Devils’ road meltdown indicative of larger problems

Posted on December 3, 2021 by hasan4978

It’s basically become a yearly ritual for me to post this classic scene from Wargames whenever crap completely hits the fan for the Devils, symbolically going to DEFCON 1 is my version of pressing the panic button. And make no mistake, there’s real reason to panic in Newark now after the Devils got popped in their third straight game, and have only won two of their last ten games overall. Yes the Devils are still technically at NHL .500 but come on now…they’re well off any playoff pace (playoffs? PLAYOFFS?!) with a goal differential of -11 and sinking fast. Losing by a combined score of 18-8 in their last three games is just inexcusable, and though the Wild and Sharks are apparently good teams this year, these games shouldn’t exactly be mismatches on the level of Rutgers going to Ohio State in college football here.

Even worse than the overall results are the fact this team continues to find different ways to lose – as losing teams will do. If it isn’t the power play letting us down, it’s the goaltending…or the coaching…or the offense…or the defense. Frequently it’s most or all of the above at once. I haven’t even needed to see the last two games to get annoyed, well I did turn on the third period tonight but this team’s already got me back in the apathy zone. Just like Lucy with Charlie Brown and the football, they make you think maybe this year’s gonna be different with another good early start, then the inevitable crash comes and you feel like a blockhead for even entertaining the thought this year’s gonna be different.

I’m gonna start my post-Thanksgiving carving up of of the team with someone I don’t want to carve up, and that’s the head coach. Make no mistake, I was a Lindy Ruff fan going back to his days in Buffalo. As such, I was more supportive of the hire than many Devils fans. But you have to wonder about the coaching in general when the team continually gets off to poor starts in games, it’s become an alarming trend in particular during this ten-game stretch. Other than the Philly win last Sunday you have…fall behind 2-0 to Minnesota, 3-0 in Nashville, 4-0 to the Sharks, 3-0 in Minnesota and 3-0 tonight in Winnipeg (shockingly rebounding to take the lead early in the second before the roof fell in, again). Even one of our two wins in the last ten games required us to fall behind 2-0 in Tampa. It’s hard to rebound when you continually go down by multiple goals early, especially when your power play sucks and you don’t exactly have the best offense in the world.

And someone’s gotta get the memo to Lindy that this is 2021, not 1985 or even 2003. First of all, there’s no excuse for the head coach to give a fourth-liner like Mike McLeod fifteen minutes of icetime a night. But he wins faceoffs! Who cares, you now literally have three centers on the roster you’re hoping to build the franchise around. Yet we’ve been giving Jack Hughes shifts on the wing since his return from IR, and now tonight even shifted Dawson Mercer and Nico Hischier to wing on and off. Yet McLeod (no goals and four assists with a -6 in 21 games) still gets his fifteen minutes of icetime a night, and got just thirty seconds less than Hughes did tonight, in a game we were trailing almost from puck drop. You would think being behind would lead you to play your offensive players more but nah, gotta win those faceoffs and match lines! Not to mention putting guys on the wing who aren’t used to playing wing is just asking for trouble, Hughes certainly looked like a fish out of water in his first couple games off IR playing wing while Mercer was a -4 with no points tonight. Coincidence? I doubt it.

Also, the coach needs to get it through his old-school skull that no-talent goons do not protect players anymore, and the proof of that should have been the second game of the season when Mason Geertsen being dressed did not stop Jack Hughes from being drilled along the boards and taken out for two months. Geertsen’s not even a good goon but the head coach continues to find excuses to play him, whether it’s throwing Marian Studenic into a black hole after some solid early-season games, or scratching Yegor Sharangovich and Janne Kuokkanen (granted, both probably deserved it) and using that as excuses to keep Geertsen in the lineup. It may seem like a little thing to argue about a fourth liner’s icetime, but in stretches of six games in ten days, it can make a big difference in managing icetime and juggling lines when you have a forward who can’t take a regular shift.

I’d even take the coach to task for his goaltending rotation – i.e. just handing Mackenzie Blackwood back his job when Jonathan Bernier was getting it done early in the season and letting Bernier cool off on the bench (starting just one game in the next three weeks after a 4-1 start) while overplaying Blackwood, and it hasn’t served either goalie well. But at a certain point both goalies just gotta make a bleeping save too. Goaltending was supposed to be a strength of the team with Blackwood and the vet Bernier finally giving us a 1-2 tandem but Blackwood’s given up four or more goals in three of his last six starts, including nine in his last two, while Bernier’s gone from god to clod giving up 4, 3 and 6 goals in his only three starts since early November. Quite simply he gave the team zero chance to win tonight with multiple soft goals allowed and deserved the hook after two periods, but the staff’s gotta manage their goalies a bit better too.

I’m certainly not going to let the players off the hook with this mess…if you’re going to give the keys to the franchise to the young guns then it’s only fair that they’re the first guys under scrutiny when the team continually comes out dead-legged in games. It’s harder to get on Hughes than Nico given the fact Hughes missed two months, but again we’re gonna have to see elite stretches from him that last longer than 7-8 games before he starts living up to his recent extension, or his hype. Don’t give me advanced stats or pretty moves, show me tangible production. Still, to me Nico’s the bigger problem at the moment. When you’ve been getting first-line center icetime (19:24) a night and you have three goals in 22 games, that’s a big problem. I don’t want to hear about his advanced stats either or all the chances he creates that wingers miss, heck that’s all the more reason why Nico needs to bring more scoring to the table. I understand he does all the little things well, but having a less durable version of Travis Zajac isn’t exactly what anyone had in mind when he signed his seven-year extension in two years ago. And it’s always easy to go the scapegoat route with the captain when things aren’t going well, but that’s fair game too when this team’s early-game jump is so conspicuously lacking, and the losing culture continues to persist despite vet additions in the offseason and a vet head coach.

As if the production from our #1OA’s wasn’t underwhelming enough, the powerless play continues to be a thorn in this team’s side. Sure they actually scored a power play goal tonight – against the 31st ranked PK in the sport – but they have a long way to go just to get back to being respectable after a month where they barely scored more goals than they gave up on the man advantage. At least our own PK’s been somewhat respectable lately but the D as a whole, not so much. For all the crap the goalies deserve for leaking goals, the shot totals and chances have also skyrocketed over this stretch. Ty Smith’s been certifiably awful this year (a -11 in 18 games with just five points), to the point where he may well deserve a demotion and Damon Severson, bro if you want a big contract after next year you’re gonna have to do better than six points and a -9 in 22 games.

I’m not even attempting a chalk recap of the last two games, what’s the point? Thankfully I only watched one period tonight and none of the previous two games, mainly because this season already is getting that ‘same ol same ol’ feeling to it (plus I actually wasn’t able to watch the Shark game, though I did see the third period on replay later) but that hasn’t prevented me from being annoyed over another season going up in smoke with no end in sight. I won’t be able to avoid the three-ring circus Monday, in what’s basically as close to a must-win as you can have in December against Ottawa. With any luck maybe the coach will stop forcing our top centers to the wing just to get scoreless McLeod and Jesper Boqvist more icetime, that’d be a nice start at least. More competitive first periods would be just peachy too…start giving me a reason to watch you guys again beyond the games I’m more or less obligated to be at.

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Blueshirts Flying high following latest win over Flyers, Kakko stays hot and Shesterkin stands tall, time to get rid of Georgiev

Posted on December 2, 2021 by Derek

One positive characteristic about Gerard Gallant is he tells it like it is. Following a the latest win, the coach was honest in his assessment of the Rangers’ 4-1 victory over the stumbling Flyers last night.

They played great up until Dryden Hunt was called for a charging major and game misconduct early in the second period. By that point, Chris Kreider had made the score 3-0 when he converted his team-leading 16th goal of the season thanks to some great passing from Kaapo Kakko and Mika Zibanejad at 34 seconds into the second.

Over a minute later, Hunt who scored his third goal in a dominant first period, closed fast on a prone Justin Braun to send him into the boards and down. He was cut on the play. I thought it was going to be a boarding major. Instead, they ruled it a five-minute major for charging and ejected Hunt.

What I didn’t notice was that Hunt didn’t leave his feet. That’s why Gallant disagreed with the call. He took up for his player and explained it well after the game. Hunt plays a hard-nosed gritty style. It’s nice to see him get rewarded offensively. His goal in the first came off a good Artemi Panarin pass. Hunt made a strong move and beat Carter Hart for a 2-0 lead.

Even if Gallant had a point on the major penalty the Rangers killed off, he was correct in his assessment about the game. To their credit, the Flyers got seven shots on Igor Shesterkin during the five-minute power play. They did everything but score due to Shesterkin, who was the Rangers’ best penalty killer.

Chants of “Igor, Igor!”, filled the home arena for the number one goalie. The heir apparent to Henrik Lundqvist continues to grow in stature at MSG. Even though he doesn’t speak much English, the 25-year old Russian has a dry wit. During the postgame, when asked about the chants, he said it gives him strength, but he has to keep from crying at the love to chuckles.

His best saves came during a sequence when the Flyers applied pressure in the later stages of the big power play. On a point-blank chance, Shesterkin got just enough of a shot with a stick to push it off the crossbar. Playing with Jacob Trouba’s stick, he then denied two more bids with tremendous blocker saves to cheers.

That kind of clutch goaltending illustrates why people are talking about Shesterkin around the NHL. In 17 games, he’s 12-3-2 with a 2.15 goals-against-average (GAA) and .935 save percentage. Those numbers aren’t even the best at the quarter mark. But when you look at what he’s doing while getting little to no help from Alex Georgiev (more on him later), you could make a case that Shesterkin is at the top of the list for the Vezina. If Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid weren’t in another category along with the ageless Alex Ovechkin, Shesterkin could be a dark horse MVP candidate.

Even in a period where the Flyers controlled the play due to the momentum they got off the extended power play, they never could break the concentration of Shesterkin. He stopped 15 of 16 shots in the second to keep the Blueshirts ahead by two. The only Flyers player to bear him was Morgan Frost, who converted in front after beating Alexis Lafreniere to the net.

Despite not being able to seize back control, the Rangers had a workman like mentality in a no frills third that eventually saw them skate without two forwards due to Barclay Goodrow taking a puck to the face. Luckily, Gallant provided an update by indicating he was okay. Playing with only 10 forwards, he mixed and matched to replace Hunt on the second line. Kevin Rooney and Lafreniere were used after Goodrow left the game.

In a game where Adam Fox wasn’t too good for a rare change, it didn’t matter. A Frost hi-sticking minor put the Rangers on an early man-advantage. After the first unit did nothing, out came the second unit. In a welcome change, they combined for their first power play goal to open the scoring.

