The Rangers went toe-to-toe again with the Bruins on Friday, but the offense was once again non-existent, falling 1-0. Jaroslav Halak, who always has the team's number, did it again pitching the shutout, Igor Shesterkin was good, but Nick Ritchie's rebound shot and only good of the game had to be stopped. Anthony DeAngelo has his first interview since the incident and his waivers, speaking to Larry Brooks.
I hate losing. I hate watching the team miss chances. But they are playing a much better brand of defensive hockey than a year ago, keeping them in games. Last season, it was the offense that carried the team early while the defense made you sit with you hands over your eyes, hoping they would hold on. If the D was like last year, every game would be a blowout with the offense struggling. We have to hope that all the slumping players, Zib, Kreider, Buch et al wake up to support the defense.
TommyGTrain: summed it up well in his post to my prior blog. Unsure I agree with the Kreider piece, but I concur that he needs to be producing more. His morphing from the player that just went up and down the wing to one that is better defensively did come at a price, as it has resulted in a decline in the explosion we use to see. Hanging with Boston is great and the goal is to be that kind of team in the future, which hopefully isn't too far off, but work remains and gaps exist.
Tonite was another stepping stone for our young team --- sucks to lose but the team is still fighting hard and will hopefully grow from this. Some notes:
1) Lindgren is one tough SOB. Love players like this!
2) Think we can all end the "Kreider for Captain" campaign right now. No Panarin tonite --- this was THE game where Kreider needed to go full "Beast" mode. Only big hit was in the last minute of the game and it was too little, too late. He may be a leader, but not worthy of a "C".
3) Bruins are one of the best teams in hockey. We hung with them without our best player and no centers playing well. Yes , we failed to earn valuable points tonight, but this group is on the right track.
4) Our defense is LIGHT YEARS better than last year! Coach Martin is certainly earning his paycheck, but Quinn is most definitely not on the hot seat. The only complaint that I have with the defense is we seem to have a few miscommunication problems every game --- that has to get cleaned up.
One major area of weakness is the
PP, which 2-for-its-last 31. The killer was the man-advantage with 1:02 left after Charlie McAvoy took a delay of game penalty. When you can't gain the zone or can't find a way to free the puck on a 6-on-4 with the goalie pulled, you don't deserve to win. Quinn has mixed-and-matched. moving Alexis Lafreniere to the top unit and then back down again, promoting Ryan Strome again. New York missed Artemi Panarin, but as Quinn said, they pass when they should shoot and shoot when they should pass.
In a shuffle again, with Panarin out today, PP1 at Saturday's practice was Fox, Mika, Kakko, Strome and Kreider. PP2 was Trouba Laf, Buch, Blackwell and Lemieux. One will come off the top unit when Panarin returns, my guess is Laf, though could be Strome. On PP2, Blackwell likely goes. I would love to see Lemieux in front on the first unit, where his agitative style might benefit the team
One positive is the penalty kill. The new aggressive style, inclusion of K'Andre Miller and mixing of forwards has paid dividends. Jacques Martin has to get some credit for their play. As noted in the NY Post:
The Blueshirts have killed off 21 consecutive power-play opportunities by their opponents for the first time since a stretch from Dec. 8 to Dec. 18 in 2016.
Going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill in the loss, the Rangers held Boston to just six shots on goal while on the man-advantage.
In the last six games, the Rangers have not allowed a man-advantage goal, with the PK units going a perfect 21-for-21. They have killed off 24 of their opponents’ 25 power-play opportunities over the past seven games for a 96 percent kill percentage.
We are seeing gains out of
Kaapo Kakko, even though that hasn't shown on the scoresheet. Vince Mercogliano nicely went through this, highlighting that in the past four games since the top-six promotion, Kakko ranks second among all Rangers with 14 scoring chances generated . It's not just offensively, even though Kakko's production is down, but defensively as well. Kakko, who turned 20 on Saturday, yes, he is just 20, which is something we fail to recognize too often, expecting immediate success, meshed nicely with Laf on Friday. When Filip Chytil returns, play those three together, as suggested below.
For all the chatter on Laf,
Slimtj100 summarized nicely where he is. Similar to Kakko, expectations were raised due to talent and draft status. I wish he was averaging a point a game, but like Kakko, I am willing to be patient. The talent and more important, effort, are there, the production will follow.
People gotta understand what he was thrust into. He’s 19 when he gets drafted, he hasn’t played in months ( due to covid), then he comes to the rangers without knowing teammates or the league, he gets a two week camp to get ready for the NHL, w/o any preseason games. They have barely practiced all season, or definitely less than normal. Also, every one of these games is essentially a playoff game. Teams play a lot tighter defensively, then normal reg season. No first overall pick has ever had these circumstances to deal with in the beginning of their NHL career. No one. These are not excuses, these are facts. To boot, his center is basically a number 2 center in the AHL
He’ll be fine. Let him grow, be patient
With Panarin out Saturday's practice, here were the
lines. Blackwell brings some grit. He is miscast on the top line, but if Panarin is out, maybe he can help jumpstart the other two-thirds of the line with his style of play. If Panarin plays, does he move to the right side on the first line? Right now, the third line should be the fourth, as Lemieux-Rooney-Gauthier have all played well and deserve more time. Buch is in a major scoring slump, which is why he was dropped to the third line.
Kreider - Mika - Blackwell
Laf - Strome - Kakko
PDG - Howden - Buch
Lemieux - Rooney - Gauthier
Mercogliano
proposed these lines when Chytil returns, could Blackwell be the 2020-21 version of Jesper Fast, playing up a line or two to provide cohesiveness? I would rather him play than Howden. Play Lemieux - Rooney - Gauthier as your fourth line, mix in PDG periodically and see where they land.
A top nine of Panarin-Zibanejad-Blackwell, Lafrenière-Strome-Kakko and Kreider-Chytil-Buchnevich would enable Quinn to evenly distribute minutes, rather than rely on the top six to carry the burden. And for the fourth line, he'd have grinders such as Di Giuseppe, Howden, Julien Gauthier, Brendan Lemieux and Kevin Rooney to choose from.
ADA spoke with Brooks addressing the incident and his waiving. Each person will have their own view of the column. I think that DeAngelo hit all the right notes in his comments, but he is trying to resurrect his career, so much - or at a minimum - some of what he said has to be taken with a large grain of salt. For his sake, I hope he learns from this and also all the other events that led to ouster, the latter the biggest driver of him now sitting home and seeing what his fate will be. But wherever he lands next, one slip up, even minor, and the rhetoric will begin again and be proven to be true, even if not all that has been said is.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»