The Rangers after a quiet first period and spotting the Capitals the first goal of the game turned on the afterburners and potted the next five tallies for a 5-1 win. K'Andre Miller netted a pair, Artemi Panarin went top-shelf on the power play with Braden Schneider and Alexis Lafreniere lighting the lamp as well. Igor Shesterkin was a wall and looks to be back to his stellar self. The one downer was the loss of Jacob Trouba to a probable head injury following a drive-by collision with Tom Wilson in the first minute of the second period. New York heads to the Sunshine State to take on Florida on Friday and Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Gustafsson – Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
A few thoughts:
1) Miller - ironically Larry Brooks posted his column about Miller, much of which was taken following the morning skate, right before Miller had a highlight reel goal on a give-and-go with Mika Zibanejad. Miller lifted Ivan Miroshnichenko's stick just as the pass arrived to create room to receive the puck and put a backhand past Darcy Kuemper. He was not done, as Miller added his second later in the game, taking the feed from Chris Kreider and beating a screened Kuemper for the tally. He added an assist on Laf's goal for good measure.
Column. Miller expects much more from the Rangers — and himself. "I don't think I've done anything this year that I'm really happy with, to be completely honest. There's a lot of improvement that I can show," No. 79 tells Post. https://t.co/xWOkIhOCSc via @nypostsports
If Trouba is sidelined for any length of time, Miller will be counted upon to step up with his pair mate out. Miller has all the skills you would want in a defenseman. Long reach, size, skating ability, vision, puck-handling skills and scoring capacity. Those are not always on display, but Miller has been better this year even as he was sidelined two games for personal reasons earlier this month. His duo with Trouba has been excellent this season, as Brooks noted, they rank fifth in the NHL with a 58.97 percent of goal share (23 for, 16 against) among the 15 pairs with at least 400 minutes at five-on-five. Miller noted he feels he can get to another level, as I think most Rangers fans believe. If he does, this team becomes even more dangerous.
“I came out of the [Christmas] break with some goals,” Miller said following the second multi-goal game of his career. “Just to be playing better hockey. I don’t think there’s any crazy recipe so I just wanted to come back with a little bit better mindset and do a little more for the team.”
“I need to simplify my game," Miller said in the morning. "Maybe I’m trying to create too much or trying do too much with the puck,” said the defenseman, who two weeks ago stepped away for a pair of games so he could deal with a personal matter. “That’s where my game can slip away from me at times. From my perspective, it’s about keeping the game simple, keeping guys in front of me, trusting myself and being reliable for my teammates.”
2) Trouba left the game in the second after the collision below. Much will be made of the fact that it was with Wilson. But from the angles shown, it didn't look like Wilson lifted his elbow or shoulder, just that he and Trouba inadvertently collided with the impact to Trouba's chin and a whiplash type of effect.
If Trouba does not travel to Florida, that would be a pretty good indication he is in concussion protocol. Zac Jones would probably be the next man up, though Connor Mackey, Matthew Robertson or Mac Hollowell could get a promotion and be inserted in the lineup. I could see a Miller-Schneider duo, though it would not shock me if Erik Gustafsson plays opposite Miller.
3) Igor is back. Whatever was the problem from November into earlier this month, it looks to be resolved. Shesterkin was on his game yesterday, especially late, when the Rangers seemed to stop paying attention to defense with a 5-1 lead. He made several excellent saves, a few of which are below. In his last four games, Shesterkin is 4-0-0 with a 1.75 goals-against average. .938 save percentage and 2.68 Goals Saved Above Expected.
4) Notes: Panarin has a point in seven of his past eight games (three goals, six assists). The goal he scored was put into an empty tight window on basically a one-time....Zibanejad extended his point streak to eight games with a pair of assists in Game #800 for the Swedish center. Six of those eight have been multi-point performances, and Zibanejad has been held without a point only once in the past 17 games...Evidencing the balance scoring, 11 different Rangers hit the scoresheet in the win..What won't show up in the scoresheet is the solid work done by the fourth line again yesterday. They were extremely noticeable throughout the game.
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