Nils Lundkvist combined with Kakko to set up Jacob Trouba for a good one-timer from the point that beat Hart at 3:41. It was the third goal in four games for Trouba, who was the best defenseman last night. Interestingly, he already is up to four goals and nine points in 21 games. Last season, he had 12 points (2-10-12) over 38 contests. Gallant has been pleased with Trouba, who said the second unit didn’t press before finally getting one on the power play.

With the Flyers giving up plenty of room, that allowed Fox to move up the puck for Panarin, who gained the zone. He then found an open Hunt, who cut to the net and beat Hart short side for a two-goal lead at 9:32.

It easily could’ve been more. But a bad miss took a goal off the board. On what was a good play with Fox involved, the whistle blew before the Rangers scored. It was ruled an offside. However, none of the players believed it. The replay on MSG clearly showed that the play was onside. Unfortunately, you can’t challenge such a call. So, it remained 2-0. How the two linesmen and two refs missed it I don’t know.

In the same period that saw them outshoot the Flyers 15-11, Panarin hit the goalpost. Hart also made a big save to keep it within range. He was really left by himself due to the pitiful Flyers defense. Let’s just say it looked familiar. Alain Vigneault coaches them. They are down a lot of players, but have enough to play better like they did following the Hunt major. It was their seventh consecutive loss.

To start the second, the Blueshirts turned to some fancy passing that would’ve made the Harlem Globetrotters proud. After just missing on a scoring chance, Kakko took q cross-ice feed from Mika Zibanejad before centering for a quick Kreider diving snapshot that went inside the post to make it 3-0 at 34 seconds. How that happened so quickly in a new period was inexplicable. Terrific finish by the sizzling Kreider, who remains third in goal scoring trailing only Draisaitl and Ovechkin.

Although they didn’t convert on the five-minute power play, the Flyers played much better down three. They finally got on the board a few minutes afterwards. On a good passing play, Claude Giroux and Cam Atkinson combined to set up Frost in front for his first of the season. On the play, Trouba was occupied with a Flyer while Frost beat Lafreniere for the goal. That cut it to 3-1 with 10:23 remaining in the second.

They had other chances. But Shesterkin was there to keep them from making it more interesting. He was the Rangers’ best player in the lopsided period that saw them only register five shots on Hart. He finished with 33 saves to earn the game’s First Star. Thirteen came with the team shorthanded.

Although the third wasn’t a Picasso, the Rangers did what they needed to. As Trouba put it in the postgame, they turned it into a boring period. Sometimes, when your down a couple of skaters, that formula works best. Don’t forget the five-day layoff in between games. Something he referenced. Trouba said it was strange not playing. They have had two games postponed due to COVID hitting the Senators and Islanders. Both will be made up.

Aside from killing the remainder of a K’Andre Miller cross-checking minor to start the third, the Rangers also had to kill off two minutes for a rare Fox delay of game penalty in the final five minutes. Special teams was again a difference. They went 1-for-2 on the power play while the Flyers were 0-for-3.

One thing Gallant was pleased with was how his team defended. He liked how they took away time and space from the Flyers down the stretch. They effectively neutralized the Flyers. Shots finished 8-7 Rangers in a more defensive minded period.

On some sheer hustle with under a minute to play, Panarin took away the puck and scored his sixth unassisted into a vacated Flyers net. It was one of those shifts where Panarin put the extra effort in. Although he had two points which was nice, something is missing.

He hasn’t been the same player since Russia Gate. He also avoids contact more. Is that PTSD from the Tom Wilson incident? No clue. But when the game’s intensify next year, they need Panarin to be more physically engaged. He still leads the team with 23 points (6-17-23). It’s not as dominant.

In a game highlighted by Kakko picking up two more points (helpers) to continue his good stretch, there was something else I didn’t notice. Following the win, teammates congratulated Shesterkin. That usually means plenty of hugs. Except for one.

I’m not one to try to read too much into anything. But the look on Georgiev during the postgame celebration isn’t one of joy. Neither was his quick hand slap with Shesterkin. Normally, goalies are very close.

We’ve seen this over the years. Mike Richter had a good relationship with Glenn Healy. Henrik Lundqvist always was extremely close with his backups which included current Wild starter Cam Talbot and Carolina backup Antti Raanta. He treated Georgiev well and then handled himself with grace when Shesterkin took the mantle with Georgiev backing up mostly.

You’d think Georgiev would be a bit classier. This isn’t a good look for him. Neither was the stuff that came out last season with Tony DeAngelo. Former GM Jeff Gorton and Team President John Davidson went out of their way to take his side after the skirmish with DeAngelo. Maybe he was right all along. Despite how badly it ended, he remained a popular player with former teammates.

I’m not sure that’s the case for Georgiev, who’s been awful. He hasn’t been the same player since then. His play is very unsteady. It’s why Gallant has given Shesterkin the bulk of the starts so far. At the current pace, he’s going to be around 65 to 70 games.

Is it manageable? He’s never played over 39 in a season dating back to the KHL. Last season, Shesterkin played 35 games. As long as he can remain healthy, there shouldn’t be an issue. However, we don’t know how he’ll do playing nearly double the amount of games. He looks good.

There definitely is an issue with Georgiev, who made a trade request last off-season. Chris Drury shopped him with no success. He wants out. His body language isn’t great. His confidence isn’t high. Neither is his value.

I feel the Rangers need to cut ties with him. Keith Kinkaid has played well in Hartford. He’s a good team guy who doesn’t think he should be the starter. I’d rather have a player who wants to be here. If Georgiev is so good, then trade him to the Sabres. They’re starved for goaltending. I don’t care if it’s a sixth round pick. It’s time.

Finally, a quick plug. Sean McCaffrey has a great Rangers blog that is always entertaining. He recently attended the first game at UBS Arena won by the Rangers. He gave a full review and then had a Report Card on our team. While we don’t always see eye to eye on everything, it’s worth a look.

Also of note, Stan Fischler was in attendance at the game last night. The Hockey Maven has covered the sport for eight decades. A legendary writer whose books are excellent, Fischler is finally being recognized for his work. He will enter the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame with Paul Holmgren and Peter McNab this month.

It’s a well deserved honor for Stan. I interned for him at the beginning of the 21st century. That was a life changing experience. It was always a pleasure to be part of The Fischler Report which astonishingly enough is still published. He lives with his grandkids in Israel. What I admire about him is his enthusiasm and passion. He truly loves what he does.

At 89 years young, Fischler is a remarkable person. I wouldn’t have gotten to work for MSG working the Devils production truck where I met great people including the legendary Doc Emrick along with the classy Chico Resch. I wouldn’t have ever stepped foot at ESPN twice to work as a Remote Production NHL researcher. That was a great experience.

This is a man who’s done so much for so many. If there were more quality people like Stan, the world would be a better place. He had a good sense of humor. Those production meetings were fun. He would start with a joke that kept things light. I’m glad the Rangers recognized him last night. Congrats to Stan!

Normally, I do a three stars here. I’m going to leave that for another game. I picked Shesterkin First Star followed by Kakko and Panarin. Trouba was named a star by the media. Good for him.

The Sharks have been a pleasant surprise so far. They still have Logan Couture, who remains one of my favorite players. Timo Meier is off to a good start. Brent Burns still patrols the blue line, but isn’t as productive. Neither is Erik Karlsson although he scored his fourth goal in a recent win over the Devils.

Keep an eye on Staten Island native Kevin Labanc on the power play. James Reimer has assumed the starter duties and played well. They visit the Islanders tonight before facing the Rangers Friday. A back-to-back. Following that one, the Rangers host the Blackhawks Saturday night. Start time is 8 PM. Interesting. They’ll then visit Chicago on Tuesday before hosting Colorado on my birthday.

That’s all for now. A bit late with this game story. But I was tired last night after watching the final episode of The Sinner. What a great show. If you never watched it on USA Network, I highly recommend it. Bill Pullman was terrific as Harry Ambrose over the four seasons. It’s got a lot of mystery, intrigue and suspense. If you have On Demand, you can re-watch the final season in entirety.

Until next time, this is Derek Felix signing off. Peace.

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Devils’ Tuesday was more productive off-ice than on it

Posted on December 1, 2021 by hasan4978

For one day and one day only it feels irrelevant that the Devils put up another stinker at home, this time losing 5-2 to the Sharks in a game where they were down four after two periods and despite a third period where they showed some life, a game they were never truly within striking distance. It probably helped my mood that I was at a trivia night with friends as opposed to wasting my time watching last night’s dud, even if I wasn’t able to sell my tickets at all. At least I didn’t have to waste the $7 on parking – though Sunday night I was able to park on the street and save the minimal fare then as well. It’s certainly concerning that the team’s only won two of its last seven games with a tricky back-to-back in Minnesota and Winnipeg coming up this weekend but I’ll harp on this team’s level of play more in my next blog if things don’t improve.

To be fair, last night the story for the Devils was off ice, and it was two-fold though both parts involving the same individual. First, word came out in the morning that franchise center Jack Hughes was indeed returning to the lineup last night after missing the previous seventeen games with a shoulder injury.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1465727490698227720?s=20

With Hughes’ return, the Devils are finally as close as they’re going to be to having a full lineup this season, given the hip injury with Miles Wood is rumored to be a season-ender. There are no excuses left up front for what so far has been an inconsistent offense, and a poor power play. Hughes himself recognizes this with a leader-like quote after last night’s debacle:

Nice to see some accountability from within and without after a poor performance on the ice, it looks as if Lindy Ruff did his best Herb Brooks impression at practice today, saying (among other things) that if they don’t work hard during the game they’ll practice hard. More practice is all well and good but sometimes better schemes would help too, specifically on the power play. Even the line management was questionable last night with the staff wanting to lighten the load on Hughes by starting him at wing in his first game back.

Anyway, back to the better news – as if Hughes’ return wasn’t enough excitement for player, team and fans for one afternoon, word came down late in the day that the Devils had reached an agreement with their 20-year old center on a long-term extension for eight years and $64 million (an $8 million AAV).

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1465802092652773378?s=20

It’s kind of ironic that the Devils managed to couple news of an extension with Hughes’ return to the lineup just several months after Nico Hischier’s own return to the lineup off a long injury was linked to the announcement of him being named captain that same day. Also ironic that the team lost both games with dud performances, so maybe it’s a good thing we have the captaincy settled with both players signed until close to the end of the decade, since the good news days off the ice tend to lead to letdowns on the ice.

