The Rangers head to Toronto with a four-game win streak and an upcoming break in the calendar due to the postponement of the game against Ottawa. Tuesday, the Blueshirts weren’t perfect, but played a solid overall game and held off the Canadiens 3-2 at MSG. Kaapo Kakko scored for the second straight game while Julien Gauthier - finally - got his first of the season. Chris Kreider continued his goal parade with his 12th of the season and Igor Shesterkin was solid between the pipes.
Game recap:
A few thoughts:
1)
Panarin-Strome-Kakko: that line was buzzing the entire first period and for good portions of the game. Panarin looks to have his jump back, and now that Kakko has the monkey off his back for not scoring, you can just see the confidence he has on his back. Strome is Strome, nothing elite, but solid and always in the midst of the play.
2)
Gauthier: injures have given Gauthier another life, and this time, he looks to finally be taking advantage of the opportunity. The goal was nice but that was literally just the tail end of the play and not the most impressive part. Gauthier’s dogged forecheck, sticking with the play both behind and at the side of the net, creating the turnover was the most impressive part.
Gauthier scoring in New York’s 200th career win over Montreal is a nice side point. On a line with Alexis Lafrenieie and Filip Chytil, Gauthier has found a nice spot. But with Sammy Blais gone for the year and Barclay Goodrow likely a better fit on that trio, dare I say, could we see Gauthier get a twirl with Zb and Kreider?
On Goodrow. Yes, Brendan Gallagher did sucker punch him after the two were engaged at the end of the game. Yes, Goodrow did embellish and act a little as seen at him looking at the ref between the fingers of his glove. The latter part doesn’t mean that the first piece didn’t happen. It was a sucker punch. Just because Goodrow embellished doesn’t mean that Gallagher didn’t sucker punch him. So for the fan base saying because he embellished it wasn’t a sucker punch, nope, doesn’t work that way. Just means no damage was caused by it.
3)
Defense: overall, much better Tuesday. A rare mistake by Adam Fox helped lead to the first goal and poor pass by Nils Lundkvist created the second, along with a let down after the Gautheir tally. But night and day from where they were before they had the few days off to practice.
On Nils, he is being sheltered and not seeing much playing down the stretch of tight games, as reported by Larry Brooks. But that’s fine. Let him continue to get his feet wet. If he is at that stage a month or six weeks from now, then I will be concerned. Until then, allow him to grow at his own pace. The 10-3-3 mark helps avoid panicking and rushing Lundqvist.
Gallant on Nils
Lundqvist’s progression] is steady; I mean there’s nothing real flashy out there,” said Gallant. “You talk about him [that] he’s going to be a talented power-play guy, but Foxy is out there for a good part of that power play so [Lundqvist] doesn’t get a whole lot of looks out there in that, but he moves the puck well, he’s got a lot of skill and a good hockey IQ.
“He’s never going to be a physical player and that’s not what we want. He’s a Foxy-type player, not at that level, obviously, but he just got over here. He’s doing everything we want. He’s young, it takes some time, but we’re happy as hell with him. He’s everything we thought he is.”
4)
Ryan Reaves provided a spark when Montreal rookie forward Michael Pezzetta challenged him to a fight 65 seconds after Christian Dvorak tied the game. Pezzetta took offense to a clean check on the boards and got the worst of it in his shot at the title. Reaves pumped up the home crowd after the officials broke up the fight and less than a half minute later, Kreider scored to give New York the lead.
Even better was Reaves’ comments on PK Subban. Reaves didn’t take a shot at Subban following the slew foot of Sammy Blais on Sunday that resulted in the torn ACL. Speculation was that Reaves laid back due to the game being a one-goal contest at the time, which was all but confirmed by Reaves. But he did send a very clear message to Subban not to skate with his head down when the teams meet.
“It’s a close game, Subban’s not going to fight me,” Reaves said after the 3-2 victory over Montreal. “What’s going to happen, I’m going to go cross-check him, take a penalty, and they’re on the power play? I think I’d rather try and catch him with his head down with a hit or something like that. I know who’s going to fight me and who I’m going to have a chance to go after and he definitely isn’t one of them.”
5)
Shesterkin As long as he doesn’t have to face Calgary again, Igor could be in the Vezina mix. Granted way too early to be thinking about this and an ancillary point to the season, but take away those two games and his numbers are off the chart. Of the 29 goals he has allowed, 11 came in those two games.
Igor should be between the pipes as New York faces a red hot Toronto squad. This is especially so with no game Saturday, when the Rangers now will practice, but a game Sunday against Buffalo. I could see Alexandar Georgiev being given the tap on the pads for the Sabres game with the Blueshirts facing the Isles at UBS Arena on Wednesday and then the Bruins in Boston on Black Friday followed by the Isles at home on November 28.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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