I thought that got Minnesota going. They didn’t back off. They’re a well coached hockey team.

For those pointing to no Adam Fox, who was placed on the injured reserve which means he’ll sit out the next two games and miss the Kraken and Panthers, big deal. Good teams win without their best players. It’s the NHL. If you’re looking for an excuse, look elsewhere. This team has won without Artemi Panarin and Shesterkin. It’s up to the supporting cast to step up in the next two games before the All-Star break.

It’s why I like Gallant. He doesn’t bs. He indicated that the call on Strome was okay. It went against them. But that’s not why they lost. They put themselves in a losing position due to the inconsistencies. The Wild outshot the Rangers 19-7 in a dominant second.

The Fiala goal was the direct result of Strome failing to get the puck out. Jordie Benn forced him into a turnover by standing up at the blue line. Ryan Hartman then drew K’Andre Miller before finding a wide open Fiala for an easy one-timer past Shesterkin. On the play, Jacob Trouba left too much space and no forward recovered in time to check Fiala, who got his 12th.

Trouba had an interesting game. He was good offensively speaking. He was in on the first two goals. It was a good Strome cross-ice pass for Trouba that allowed the default top defenseman to find Goodrow for his 10th in front. A Trouba shot would later carom off Talbot allowing Kreider to pounce on a rebound to build a 2-0 lead back in the first. If only the defensive side was better. This isn’t a knock on Trouba, who’s been a tower of strength. It was that kind of game.

For all the good things they did earlier, you had the breakdown on the Fiala goal and then another undisciplined minor penalty on Alexis Lafreniere. His interference call that the pesky Hartman drew resulted in Kirill Kaprizov passing the puck across for a Zuccarello one-timer from the point that tied the game.

In a twist of evil fate, Lundqvist visited the booth to talk to Rosen and Joe Micheletti. As if to curse his own team, he was up for both the Fiala tally and then right before his close buddy Zuccarello scored, he said the kiss of death. “Don’t let this guy [Zuccarello] score.” As if he could hear him on the ice, Zuccarello scored his 13th on the power play to draw even. He’s always been a good player. Zuccarello fits in perfectly playing with the ultra talented Kaprizov and Hartman. The goal was uncanny. Even Lundqvist said he jinxed it.

The disappointing aspect of the second is it didn’t get any better. They didn’t attack enough. Lafreniere got a shot on goal that Talbot ate up from distance. The positive is when he played with Zibanejad and Kreider, Lafreniere had some good shifts. He nearly had Zibanejad for a goal. He also had a good chance to score, but missed the net. If he corrected that, he could be having a nice season.

Shesterkin made stops on Joel Eriksson Ek, Greenway and the pesky Zuccarello to keep the game even after two periods. However, he couldn’t prevent Gaudreau from getting the better of him for the game-winner at 1:49 of the third period.

A neutral zone turnover fueled a quick Wild transition. Zuccarello and Fiala combined to send Gaudreau in. This time, he let go of a wrist shot from the right circle that eluded Shesterkin. It was one he normally has. Only this time, he couldn’t bail out his sloppy teammates. It happens.

At the time, it was the very quiet second line out with third pair Zac Jones and Libor Hajek, who stayed in over recently recalled Nils Lundkvist. He looks to be further down the depth chart. I don’t believe Gallant wants to try a small third pair of Jones and Lundkvist. What does he have to lose?

I shouldn’t say the whole second line was bad. Strome set up a goal and nearly was in on the game-tying goal late. Goodrow scored again because he goes to the hard areas. He’s been a good addition. So much for the gripes from the misinformed analytics community.

Honestly, where was Artemi Panarin? I know he’s been on a roll lately. But he was all but invisible in last night’s game. He only had one shot and was minus-one in 19:26. Even on the power play, he was ineffective. He’s the top dog. In games like Friday against a playoff caliber team, the Rangers need their Bread Man to show up. I was disappointed by his game.