There isn’t really much to critique about this extension, obviously you would have liked to have seen some more production from Hughes on the ice first but last season’s COVID-riddled disaster and this season’s early shoulder injury made that near impossible. So basically, GM Tom Fitzgerald had to take a leap of faith and hope the team’s most recent #1 overall developed into the top-line center many believe he will be. There was no world where signing a bridge deal would have worked for the Devils – either he would have way outperformed the bridge deal and cost us even more down the road (assuming we’d be able to keep him once he got closer to FA), or if he didn’t outperform the bridge deal it would be bad news for the franchise long-term regardless.

Like it or not, when you have two #1 overalls that are 22 and 20 years old respectively, the future of your franchise is pretty much tied to their success whether they’re on bridge deals or long-term contracts. You can’t really argue with the order of the Devils’ biggest money contracts with their best player Dougie Hamilton having the highest AAV with $9 million, then Hughes at $8, then Nico at $7. Plus as any Devil fan who’s been burned by the Scott Niedermayer defection would know, you also have to consider the Hughes brother factor since the paranoia would have been off the charts if Jack got to UFA before brother Quinn.

All signing Hughes did was push even more chips to the middle of the table in banking the next several years on the development of Jack and Nico. Sure, Dawson Mercer looks like a keeper who may well get his own mega extension in a couple of years, and goalie Mackenzie Blackwood’s certainly important to this team’s future as well but by the same token goalies are almost never a sure thing (though Blackwood’s been more consistent this year). Plus as awesome as Mercer’s been, he’s been helped by not needing to be the #1 guy at the start of his career the way Nico and Jack both had to be right off the hop. If Hughes and Nico both develop into the players we need them to be, this team’s future is certainly bright. If they don’t, we’ll have bigger problems than the combined $15 million per year on their contracts.

As if Fitzy didn’t have a busy enough week already with the Hughes signing, came word today that recent first rounder Shakir Mukhamadullin signed an entry-level deal with the understanding he’ll stay in the KHL the rest of this season on a loan deal. You always worry about Russian players eventually deciding to stay in the KHL so it’s always good when they take the next step toward playing in the NHL, and given he won’t even turn 20 until next month he still has plenty of time to develop in the team’s system.

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Devils feast on the Flyers to close holiday weekend

Posted on November 29, 2021 by hasan4978

It’s only been a few days since my last blog but there’s been a bit of Devils news since then. First and foremost, after coach Lindy Ruff called Jack Hughes’ imminent return from a shoulder injury close last week, he modified it to ‘very close’ a few days later. So seemingly our top center’s return is days, not weeks away at this point – and also not a moment too soon after the Devils lost five of six heading into last night’s weird 7 PM Sunday start against the Flyers. Also making a different kind of return was Nathan Bastian, claimed off of waivers from Seattle just before Thanksgiving. Although he only had three goals and ten points in 41 games last year, the affable fourth-line banger remains popular inside and outside the locker room, and the celebration of his return after getting taken in the expansion draft this summer is one of the few things I’ve seen universal agreement on by Devils fans in recent years.

On the negative side, another thing Devil coaches, players and fans were pretty much in agreement on was the fact that Friday’s 4-2 loss in Nashville just wasn’t a good enough effort by any standard. Really the scoreline flattered us considering that our second goal came in junktime the last few seconds of the game. If it wasn’t for the Devils having lost four of five already before the Nashville game, I would have been a little more willing to excuse that lack of effort given that a day-after-Thanksgiving road trip to Nashville for a 6 PM start isn’t exactly ideal. Still, when you’re slumping you have a little bit less margin for eating schedule losses without a fight. Coach Ruff certainly wasn’t happy after Friday’s game:

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1464412085253771268?s=20

Given that backdrop, Sunday night’s showdown with the Flyers was key and not just because they’re a division rival in a similar position in the standings. I said in my last blog I wasn’t going to this game but that was before I wound up making plans for Tuesday night, so I went to the game last night after all – though I wasn’t all that enthusiastic about it through the first period. Maybe it was the weird start time with a weeknight-type crowd, the team’s recent poor run of results or having already invested time listening/watching to the Jets football game earlier in the day. More likely it was some combination of all three that led to me feeling a bit blase early, having NHL games on the same day in a market with an NFL team isn’t ideal for fans of teams in both sports (even in a season where the locals are both out of it, you still find reasons to watch 1 of 16 games) but sometimes unavoidable.

Still, a 7 PM start on a Sunday? My friend Rudy (who sits in a section almost directly on the other side of the arena from me) seemed surprised by the weeknight-looking crowd, I wasn’t really, particularly with how problematic it was for me to finally sell my extra seat. Especially with people going back home after a holiday weekend. Even going through the motions a bit myself, it was hard not to get juiced for the early start the Devils got off to when the unflappable Dougie Hamilton got the home side on the board at 5:07 of the first, and just moments after ringing a shot off the crossbar! Hamilton’s deflection of a Andreas Johnsson feed had some special meaning for the Devils’ best player:

I haven’t known that many people who’ve had to deal with cancer myself other than my arena friend Kristi who usually sits in the lower bowl, but hasn’t been coming to games this season (she’s had other health issues related to all of the chemo and other treatments she’s had for her previous cancer). I do think of someone like her last night and hope things are getting a little better at least. I’m sure we’ve all either known someone firsthand or secondhand if we haven’t had to deal with cancer itself, so it’s always good when the NHL or any league does what it can to raise awareness and help charity. I actually kind of wish the NHL would let players wear some of the specialized equipment they wear during practice in a game. God knows we have to deal with thirteen games in our new black jerseys, we could afford to have one with the purple cancer jerseys, and different masks for goalies like Mackenzie Blackwood’s custom-made that got shown on the jumbotron but was only worn during the pregame skate.

Back to the game, Hamilton’s goal really was the only highlight for the Devils in the first as the Flyers took a little control of the game back the rest of the period, and again made a monkey out of our clown-show power play after Scott Laughton’s shorthanded goal tied the game. For the entire month of November the powerless play is 4-37 (10.8%) and has given up three shorthanded goals. So basically our PP is a net of plus one for the entire month. If this were the NFL, Mark Recchi’s seat would be getting hotter by the day. I guess we’ll see if the PP improves with Hughes back, it almost has to improve from those numbers but will it improve enough to get out of ‘among the worst 3-5 in the NHL’ territory? Somehow I doubt it.

I got more into the game from the second period on though, helped in no small part by Johnsson’s early goal that put the Devils back in front, and once again moments after missing a golden opportunity when Nico Hischier sprung him for a breakaway and Johnsson got stopped, then put the rebound over the net. Fortunately, new best friend Jesper Bratt found Johnsson in front after keeping the puck in the zone, and Johnsson beat Martin Jones high to give the Devils back the lead at 1:47. This time the Devils maintained territorial control for much of the middle frame, but couldn’t quite put the hammer down and the score remained 2-1 after two.

After the second period I wound up going to the other side of the arena to see Rudy and his sister Tiffany and sat with them for most of the third period, it was only the second time I’d seen him and the first time I’d seen her since the pandemic since I didn’t go to games last year, and for one reason or another (some of my lower-bowl seats, and them not being there for most of the games I was in the upper level) I hadn’t gotten to see them much yet this season. Fortunately, it wound up being a good period to hang out with friends – although it got off to another bumpy start in part due to a referee who didn’t really make an attempt to avoid a Pavel Zacha clearance that wound up right on the stick of Laughton in front, and he fed Joel Farabee on a bang-bang play to tie the game and had the coach steaming, he referenced the ref not getting out of the way two different times during his postgame presser. Honestly I didn’t even realize it was as bad as it was until I saw the replay now, that actually looked intentional it was so bad.

Despite the game being 2-2 and the Devils failing on another couple of power plays during the third (one that looked competent, one that didn’t), they finally started getting the breaks their play in the last two periods deserved. A Flyer turnover led to another piece of Johnsson and Bratt magic on a two-on-one, this time Bratt scoring to give the Devils back the lead at 11:57. Then a couple minutes later came a bit of feel-good magic, when a pretty Hamilton feed found Bastian alone in front for a nice welcome home goal in his second game since coming back to the Devils.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1465145964700778496?s=20

After an early goalie pull brought on a 6-on-5, Johnsson’s empty-net attempt had eyes and found its mark from nearly 200 feet away for the clinching goal, making the game 5-2 and giving Johnsson an amazing two goal, two assist night. Despite the powerless play and some early frustration, the team got an all-important two points and got one game closer to Hughes’ return with a full-ish lineup, or at least as full as the lineup will get without Miles Wood.

Devils Three Stars:

  1. Andreas Johnsson (two goals, two assists, +5)
  2. Jesper Bratt (goal, two assists, +4)
  3. Dougie Hamilton (goal, assist, +2 and team-leading 10 SOG)
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With no game due to Islanders postponement, Rangers look ahead to Wednesday, the face-off issue and center concern

Posted on November 28, 2021 by Derek

In a move that should’ve been made sooner, the Islanders announced yesterday that they’ve postponed games through November 30. Leave it to the NHL to wait too long.

With the Islanders finally getting some time off due to the COVID-19 outbreak that’s hit their team, that means no game for the Rangers tonight. So, no rematch with the crosstown rival on Sunday. Disappointing for fans because there’s nothing better than a home and home series with your bitter nemesis. What better way to conclude Thanksgiving Weekend. Boo.

Instead, The Garden is empty. No hockey will be played this weekend at 33rd and 8th. The Rangers get extra time off to prepare for their first game against the Flyers on Wednesday, December 1. A new month to see if they can keep up the momentum. That’s four days off until they host another hated rival at MSG.

Obviously, the way they’ve been going, who wants the team to have a layoff? Not when things are going well. They’ve established an identity under coach Gerard Gallant. A harder team to play against with four lines and more grit and toughness, the Blueshirts won 13 of their first 20 games. At 13-4-3, the good start is exactly what the doctor ordered.

With extra days off, there’s nothing they can do except work on some things in practice like face-offs. An area they need to improve if they want to be successful over the long haul. At the moment, they rank 31st out of 32 teams in face-off percentage (45.3).

That won’t be good enough to get where they want to go next year. So much of puck possession is controlling the face-off. We’ve seen opponents possess the puck more which leads to more offensive zone time. Something Gallant would prefer to see less of. Ditto for losing key defensive zone draws that can lead to goals against such as the one Boston executed on Friday.

The concern is that top center Mika Zibanejad has gotten worse. His face-off percentage has dipped under 50 percent the last three seasons. At least he was over 49 percent for both ’18-19 and ’19-20. His ’21 season saw the win percentage drop to 46.3. Whether you want to attribute that to COVID issues which slowed him down the first two months, go ahead. Currently at 48.1, he needs to be better. They’re counting on him.

