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GM 27 NYR 3 CLM 2, Georgiev shines, Panarin scores, Hajek injured, vs. MTL |
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The Rangers rode tremendous goaltending from Alexandar Georgiev to a 3-2 win over Columbus. Artemi Panarin tallied a goal in his return to Columbus, which wasn't necessarily well received by the home crowd while Libor Hajek left the game with a knee injury. New York takes on Montreal at home tonight.
Game recap:
David Quinn post-game:
Lines:
48-93-24
10-16-20
17-72-89
15-21-42
Defense pairs:
76-8
25-77
55-23
A few thoughts:
1) Alexandar Georgiev - brilliant again. From Carp: "The Blue Jackets attempted 85 shots, the Rangers 39. Shots on goal were 47-19. Georgiev stopped 45 of them, including all 16 on Columbus power plays. He has stopped 100 of the past 103 shots on goal he’s faced, and 32 in a row on the penalty kill in his past three games."
I know many believe Henrik Lundqvist should be bought out or traded. Each of those are relatively remote possibilities. In addition, if Georgie plays four more games, he becomes waivers exempt and can't just be sent down to the minors. In addition, he will make decent money as an RFA. Add in the looming specter of Igor Shesterkin and the desire to make sure he doesn't use his KHL-opt clause. Combine all those and finding a way to possibly deal or demote Georgiev makes sense. Except for one thing, he has played brilliant while between the pipes recently.
Despite all the flaws on this team, New York is now 5-1-1 in their past seven, 12-6-3 in the past 21 and on the fringes of playoff contention. Georgiev deserves to be up with the parent club. He, and not Shesterkin, might be the future between the pipes. In two years, he and Shetsterkin would be a nice cheap combination option in net. GM Jeff Gorton and President John Davidson have a difficult decision to make, but keeping Georgiev with the parent club might be the best option, despite the downstream impact.
Lundqvist was under the weather yesterday. We could see Georgiev again tonight.
2) Artemi Panarin: game-winning goal - yeah, I know, that stat is not a great one - but nonetheless, per the rule book, it counts. The fanbase didn't shower him with love, booing him every time he touched the puck. Panarin answered the bell once again and has 34 points his first 27 games as a Ranger.
Before the game, Quinn was asked about what makes Panarin special.
“When you’ve got the brain that he has, and the hands and the feet that work together, I think that creates a player with elite ability,” Quinn said. “And one of the things that he’s done, in particular the last six weeks, is his play without the puck. I mean, he’s pressuring pucks, he’s tracking, he’s coming back to our end, his wall play, all those things that you want your best player, or one of your best players, your elite players to do, shift in and shift out. He certainly has done that. But to me, it’s just his passion for the game and how much he enjoys hockey. And that’s very contagious.”
3) Libor Hajek was injured on this play. Looked like he got his skate caught, wrenching his knee. Brendan Smith switched back to defense briefly but played the third period at forward, as Lindy Ruff was reluctant to keep Smith at the position as Columbus was coming "heard and heavy."
Marc Staal is just about ready to return, but he didn't play Thursday and it didn’t sound like he would play Friday at home against Montreal. Now he may have to play in place of Hajek, who left the arena with a brace on his right knee. New York could move Smith back to defense and play Greg McKegg, who was almost ready to go Thursday, at forward in place of Smith. The other option is to promote a blueliner from Hartford for Friday, giving Staal another few days to be fully ready to go.
4) Brendan Lemieux was recently promoted to the "top" line. His play yesterday showed that the move wasn't crazy as first thought, though I still view him as a third liner. But his goal yesterday on a quick release off a tremendous pass by Zib showed his skill.
Quinn, when asked what he saw from Lemieux to give him the top-six minutes that he deserved for his recent play, said, “Just his consistency effort. I think he creates space for his linemates. He’s got the skill, enough skill to complement his hardness and speed. You know. If I’m a (player), I want Brendan Lemieux on my line.”
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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