It wasn’t so much that they played poorly in the third. But that one mistake wound up costing them any points. With the Pens getting a point against Detroit, they moved ahead of the Rangers in the division. The Caps got a win at Dallas, who poetically retired former ’94 Stanley Cup hero Sergei Zubov. Well deserved for one of my favorite defensemen. I still am bitter over that trade Neil Smith made. Zubov only went on to a Hall Of Fame career helping the Stars win a Cup and nearly repeat. A great player. Kudos to number 56.

One thing the Wild did well was take away the middle of the ice. They played strong defensively. Even though they had eight shots in the third, the Rangers didn’t forecheck enough. I felt the lack of depth got exposed. When Rooney is your third center along with Ryan Reaves and Dryden Hunt in the top nine, that’s not a good sign. The fourth line of Greg McKegg, Julien Gauthier and Jonny Brodzinski didn’t play much. Yes. They missed Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. As much as I get on them, at least they can take regular shifts and make things happen. They’ll need both in the second half.

The Wild got 10 shots on Shesterkin in the final period. One that didn’t register was a long Hartman slapper that rang off the crossbar. It’s astonishing how well he fits in Minnesota. It’s almost like the Predators didn’t know what they had. But Nashville is also a good team. So, it worked out.

Miller fumbled the puck on one opportunity failing to shoot. He needs to be more instinctive. He’d later take a shot from distance that Talbot easily stopped. If he wants to improve his offense, he needs to think shot more. His partner Trouba has no problem firing away. He paced them with five shots in eight attempts.

They definitely missed Fox’s uncanny ability to smartly transition from defense to offense and move the puck smoothly. Of course they could’ve used him. He doesn’t lead all defensemen in scoring for nothing. Hopefully, the extra rest that likely means no trip to Vegas will be enough for him to recover for the remainder of the schedule post break.

Despite failing on the power play, the Rangers somehow got a great opportunity to force overtime. Unfortunately, McIsaac blew the whistle before Zibanejad put the puck in with seconds to spare. He had Strome for making contact with Talbot’s pads. I can’t complain.

At this point, it is what it is. For whatever reason, the Rangers rarely win these games. There’s something about jersey retirements that lead to poor play. I don’t know what it is. The fans were into it. So, you can’t blame them. Even if a drunken few sounded like amateurs interrupting Lundqvist when he spoke. God damn. Just shut up!

It will always be a memorable night. Lundqvist showed why he was such a likable star athlete. I loved Weekes referencing the stories he was told from NHL players who knew how good he was from facing him in Sweden during the lockout season of ’04-05. I also thought he showed a lot of class praising Rosen as the voice of MSG. You know it meant a lot to Sam. Weekes really was great. I hope one day he gets a job as either a GM or Team President for an NHL franchise. What a gem. Lundqvist really enjoyed what his first backup said.

I also enjoyed seeing John McEnroe present Lundqvist with quite the electric guitar. It was all Rangers colors. How about the special gift he got with all the game pucks from his 74 shutouts put together. That was cool. So too were legends Richter, Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Adam Graves presenting him with the traditional Louis Vuitton steamer trunk for luggage. You had all six alternates present him with three wine bottles by Vineyard 36.

I could go on forever on why I loved the ceremony. It wasn’t over the top. It was perfect. Lundqvist personifies calm, cool, collected and class. It’s who he is. I like the fact he admitted he wasn’t the easiest player to be around when goals were scored on him or following losses. That’s how competitive he was. I wish they could’ve won a Cup with him. They had their chances. I’m so proud of the person he is. Truly fit for a King 🤴.

Congratulations 🎊 👏 💐 to you on a wonderful career. We love you. ❤️ Thank you Number 30 for the memories. They will last forever. Cup or no Cup.

I’ll probably have more on the night later today. This went a little long. I wanted to include my thoughts on both the ceremony and the game. Lundqvist said one final thing that I really hope the current Rangers remember. They play for a great franchise in New York City. Enjoy it. Embrace the challenge. If they do, maybe we’ll finally have another Cup to celebrate. It’s a good core very capable of doing something special.

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