Ryan Strome is even worse. Admittedly, he’s had some struggles in the face-off dot. Right now, the key second line pivot is a pitiful 41.6. He’s won 92 and lost 129. That won’t get it done. You can’t have your top two centers that the team depends on be so unreliable. The good news is there’s only one way to go but up for Strome, who’s been getting it done offensively.

Filip Chytil is in his fourth year. The third line center has had some better recent showings on face-offs. In fact, he was the Rangers’ best against the second ranked Bruins, winning six of ten. He also won five in two other games. Overall, the 22-year old is 42.3 percent (55-and-75). Last season, he finished at a career high 42.8. Prior to that, he was under 40 percent. He’s still learning. I’m still not sure he’s best suited at center.

By adding veteran Barclay Goodrow in the off-season, Team President and GM Chris Drury got a quality depth player who’s versatile enough to play center and take draws. While he’s seen some time at the wing, Gallant recently shifted him back to the middle. Goodrow is anchoring the fourth line. Thus far, he’s gone 81-and-96 (45.8). He’s fared better there before. We’ll see what Gallant decides.

Interestingly, former Devil Kevin Rooney has the best face-off win percentage. He’s at 50.7 percent having gone 71 up and 69 down. He’s also contributed offensively with five goals. One of former GM Jeff Gorton’s best signings, Rooney continues to excel in a fourth line/penalty killing role. A solid player, he’s someone Drury should consider re-signing. Given how much salary they have committed to ’22-23, that remains to be seen. Especially with Strome in limbo.

The one potential problem for the team is at center. Having signed Zibanejad for an average of $8.5 million long-term and Adam Fox at $9.5 million AAV, it could be tough to keep Strome. If he is gone after the season, what’s their plan? Even though he’s made strides, Chytil has four points so far. Not enough production to believe he can replace Strome. Both Goodrow and Rooney are support players best suited for the bottom six.

Unless puck possession magnet Kaapo Kakko can move to center which is extremely hard due to all the extra responsibility, the center issue isn’t going away. Ditto for face-offs. An area that’s plagued this team for what feels like an eternity. In reality, it’s only been the past few seasons. They must do a better job. It isn’t only the center’s responsibility. The wingers have to help out. It’s a T-E-A-M EFFORT.

The Rangers are good enough to compete with fringe teams that’ll be on the bubble. In a best-of-seven series, they’ll be hard-pressed to have true success against a Florida, Carolina, Tampa Bay or Toronto. All are stronger at center and win face-offs. They are good examples of puck possession teams who can create offense.

Let’s say they do reach the postseason. What defines success? Is it making the playoffs and winning a round? That would be a good step for a team that has enough proven vets to get there. What if they lose a hard fought seven game series? Is that considered a good season?

At the moment, that’s a tough question to answer. It won’t be provided until much later in the season. As good a start as they’ve had, it hasn’t been perfect. They are in good early position thanks to Igor Shesterkin, who’s bailed out the team in several wins. They’ll need more offense from Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin. Goal production.

Twenty games doesn’t make a season. It has been very enjoyable to see them win consistently. We know the schedule will become harder. It always does as the year moves on. Let’s see where they are by February. That’s a good measuring stick. It could determine what moves Drury makes at the trade deadline.

For now, we’ll enjoy the hockey being played. Unfortunately, we have to patiently wait for Wednesday, Dec. 1 to come. Hopefully, they’ll provide fans with Chanukah gelt and Christmas presents.

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The fallout from the sideshow between Panarin and Marchand overshadows reckless play by McAvoy

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Derek

A day later, all the talk is centered around Artemi Panarin and Brad Marchand. Apparently, the Bruins’ star left wing said something that set Panarin off between the benches.

While Marchand sarcastically joked afterwards that Panarin didn’t like what he had for Thanksgiving dinner, the normally under control 30-year old superstar flipped out. As has been well documented, he angrily tossed his glove at Marchand on the Bruins bench.

It was exactly what he wanted. Trash talk is part of sports. Allegedly, The Rat went too far. When asked by reporters about it, Panarin said that Marchand crossed the line by personally attacking him. His reaction resulted in a $5,000 fine from NHL Player Safety today.

If he did push the buttons of Panarin by saying something about Russia, I get it. However, throwing a glove at Marchand makes no sense with the game decided. This is the latest example of Marchand getting underneath the skin of a player. He relishes it.

Should Panarin have received a fine for his reaction? No. It’s unsportsmanlike conduct, which is in the NHL rulebook. That is sufficient. It pales in comparison to Tom Wilson jumping Pavel Buchnevich last season and punching him in the head.

It seems hypocritical of the Department of Player Safety to assess the identical fine to Panarin for that shenanigans while Wilson got off easy. Like I said in last night’s game story, the league can’t be taken seriously. They don’t protect players enough. If they did, Wilson would’ve received a suspension last year and P.K. Subban would’ve as well for his repeated illegal slew foots with the most recent one ending the season for Sammy Blais.

In some cases, fining a player isn’t enough. It allows them to get a slap on the wrist. Unacceptable. They say they care about player safety. I don’t see it. There’s no consistency.

Is it okay for Charlie McAvoy not to receive at least a fine for his reckless play on Kevin Rooney? He stuck out his leg and slew footed Rooney, who could’ve been seriously hurt in the final minute. His tripping minor drew an immediate response from both Adam Fox and Barclay Goodrow, who cross-checked McAvoy. The right reaction to such a cheap play.

https://twitter.com/chris_onli_one/status/1464627053689507841?t=g9RHfFABvILS1jLk1jQ8Yw&s=19

You have to ask why McAvoy is allowed to get away with that. Even if he has a squeaky clean reputation, it was a dangerous play. He should’ve been fined the $5,000 that they took out of Panarin’s hefty wallet.

Instead, he got nothing. Why? Because Rooney popped right back up and was okay. It’s ridiculous. The same Player Safety fined Andrei Svechnikov $5,000 for kneeing Scott Laughton in yesterday’s Hurricanes’ 6-3 win over the Flyers.

https://twitter.com/HockeyHoundShow/status/1464673048850804737?t=eaHbSbeZzB0MNbM_i9JUtg&s=19

There’s no difference here. Why the inconsistency? McAvoy is a good player. But he should’ve received the same fine for his actions. Rooney is lucky he wasn’t seriously hurt.

It brings into question the league’s credibility. They’ll fine Panarin for a silly glove toss that didn’t accomplish anything except create media overreaction. But won’t do the same to McAvoy, who did much worse with under a minute remaining.

It’s disappointing. Hockey fans are knowledgeable and understand the sport. It’s about time the NHL stops insulting our intelligence.

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Gauthier and Lafreniere turn the lights out to ruin Bruins’ Black Friday, Hunt makes an impact, Goodrow goes after McAvoy for dirty slew foot on Rooney, Marchand Panarin nonsense

Posted on November 26, 2021 by Derek

Finally, the Rangers beat the Bruins in the traditional Black Friday match-up. Thanks to large contributions from their secondary players, they got the better of the bitter B’s defeating them 5-2 at TD Garden this afternoon.

It was enjoyable to watch them take apart the Bruins in a dominant third period. The latest win again saw the Rangers’ improved depth flex their muscles. No. Not Ryan Reaves. Instead, the key players were Julien Gauthier, Dryden Hunt and Alexis Lafreniere. They were directly involved in four of the team’s five goals including Artemi Panarin’s game-winner and a big insurance marker that finished off the punchless Bruins.

On a day where Igor Shesterkin was quite busy in a lopsided first period where he made half his 34 saves, the Rangers had the right response. After being outshot 17-5, they dictated the action by outshooting Boston 26-19 the rest of the way. That included a stronger second where they held the edge in shots, 19-12. Even though shots were even in the final stanza, it was misleading.

It was Gerard Gallant who got the best out of the match-ups in the deciding third. Not only did his recent move of Hunt pay dividends with a goal and assist. A key tweak in that final period results in the Panarin winner. Maybe it was a hunch. If it were, Turk’s instinct proved correct.

On a key shift that began in transition, Ryan Strome made a tough pass across for Gauthier, who was able to control the puck in his skate. In one sweeping motion, he made a perfect feed in front for a Panarin goal with 8:25 left. Had it been Hunt on the right side, that play never happens because he’s a left shot. Something Ray Ferraro alluded to during the NHL On ABC broadcast. It marked the first game on the network since 2004.

Less than five minutes later, Adam Fox sent Gauthier past a pinching Bruins defenseman on a two-on-one with Lafreniere. He used good patience waiting for the lone defenseman back to commit before sending the puck across for a quick Lafreniere snapshot past losing Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman (4 goals allowed on 30 shots). The goal was his first in five games. All five of his goals have come at even strength. That’s tied with Kevin Rooney for second behind team leader Chris Kreider, who has six.

Lafreniere’s fifth of the season made it 4-2 with 3:38 remaining. With how well Shesterkin is playing, that lead was insurmountable. Especially with how he denied them earlier in the contest. The Bruins aren’t exactly the Oilers. They rely too much on the Perfection Line. The trio of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak struck once in the second off a face-off.

That remains an issue for the Blueshirts. At some point, Chris Drury will have to address it. You can’t lose critical draws and be successful in the playoffs. No. It’s not too early anymore to talk about it. If they keep winning games, that’s where they’re headed. I’m going to remind everyone it’s only Game 20. They play in a tough division. With 52 games left, there’s still plenty of work to do. But you have to like where they are. A 13-4-3 record with 29 points is the ideal start for a team that hasn’t qualified for a true postseason since ’16-17.

The real positive out of the first quarter is how Gallant has gotten the depth players to contribute. It’s been the play of the bottom six forwards who have made a difference. We saw the other night what a true fourth line can do. Amazing what happens when the GM actually acquires gritty, high character players to fill that void. Isn’t it?

Ditto for the new coach realizing the chemistry the third line has. It took an injury to Sammy Blais to keep Gauthier in the lineup. It looks like he has a permanent spot. With two assists to set up the game’s biggest goals, the 24-year old former ’16 Carolina first round pick is blossoming before our eyes. He’s playing with much more confidence. Isn’t it astonishing what happens when an actual NHL coach keeps a line intact and doesn’t punish a young player for a mistake?

Who had Rooney and Lafreniere with more goals at this point than Mika Zibanejad? Who thought this team could win games without either Zibanejad or Panarin playing their best hockey? It’s almost like all the overreaction to the Pavel Buchnevich trade was just that. While he’s having success for the Blues which is nice, the team isn’t hurting. Adding Barclay Goodrow, Reaves and Hunt has had a positive effect. Blais had four assists before the ACL tear ended his season. They’ll probably make a move at some point if it’s needed.

As vocal a critic as I’ve been on Vitali Kravtsov, who scored number five for Traktor on Friday night in Russia, there’s no rush. If they can repair the relationship, so be it. There’s no reason to worry about that now. At the moment, the Rangers are paying good hockey. Believe it or not, it can be enjoyed without fancy stats like “expected goals.”

The only area that concerns me is winning face-offs. On that front, the Rangers didn’t get creamed in the circle. They won 24 and lost 32 to a good team on draws. That’s respectable. Bergeron did the most damage going 14-and-8. Zibanejad went 8-and-10 while Strome lost 6 of 8. It was actually Chytil (6-4), who was their best. He’s still got a way to go, but there’s been some progress.

In a first largely controlled by Boston, Shesterkin was under siege. At one point, to the shots were 17-3. That included the unassisted goal from Craig Smith. A play in which he undressed Jacob Trouba by skating around him and sniping his second past Shesterkin. Obviously, we’ve seen Trouba get beat one-on-one before. That’s an area he must clean up. Outside of that, he’s playing better than his first two seasons.

If they could’ve increased their lead on consecutive power plays, the Bruins might’ve had a different end result. Instead, the Rangers got key saves from Shesterkin, who was their best penalty killer. Sometimes, you need your goalie to bail out teammates. In this case, Chris Kreider and Fox. Boston went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage. Shesterkin stopped all eight power play shots. That wins in this league.

Having established nothing, the Rangers got a huge boost thanks to Strome scoring a late goal to tie the game with just 5.8 seconds remaining in the period. On a Hunt forecheck, he passed for Panarin, who quickly made a great pass for an open Strome who buried the opportunity at 19:54. Strome pumped his fist after it. He doesn’t score many because he’s primarily a pass first center. But it was good to see him get one. His third of the season proved critical. It gave them a lift.

Speaking of Strome, he’s been on a major roll lately. With a goal and assist, he increased his point streak to eight (2-8-10). Since the beginning of November, the key second center has 12 points (2-10-12) over his last 11 games. He’s only been held without a point once. The Calgary debacle on Nov. 2.

In the second, it was the Bruins who retook the lead thanks to what else but a face-off win from Bergeron. On a defensive draw, the fourth line was out. Unfortunately, Rooney was no match. Bergeron easily won it back to Marchand. He passed to a pinching Matt Grzelcyk, who easily found an isolated Bergeron for the finish at 6:51. Trouba moved over to play a different man. But K’Andre Miller didn’t switch. The Rangers trailed by a goal.

Despite being down for a second time, the Blueshirts picked it up. They applied pressure on a fragile Boston defense that isn’t that good. A stronger cycle allowed Hunt to score his second goal over the last four games. A Fox pass across for a low Ryan Lindgren shot rebounded off Swayman right to Hunt who slammed home the tying goal at 12:33. A simple yet effective play worked because the gritty Hunt went to the net.

On a good rush, Kaapo Kakko had Zibanejad for what looked like the go-ahead goal. But Swayman dove across to get the shaft of his goalie stick on the shot to rob Zibanejad. It was the save of the game. I know a few critiqued him for not burying the chance. But how about giving credit to the rookie goalie. It was a great save. If it was Shesterkin, our fans would be on their hands and knees.

A Panarin hi-sticking minor on Pastrnak off a neutral zone face-off handed the Bruins another power play. But they failed to capitalize. The score remained tied at two as the teams skated to their respective locker rooms. I felt pretty good about their chances.

The third was predictably tighter. There weren’t as many shots with each side getting seven through. Most intriguing was a play Kreider tried behind the Boston net. After receiving the puck from Kakko on the forecheck, he actually tried the Andrei Svechnikov lacrosse move. It nearly worked. Kreider thought he’d scored. He began celebrating to the surprise of both Sean McDonough and Ferraro. The play was reviewed. It clearly showed Kreider’s lacrosse attempt go off both goalposts and stay out. It was pretty close. That shows you where his confidence level is.

By that point, I was confident they’d get the next goal and finally win one of these cockamamie games. Sure enough, Gallant stuck Gauthier out with Strome and Panarin. The play he made to handle a Strome pass that handcuffed him was terrific. Somehow, he made the adjustment and sent a perfect feed for Panarin to hunt in with 8:25 to go. Splendid artistry.

Less than five minutes later, the third line struck. A Fox outlet trapped a Bruin to send Gauthier in two-on-one where he found Lafreniere who whipped a laser top shelf for a two-goal lead at 16:22. One thing about the former 2020 top pick. If he gets a great chance, he knows what to do with it. He was proven right in that fun postgame interview on his line. They got one to help salt the game away.

Leave it to the Bruins to muck it up late. On what was an absolutely reckless play, top defenseman Charlie McAvoy stuck his leg out and took out Rooney. That created an immediate response from Fox, who gave McAvoy a cross check. Barclay Goodrow responded with a two-hander that got called. McAvoy went for tripping and Goodrow for cross-checking with under a minute left.

My issue is it was dirty and dangerous. This was another example of a slew foot. McAvoy was caught out of position and took down Rooney illegally. They already lost one player for the year on such a cheap play. Not as if the damn league cares. They’re too busy going after other guys who don’t have a history such as Kevin Labanc. Where’s the consistency? Any slew foot should be an automatic review by the Department of Player Safety. No more of this garbage.

I don’t think McAvoy is that kind of player. Maybe the game situation was part of his frustration. But he must have a hearing. It would be a joke if he doesn’t get a phone call for that crap. That has no place in hockey. They talk the talk about cleaning up the sport. How about walking the walk for a change.

At least Trouba scored into an open net from his own zone to put the final nail in the coffin. Screw Boston! It’s too bad we can’t get another piece of this overrated team until next April 23-24. How ridiculous is that. Who do they have scheduling these games? A clown. But don’t worry. You’ll get to see our team play the Blackhawks twice a week apart soon. The schedule is a joke.

One quick comment on the shenanigans between Marchand and Panarin. Why did he even respond to him? Throwing a glove at Marchand while on the bench is stupid. It makes him look juvenile. Point to the scoreboard. The overreaction that’s receiving is typical of how everything is covered. Marchand got what he wanted. A response. That’s why he’s The Rat. His commentary on it was funny. Anyone going nuts over this needs their head examined.

I saw someone Retweet some expected nonsense. Those are fake statistics that don’t matter. If you can’t enjoy what this team is doing, you’re in the wrong line of work. I’m very happy with the Rangers. Now come the woeful Islanders. Losers of eight straight. They’ll get some players back for Sunday. So, I expect it to be more interesting. Bottom line. Send them home empty-handed.

THREE STARS ✨ OF GAME

3rd ⭐ Alexis Lafreniere, NYR (5th goal of season for key insurance)

2nd ⭐ Julien Gauthier, NYR (2 assists including the primary on Panarin’s game-winner)

1st ⭐ Dryden Hunt, NYR (2nd goal of season and an assist)

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Giving Thanks For Hockey

Posted on November 26, 2021 by Derek

What are we thankful for? That’s always the question every Thanksgiving holiday season.

Honestly, I feel this should be asked everyday. When I reflect back to all the wonderful times shared and special moments spent with family and friends, it’s all about the little things.

That’s what I appreciate most. Knowing I have a loving mother and father along with the best brother anyone could ever ask for. The Inner Circle that mean so much to me. Whether in person or online that I’ve met or even reconnected with, that truly matters.

If you don’t realize that, it’s not too late to. I always think about that heavy scene in my favorite holiday movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles when Neal Page expertly played by Steve Martin, plays back some emotional moments with traveling stranger Del Griffith, who was magnificently played by the late John Candy.

He starts to piece together that Griffith isn’t who he thought. It’s then that he realizes on the train ride home to make Thanksgiving dinner that Del has nowhere to go. Instead of walking home from the station, he returns to find Griffith by himself with his suitcase.

It’s at this moment that he asks the obvious question on everyone’s mind in the movie. What is he doing here? When he tells him the hard truth, Neal does the right thing and invites Del to his home to spend Thanksgiving with the family.

That poignant moment where they walk back and his daughter answers the door with such excitement before finally hugging his wife (Laila Robbins) is so emotional as Del has that wonderful smile as the film ends. You come away feeling good as “Everytime You Go Away,” plays.

To me, that’s the essence of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah or any holiday or magical moment we celebrate. Every day has meaning. No matter how challenging it gets. I will always believe that was Candy’s best role. He had so many and was gone too soon. But as I like to say, “Legends Never Die!”

If we all have the heart of that lovable Del Griffith character, we can enjoy things more. Despite his home situation without his wife Marie, he is an upbeat person who’s happy go lucky. That quality teaches a cynic like Neal a life lesson. It makes him a little wiser as he says before the fateful train ride where he finally realizes the truth.

If we apply that philosophy to our favorite sport of hockey which isn’t perfect, we can sure be thankful it’s around. A welcome attraction or distraction from our daily lives. That’s why I really loved Hasan’s Devils game recap because he gave us the live game experience along with some funny anecdotes about which players on the Wild he didn’t know still played. Haha.

I’ve spoken on here how much I loved the 25 years I went to Rangers games at MSG. It wasn’t only about watching the play develop and calling a goal before it happened which I can still do at home on television. It also was the people we met who made the games more fun. Even during the Dark Ages Error, we always laughed at the bad comedy in our section.

What should we as hockey fans be thankful for in 2021-22?

1. How special Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are. They’re truly amazing players. McDavid is the best offensive player I’ve ever seen. Even better than Gretzky, Lemieux. To be that dominant is scary. Can you imagine him in the wide open era?

2. Draisaitl I believe is the best player. He’s not only on the same level as his special Oilers’ teammate. But he is excellent overall. He is the only Edmonton player to join Gretzky with 40 points in the first 20 games doing it in 19. He leads the league with 20 goals. That’s ridiculous. Can he keep going to 30, 40 or even the prestigious 50/50 Club? I’m rooting for it.

3. Alexander Ovechkin turning back the clock. The Great Eight is carrying the Caps minus Nicklas Backstrom. His start at 36 has been unbelievable. Not just for the 15 goals he’s scored as he tries to chase No. 99. But 18 assists match his ’21 output which was in 45 games. What a special player.

4. Troy Terry provided us with a potential new young star. His 16-game point streak was phenomenal. It finally ended against Nashville on Nov. 22. The former USA WJC hero has 22 points (12-10-22) in 19 games for the surprising Ducks. Hopefully, he can get back on the score sheet after being shutdown the last two.

5. Locally, how about Adam Fox. He’s proving the Norris he won in the shortened season wasn’t a fluke. What makes him so good is his IQ. His ability to read plays is tremendous. He’s got great vision and has become a Ranger staple. At a point-per-game so far, Foxy plans to do it over a full 82.

6. Lucas Raymond has been the brightest rookie for the Red Wings. It’s the number 4 pick from the ’20 NHL Draft that’s asserted himself as the early breakout star. With 20 points in 21 games, he’s got good chemistry with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi on the top line. Detroit finally seems to be headed in the right direction. Watch Raymond play and you’ll see why.

7. The outstanding teams such as the Panthers, Lightning and Maple Leafs, who all are competing for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. As impressed as I am with how the Leafs play compared to recent years, how can you not shake your head at the depth and talent both the Cats and Bolts have to overcome injuries to key stars? Thank God they’re not in our division of hell. To borrow a Hasan phrase.

8. Speaking of which, that division of hell is headlined by the ultra talented Hurricanes, who boast top center Sebastian Aho and emerging scorers Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas. Rangers South features six including Tony DeAngelo, who’s formed a good top pair with the overlooked Jaccob Slavin. Rookie Seth Jarvis is staying in Raleigh. Freddy Andersen is the netminder.

9. If there’s a gift that keeps on giving despite his team’s subpar start, it’s Patrick Kane in Chicago. He continues to be a wizard forming a deadly combo with Alex DeBrincat.

10. Logan Couture still is the leader of the Sharks. They’re off to a surprising start. Timo Meier is emerging again along with Couture, who remains a fun overall players to watch. Jonathan Dahlen has been a nice surprise. The son of Ulf can finish.

11. Credit goes out to Lindy Ruff, who has the Devils hanging around despite Jack Hughes having played two games. The addition of Dougie Hamilton has helped stabilize the defense. Pavel Zacha remains a scoring threat while captain Nico Hischier is the key setup man. Mackenzie Blackwood has been solid since returning.

12. Nazem Kadri has taken his lumps forever due to his playoff past. Without Nathan MacKinnon, it’s the former Leaf who’s been on a tear while leading the Avalanche back into the Central Division race. This is the best hockey he’s ever played. MacKinnon is due back soon.

13. Cale Makar is the new offensive dynamo. He might not be as polished as Fox, but the smooth skating defenseman is a rover whose nine goals are proof of how lethal he can be. A very exciting player to watch.

14. Elvis Merzlikins is doing his part to keep the overachiever Blue Jackets afloat in the tough Metro. He might not have the gaudy numbers of Jack Campbell, Jacob Markstrom, Sergei Bobrovsky, Igor Shesterkin, John Gibson or even Carter Hart and Tristan Jarry. But he’s backing up his promise for Matiss Kivlenieks, who must be proud watching upstairs.

15. Take in a Kirill Kaprizov shift and you’ll understand just how special his talent is. The super sophomore is the engine that makes the Wild go. Old friend Mats Zuccarello has amazing chemistry with Kaprizov and so far, Joel Eriksson-Ek is living up to the contract. If Kevin Fiala heats up, the Wild will be tough.

16. It’s nice to see a healthy Vladimir Tarasenko back and doing well for the Blues. Who knows if he’ll be traded? But the speed and skill is still there. How about having Pavel Buchnevich play with him. Yikes. The Blues are a good team. It still will be an uphill climb to make the playoffs in that division.

17. Chandler Stephenson is putting up the points for the Golden Knights, who are patiently waiting for Jack Eichel to debut in March. Stephenson was on the ’17-18 Caps who won the Stanley Cup. Think maybe they regret trading him?

18. Is there a more cohesive trio than Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk? They’ve dominated at five-on-five. Since Darryl Suter put them together, they’ve only been on for one goal against while burning opponents, who literally are seeing Flames. Calgary is for real.

19. Cy Young NHL Leaders

A. Andrew Mangiapane 15-2

B. Chris Kreider 15-3

C. Alex DeBrincat 11-3

D. Ryan Hartman 10-4

E. Brandon Saad 8-2

20. It’s nice to see Steven Stamkos back to playing at an elite level in Tampa. He’s overcome a lot of injuries. The 31-year old captain needs 12 points for 900. His next goal will be number 450. What if he’d stayed healthy?

21. Playing in Winnipeg, Kyle Connor remains in obscurity. A hidden American gem who can light the lamp with the best of them who’s a dynamic skater. When I saw him early in his career, I concluded he was better than Patrik Laine. Laine now plays in Columbus. Condolences to him on the recent loss of his Dad.

22. Pierre-Luc Dubois is reminding folks of the ability he has for the Jets. Hard to believe he and Laine went a pick apart in the McDavid ’16 Draft. Matthew Tkachuk was also in it as was underrated top Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who you can see this afternoon when the B’s host the Rangers in the Black Friday game on ABC.

23. If you can get Ducks games, watch just for Trevor Zegras. The Team USA hero has the tools to be a good one. He’s already scored some highlight reel goals.

24. I didn’t include Andrei Vasilevskiy in the list of goalies before. I still believe he’s in a different category. Forget the team he plays for. If you subtracted him off the Bolts, they’d struggle. They don’t believe in good backups. Vasy makes great saves look easy.

25. As bad as things have been in Montreal, here’s hoping Carey Price can successfully return soon and still be the elite goalie we saw carry the Habs to the Stanley Cup Final.

26. God bless Kevin Hayes, who scored an emotional goal for his brother Jimmy up in heaven. I can’t imagine what he’s going through. Hope he gets back on the ice soon.

27. Who had Tage Thompson with eight goals and Evan Rodriguez at seven helping their teams more than expected?

28. Pat Maroon has as many goals (4) as Mika Zibanejad or Artemi Panarin. Kevin Rooney has five on the same team. Is the apocalypse near?

29. Miro Heiskanen put on a tremendous defensive game against McDavid in a recent Stars’ win over Edmonton. He was so effective against the Oilers superstar that the Dallas skaters had more shots in the third period when up against his line with Heiskanen matched up. He doesn’t get the ink of the other defensemen. But Heiskanen is in that class.

30. If Alexis Lafreniere’s skating and skill catches up to his maturity and intelligence, the Rangers will have a very good young player. It hasn’t come easy for the former top pick. But he understands his role and demonstrated that he isn’t afraid of sticking up for a teammate. Admittedly, he said it was his first fight ever. The kid has a keen sense of humor.

31. The U20 World Junior Championships are a month away. An exciting tournament that features the best prospects, it’s a chance to catch a glimpse of the future. Shane Wright is the projected top pick for 2022. The center is expected to be an impact player. Don’t put crazy expectations on him.

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Devils thwarted by goalposts and a hideous PP in a pre-turkey shootout defeat

Posted on November 25, 2021 by hasan4978

Last night was a rare game where I had the choice to either go or not go without worrying about eating money on tickets, since I’d already sold my regular section for last night’s game but still had a free pair in section 9 (well, free apart from the $7 I pay for parking a few blocks from the arena). Albeit they aren’t exactly the club seats I thought they were a while back, but still they’re lower-bowl seats that are close to my normal exit out of the building at least. With two other games this week and still somewhat getting over my booster shot side effects I was leaning toward not going, but pretty much pushed myself to going in part because last night was more of a de facto weekend game with having tomorrow off while Sunday night against the Flyers is more of a de facto weeknight game – 7 PM start time with work the next day – that I can try to sell for weekend prices.

I usually don’t choose to go to the nondescript out of conference game over a rival, but the NHL’s idiotic scheduling happened to give us both Flyer home games this season in a matter of a two-week span anyway. Plus with the NHL’s all-division schedule last year, we hadn’t seen the Wild at the Rock since pre-pandemic – i.e. pre-buying out the notorious duo of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. I was still vacillating on going right up until I got to the highway past Chatham, but at least the traffic wasn’t as bad as a normal weeknight going to Newark, despite going the long way while making a couple of stops along the way it only took me about 45 minutes of driving to get there (usually it’s like an hour getting in on a weeknight, and 35 minutes getting home).

In fact, despite my attempts to slow-play arriving I still got there 6:30 and much to my shock I saw 46 minutes on the pregame clock instead of 16 (which usually signifies the start of warmups). At first I thought ‘oh ****, this was a 7:30 game and I didn’t realize it, I screwed up here’, which did actually happen to me once before since 7:30 home starts are so rare now. Then I realized much of the crowd was already there and either near the ice or on food and drink lines so that’s when I thought something wasn’t right here. Did they really pull a last-minute switcheroo without advertising it? I took to Twitter and found out the shocking answer, that in fact the start time was delayed because the Wild were literally caught in traffic when the Holland Tunnel closed and the Wild players didn’t arrive at the arena until 6:26 PM. I mean really guys, I know it’s been a while since you’ve been here but come on now. I was alternately amused and annoyed. Devils coach Lindy Ruff was more of the latter:

Maybe the coach didn’t know the tunnel was actually closed on them or maybe he did. Either way I’ve never heard of such a thing happening before any professional game, NYC traffic or no NYC traffic. I’m not inclined to be sympathetic either, since in my rec leagues you have to forfeit if your team doesn’t show after fifteen minutes, but it was still somewhat amusing. Other than realizing I now had an hour to kill before the game instead of just a half hour. If I’d known this was going to happen I’d have brought my wireless earbuds into the arena and just listened to YouTube/podcast stuff. Instead I basically just walked around the arena for half an hour then stayed in line for the other half an hour (apparently most of our fans didn’t have any problems getting in either, figures) using some of my food and beverage card to try a lousy burger, though at least the fries were good. Not exactly worth $16 but I’m not a penny pincher when it comes to using a credit, especially since I don’t exactly plan on eating at every game anyway.

My seat was not actually as good as I thought, of course there’s always that danger when you’re sitting in the lower bowl that if you’re too far down the opposite part of the arena can provide a bit of a blind spot, and that’s what happened last night. Sometimes I even had to look at the jumbotron to see what was happening when the puck was in the same side of the rink at the far end, which happened to be the end where the Devils attacked in the first and third period. Unless it actually is a club seat pair – which I have for two games later in the season – or other free upper bowl tickets, I’m not gonna bother moving from my seats the remainder of the season for the games I go to.

I also had to look at the jumbotron just to remind myself of who was ON the Wild, another consequence of not having seen them in the last two seasons or caring about their hot start with two of their more well-known players having been told to vacate the premises after GM Bill Guerin unceremoniously bought out Parise and Suter together, going out the way they came in. I was like, Dmitry Kulikov? Forgot he signed with them now. Jon Merrill? LOL, talk about being well-traveled at this point. Mats Zuccarello? Oh **** that’s right, he’s still there. Alex Goligoski…he’s really still playing?! Those were pretty much my real-time reactions. I recognized more names than I thought but half of them weren’t guys I knew were on the Wild beforehand, including goalie Cam Talbot who was last on Calgary before the pandemic, but is more well known (by me) for the start of his career with the Rangers and Edmonton.

One thing I did correctly remember is that Talbot’s usually been a pain in the neck for us, which is borne out by his career 7-2 record and 2.28 GAA against us, and it would prove to be more of the same last night. Although to be perfectly honest, last night was as unimpressive a 40-save performance as I can remember in quite some time. Either our shots were hitting the crest, or hitting the post but I don’t actually remember seeing too many OMG saves from Talbot throughout the game. Of course some of that could have been influenced by not having a great view of the attacking zone in the first and third periods, but you didn’t need the best view in the building to see that a majority of our shots in the first period were unscreened, short-side crest killers. We outshot the Wild 18-13 but it certainly never felt like we were controlling play, especially after we wound up falling behind on a goal from Ryan Hartman, tipping home a point shot from our old buddy Kulikov at 12:10 of the first to put me in an even more foul mood than the delay (and the cold as **** air near ice level with me wearing short sleeves) already had.

Pretty much the only thing that could possibly put me in a worse mood was seeing our own power play screw the pooch yet again, which is exactly what happened toward the end of the first period when the Wild ran their PK breakout better than we run our PP one, with a Jonas Brodin clear around the boards finding the stick of Frederic Gaudreau (I was also wondering when the Wild got a Gaudreau brother before finding out he wasn’t related to Johnny and Matt), who fed a perfect 2-on-1 pass through Dougie Hamilton right onto the stick of Nico Sturm for a one-timer goal NHL ’94 style. It wasn’t really a banner first period for Hamilton, who’d canceled out our last PP with a weak interference call that he was not happy about, taking out his anger by laying out the first Wild player he saw coming out of the box. Yet that wasn’t even the most annoying PP fail of the night…more on that later.

At least this game the Devils kept coming and didn’t let a ‘we did everything but score and then get scored on late’ first period obliterate them the way they did against the Panthers last week. Still the game continued to be frustrating. If it wasn’t the PP burning us, it was the goalposts, Damon Severson alone clanged at least two off the iron last night and the Devils as a team had literally five or six ping shots. After a low-event second period other than a couple of the aforementioned post shots, I was pretty much resigned to defeat though I couldn’t exactly leave at 2-0. Maybe I would have at 3-0 if only because the cold was starting to bother me and I was getting a bit of a headache again, now regretting the fact I pushed it last night instead of just continuing to relax.

My patience was running out with most of our forwards who’ve largely been passengers, including two thirds of our so-called top line – Nico Hischier who has just two goals in 17 games and 10 points going into last night, and Tomas Tatar who also has just two goals (none off a stick with a goalie in net) this season. To his credit, the captain cooled my annoyance with a difference-making third period, first finding Pavel Zacha from behind the net in his sweet spot just inside the left circle, where Zacha’s patented hard wrister found the back of the net to finally get the Devils on the board and give Pavel his eighth goal of the season.

Of course there was still more pain and frustration to come in the third period as Zacha found Hamilton at the end of a tic-tac-toe play for a wide open shot, but Hamilton flubbed it and the play died there. Even more annoying than that was when our powerless play struck again late in the third. Back-to-back Wild penalties gave us three straight minutes of PP time including just over a minute of a five-on-three, I almost mocked it when we called timeout before the 5-on-3…what’s the genius (meaning supposed PP guru Mark Recchi) drawing up now, I wonder? Clearly nothing that worked since our 5-on-3 was just one big, fat stinkbomb of nothing and our 5-on-4 after provided one final frustration when PK Subban hit both the post and crossbar with a shot and it stayed out. I realize NHL assistants don’t get fired in-season but this is getting ridiculous now, it’s one thing to be below average, it’s another to be hopelessly inept. Something’s gotta change with this powerless play, and I don’t just mean giving second-year defenseman Ty Smith a well-deserved healthy scratch after a poor start to the season. With just over five minutes left when the Wild penalties expired it felt like a fitting end to a frustrating game.

Except there was still more time left on the roller coaster that was last night.

Somehow our empty-net offense seems to function much better than our power play, despite being a man up on both occasions. That was the case again last night when Hischier was able to muscle a side pass over to Yegor Sharangovich, whose suddenly hot stick got the puck through Talbot for the tying goal with just 1:07 remaining in the game. If Sharangovich had been one of the passengers I’d been losing my patience with for much of the season, the last two games he’s looked more like the early 2021 version of Yegor with three goals and overall strong play that bumped him up to taking late-game and OT shifts. As usual, our best chance of winning the game was going to be the 3-on-3 but befitting the night it was, our best chance went by the boards less than half a minute into the OT when Hamilton hit yet another post. Shots-wise and just by the eye-test, we out played the Wild last night with a 42-27 shot edge – not even counting the five or six post shots – but when your power play is a net negative and you need like three times as many shots to get goals as some other teams do, nights like last night are going to happen.

Our shootout was destined to be more frustration piled on top of frustration, although briefly I thought the worm might be turning when Zuccarello actually hit the post on the Wild’s first attempt. Still, Kevin Fiala’s goal proved to be enough as none of our three shooters – Hamilton, Jesper Bratt, or the now out-of-the-doghouse Sharangovich – could find a way past Talbot in the skills competition. Seems like another world when our franchise dominated shootouts from 2005-2012, although on some level the shootout failures are endemic of the lack of scoring talent still on this roster. Ironic that this staff had little use for Alexander Holtz and yet he went down to Utica and regained his scoring touch immediately. I bet they don’t just throw him on the fourth line and see if he can score there the way they do at the NHL level. Hopefully Holtz will get a real chance down the road although I’m not sure it’ll be this season after the way they pulled the rip cord on him right away. Plus to be fair he does have a lot of non-scoring stuff to work on long-term. But it just gets frustrating seeing too many forwards who can make plays and not enough forwards that can actually cash in on them.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1463711860730044416?s=20

Can’t disagree with the coach here, although to be fair it was a borderline miracle we even got a point down 2-0 in the third with all the frustration involved in last night’s game. Still you can’t blow too many opportunities to get two points in the division of death. Case in point, the Isles – conference finalists the last two seasons – might actually be in danger of missing the playoffs after their brutal road trip to start the season with a COVID outbreak marring their initial homestand now that the NHL’s inexplicably making them play through while they postponed three Ottawa games in similar circumstances. I get you didn’t want to push back the Isles’ home opener even more and I could care less about the Isles in general, but really guys?

Before peacing out for the holiday weekend, I did want to offer some quick thoughts on the new third jersey, predictably booed when the new PA announcer introduced ‘the first third jersey in franchise history’ last night despite the number of fans who’d already bought one or did so before the night was over. A third jersey ostensibly heavily influenced by franchise legend Martin Brodeur. I’m not sure how much it’s fact and how much they’re just throwing him out there as a point man to insulate them against some of the inevitable backlash, but whatever. One thing they are telling the truth about is that this jersey’s been in the works for a while, judging by a season ticket holder pin they randomly sent out a couple of years ago with ‘Jersey’ in a very similar font.

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Let’s just start out with this, many people are going to be resistant to unasked for change just out of rote, especially when you’re dealing with a franchise with some amount of tradition and a well-received primary logo and jersey. That’s generally where I am. I don’t hate it the way I did when I first saw the leak a few days before the announcement though (and not because Marty was made to be the point person on this), even if all the different nuances they have to explain like the white stripes come off like…they’re trying too hard to pay homage to too many different things, yet doing it in such a subtle way nobody really notices it unless you give an explanation. It kind of feels faux intellectual-ish.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1463145188021481479?s=20

I’m not totally against putting just ‘Jersey’ on the front even though part of me wishes it was New Jersey in total, a lot of people – even locals – do refer to the state as Jersey in shorthand slang, so whatever. And to be fair I kinda like the jersey better once it’s displayed on players. MSG’s own Bryce Salvador is even going to wear one in the Macy’s parade, representing the NHL.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1463674420032061451?s=20

Ultimately in the end it’s a third jersey. Thirteen games a season feels like too much, but if they don’t touch the primary jersey in the end it’s whatever for me. So long as it’s not totally repulsive like the Stars’ old Mooterus jersey or totally self-owning like the Isles’ fishstick jersey, knock yourselves out. After seeing all the dopey Met and Jet alternate jerseys the last several years (and a few decent ones) I’ve become more desensitized to the whole concept of alternates.

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Rangers’ fourth line and Kreider turn Islanders’ Thanksgiving into cold turkeys, Lafreniere sends message to Pageau

Posted on November 25, 2021 by Derek
Ryan Lindgren returned to the bench after Adam Fox stepped in for him on a dirty hit by Jean-Gabriel Pageau after the Rangers put away the Islanders 4-1 at UBS Arena. Photo by Derek Felix

“It’s something they work on in practice. … The other part of if is the other guys don’t shoot enough from the outside.” Gerard Gallant on First Star Chris Kreider’s power play success at the side of the net in the Rangers’ 4-1 win over the Islanders on Turkey Eve.

It’s all about one thing. Winning. That’s becoming a good habit for the Rangers, who went into UBS Arena and gave their fans a whole lot to cheer about in a rousing 4-1 win over the Islanders at Belmont.

The satisfying victory on Turkey Eve gave them plenty to be thankful for headed into the holiday. It also ruined the Islanders’ Thanksgiving. It’ll be cold turkey for Jean-Gabriel Pageau, whose cheap hit to the head of Ryan Lindgren in the third period was answered immediately by Adam Fox. The game’s First Star Chris Kreider sure enjoyed that as he did a Hulk Hogan pose during the celebration at Fox as he and Ryan Reaves laughed at the Isles’ expense.

For the Rangers, there’s plenty to be happy about. They did what they had to in beating a struggling rival who were without 10 players due to COVID protocol and injuries. By taking care of business thanks to a pair of goals from team leader Kreider (9th PPG) and effective fourth line forward Kevin Rooney, they handed the Islanders a seventh consecutive loss in regulation. The Isles are now 0-3 at their new arena. They’re a shell of the team that reached Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Semifinals.

It doesn’t matter how many guys were out. You still have to go out and play the game for 60 minutes or more. That’s exactly what the Blueshirts did to earn their 12th win in 19 games (12-4-3). They now lead the Islanders by 15 points in the standings. Granted. They’ve played less games due to their long 13-game road trip. However, every point is crucial. Banking as many as possible early on matters.

Even better, they got large contributions from the fourth line in the victory. It was the play of that new line with Barclay Goodrow added to Rooney and Ryan Reaves that provided the key goals at five-on-five. They won the battle. Even if they weren’t matched up against the Identity Line of Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck.

It was Rooney scoring his fourth and fifth goals to record his first career two-goal game. It was Reaves acting like a playmaker with some splendid passing to pick up his first ever two assist game. The setup for the second Rooney goal that answered Andy Andreoff’s goal 20 seconds later restored the Rangers’ two goal lead to quiet the Islanders’ fans amongst the 17,255.

You also had Kreider for good measure erase any doubt when he finished off his team-leading 15th from Mika Zibanejad for the final margin with 8:58 left in regulation. His first goal coming 29 seconds into the second period to break a scoreless tie in vintage Kreider fashion on a perfect deflection at the side to beat Semyon Varlamov on the power play.

O’ Captain! My Captain! The 30-year old Kreider has never played better hockey. He’s not only off to an unbelievable start with 15 goals in 19 games. But he’s playing better overall by coming back defensively to break up plays and penalty killing effectively. He’s also hitting and showing great confidence in every facet.

In a lineup change which he hinted at, Gallant decided to move Kaapo Kakko up to the first line with Kreider and Zibanejad. It was interesting considering how well he played with Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin in recording three goals and two assists over the past four games. I wasn’t crazy about it, but Turk stuck with it and Kakko rewarded him with a key secondary helper on the second Kreider goal. That extended his point streak to five.

Gallant flipped Dryden Hunt to the right side on the second line with Strome and Panarin. Without that other scoring right wing due to Alexis Lafreniere not being ready for a move off left wing or a top six role, Turk will continue to shuffle the deck. Sammy Blais was a good fit in the top six. He’ll be missed. It’s next man up.

Of course, this brings to mind the continued debate over Pavel Buchnevich. Some fans wish he was still here. While I get the point about the chemistry he had with Zibanejad and Kreider, it ultimately came down to Team President and GM Chris Drury deciding that he had to move Buchnevich due to his raise. He is signed through 2025 with the Blues at an average cap hit of $5.8 million.

Due to the organization knowing they had to sign both Zibanejad and Fox to hefty extensions that’ll currently has the team’s cap for ’22-23 at almost $71 million, there was little choice. It was either keep Buchnevich or trade Strome, who is a key fit as the center for Panarin. Without Filip Chytil having proven himself, it was too risky. Hopefully, he can continue to progress in his fourth season. Strome probably won’t be back next year.

I still maintain that they mishandled Vitali Kravtsov during training camp. He looks capable of helping them fill the Buchnevich void. Instead, he’s playing for Traktor in the KHL. They lost 7-6 in overtime to Moscow Dynamo yesterday. He didn’t have a point, but hit two posts including one in extras. We’ll see what develops with the Rangers and Kravtsov next Spring.

One thing that isn’t up for debate is the balance the team has. Even without either Panarin or Zibanejad hitting that extra gear, it’s the supporting cast chipping in. Rooney has five goals. One more than either Panarin or Zibanejad. Kreider has been the story with his 15 by far leading the way. There’s also Goodrow continuing to put up points with his primary assist leading to Rooney’s fourth. He’s up to nine points.

At some point, the stars have to perform like stars. Even though he has 19 points including 15 assists so far, Panarin has been too predictable so far. He was probably the only player I was disappointed with last night. He spent too much of the game on the perimeter and didn’t attempt many shots. He hasn’t been the same player. They need him to start burying a few and being the difference maker we saw in ’19-20.

At least both Fox and Zibanejad got points against the Islanders. Even if if took a mostly Bridgeport defense to do it, it was positive. Not that it was Fox’s best game. To their credit, the Isles did a good job limiting his time and space. He’s going to continue to get that attention. He doesn’t mind.

From a game standpoint, it was strange. Blame the refs. They made a lot of calls. A few were questionable. There were 11 total power plays. The Rangers went 1-for-5 while shutting out the Islanders in six chances. As good as the penalty kill was, the Islanders’ power play was brutal. They didn’t get many Grade A chances on Igor Shesterkin, who finally recorded his first win versus them. He made 20 saves.

In a by the book move, Barry Trotz opted for Varlamov due to his recent history against the Rangers. He didn’t have a win yet. For the most part, he kept his team in it with some key stops when it was 2-0. But he wound up allowing four goals on 21 shots to take the loss.

If it were me, I’d have gone with Ilya Sorokin. He started well. I’m not a coach. Trotz also played former Devils Kyle Palmieri and Zach Parise on the top line with Mat Barzal. They of a combined 1 goal. Barzal had no one to pass to. Gotta give Trotz an assist. Neither scares anyone.

Oliver Wahlstrom was on the third line with rookie Otto Koivula and Andreoff. Pageau (also 1 goal) centered their second line flanked by Anthony Beauvillier and Richard Panik. Neither line exactly posed a huge threat. It was the Identity Line and the unknown third line who were most effective.

For as many players as they had out, the Islanders put together a good first period. With the likes of Sebastian Aho, Thomas Hickey, Robin Salo, Grant Hutton and Paul LaDue added to Scott Mayfield on the blue line, they managed to keep the Blueshirts off the scoreboard.

When the officials weren’t getting duped for phantom calls, it was the Islanders who were the better forechecking team early. They got eight shots on Shesterkin, who was strong. The Rangers also had eight on Varlamov. It was the play of the third line of Chytil, Lafreniere and Julien Gauthier that were noticeable. So too was the fourth line when they got out for shifts.

At the start of the second, Barzal hooked into Rooney following the opening face-off to get an undisciplined minor for hooking six seconds in. That lead to Kreider finding a dead spot next to Varlamov for a great redirection of a Strome pass into an open side at 29 seconds. It was so predictable that I called goal as soon as Strome passed the puck for Kreider, who’s been money down low.

The march to the box continued. Strome picked up the first of two minors when he tripped up Hickey in the offensive zone. One of those needless penalties he has to avoid. While Hickey went down easily, it was a penalty.

After the Islanders did nothing with the power play, this time Barzal sucked Chytil into taking him down. It was embellishment. But they didn’t call it. So, the Isles were on another power play. Again, they barely did anything. There was over passing and little simplicity. Barzal also had a turnover that let the Rangers clear the zone for a change.

The odd part is there was so much special teams that even strength play was rare. For the game, shots were 13-12 Blueshirts at five-on-five. That’s how strange the game was. Overall, shots were even at 21 apiece. You can do the math for the rest.

A good Jacob Trouba hit on Pageau behind the Rangers’ net resulted in the gritty center retaliating by hi-sticking Trouba. It was a shift where he got himself in trouble in the corner, but then recovered with the big hit to put the Rangers on the man-advantage. Defensively, Trouba had a good game. He was the best defenseman followed by Nils Lundkvist, who showed more confidence.

Although they didn’t capitalize, the Rangers scored less than a minute after the power play expired. On just a great shift started by Reaves, he made a centering pass that deflected to Goodrow for one shot which was followed up by Rooney for a 2-0 lead at 14:28.

Another Strome penalty for interference on Beauvillier left him questioning the call with under two and a half minutes left in the period. It was very soft. As the Isles continued to fumble the puck around as if it were a grenade, they finally got the one chance they wanted. On a Kakko turnover, the puck came to Wahlstrom in front. One on one with Shesterkin, he went for a fake instead of shooting only to be stuffed.

Right after the save, Kakko hit Strome for a breakaway out of the box. But he was back checked well enough where his shot was denied by Varlamov with time winding down. The Rangers took a two-goal lead to the locker room.

Even with the Islanders lacking the firepower, you knew if the Rangers didn’t get the next goal, it would get interesting. It did when Andreoff got position on Lindgren and was able to tip in a Koivula shot for his first of the season. A Ranger special. It was also the first NHL point for Koivula. He was one of the better players on the home side. What does that say for their regulars?

But on the very next shift, the fourth line went to work. One thing I’ll say for Gallant. He has a good feel for his bench. He noticed what I did. That line was going. He sent them out and they again struck for the goal of the game.

Off an Islanders’ offensive draw they won back to Wahlstrom, three Blueshirts converged on him to force a turnover. Patrik Nemeth sent Reaves in on an odd man rush. What happened next was astonishing. Reaves completely faked out the defense before sending a perfect feed across for an easy Rooney finish at 4:12. That goal silenced the Islanders’ contingent.

Kreider would increase the lead to three 6:50 later. On a smart dump in from Kakko that allowed Zibanejad to come out with the puck, he quickly found Kreider in the slot for a quick wrist shot that beat Varlamov for goal number 15 at 11:02. That sealed it.

With the game decided, Pageau decided to get chippy. On a play where he had the puck, Lindgren absorbed a high hit from the Isles’ center. Right away, Fox jumped in and came to his aid. He punched Pageau and sent him to the ice. The replay showed that the controversial hit was a head shot. Pageau led with his shoulder that caught Lindgren in the helmet to drop him.

https://twitter.com/BattleOfHudson/status/1463704230519357445?t=ph3gBlIaS63r3M8K1OIyiA&s=19

Of course, they missed the illegal check to the head. Gallant absolutely fumed at both officials. He was upset. So was the team. Out of that, they handed the Islanders a power play. Fox getting the only two for roughing up Pageau, who may as well be renamed Punkeau for his shenanigans. He intentionally did it. Very sneaky. A cheap play.

I doubt they’ll suspend him. Lindgren went to the room and was checked. He did return to the bench. A good sign. Hopefully, there are no setbacks. The Rangers are in Boston on Black Friday.

With things intensifying due to the dirty play, it was only a matter of time before it escalated. On another shift where Pageau was tripped by a furious Lafreniere, he went after him for his cheap hit. Here’s a kid still learning. He had no problem dropping the gloves and taking on Pageau, who went down. That is a great characteristic for a young player to have. The skating still needs improvement. But what Lafreniere did was commendable.

In the final minute with time winding down, Hunt didn’t like a Wahlstrom hit. So, he went back at him with a slash leading to more chaos. After Wahlstrom chopped back, Andreoff stepped in and pulled Hunt down by his jersey. That’s a clear third man in. Even if he was playing peacemaker, that should’ve been a minor on him. Instead, Wahlstrom got an extra for roughing with 14 seconds to go.

Perplexing. I’m not sure if it means anything. But Rooney was out for the remainder and attempted a shot. Obviously, Gallant put him out to try for the hat trick. But the game was over. Will there be any payback in the Garden rematch on Sunday?

We’ll have to wait and see. The Islanders should have players back for that game. That’ll probably be a more interesting game. This was an easy win. Even if they had to work for it, they put the Isles away.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving! Happy Turkey Day!

THREE STARS OF GAME

3rd 🌟 Ryan Reaves, NYR (2 assist game for first time in career, 6 hits)

2nd 🌟 Kevin Rooney, NYR (first career two-goal game, 4th and 5th)

1st 🌟 Chris Kreider, NYR (2 more goals for 14 and 15, league best 9th PPG, dominant)

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