The Rangers fell 6-3 to the Jets. Winnipeg was good, maybe not dominant, but took advantage of the opportunities presented them by New York. Two Blueshirts - Mika Zibanejad and K’Andre Miller - were primary reasons for the loss as their suboptimal play contributed mightily to the loss.
Game recap:
Rangers lineup vs. Jets:
Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Kreider-Trocheck-Smith
Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko
Edström-Carrick-Vesey
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Jones-Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Scratches: Mancini, Brodzinski
A few thoughts:
1) Zibanejad - Vince Mercogliano and Arthur Staple both nicely laid the errors/mistakes/issues Zib had yesterday. There is no nice way to spin this. Zibanejad has been brutal, not just offensively but defensively as well. Maybe he is overthinking or pressing, but whatever the driver for his issues, which go back further than this year, he is killing the Rangers. He looks disinterested and lacking any joy on the ice as his difficulties seem to be preying on him. Zib did leave the game briefly with an injury, but came back in the first and played the rest of the contest.
Yesterday, his three glaring turnovers or misplays led to three Winnipeg goals. Each one was preventable, yet none were, resulting in the adverse results. The time may have arrived that coach Peter Laviolette gives Zibanajed a mental break and has him watch from the press box. I know this is unlikely to happen, but if there is anyone who would benefit from this and needs to clear his head, it certainly is Zibanejad.
Many of those errors started on Mika Zibanejad’s stick — the Rangers’ top-six center had three turnovers that led to Winnipeg goals, including a key one late in the third that allowed the Jets to extend their one-goal lead.
He tried a quick chip up the wall in the defensive zone in the opening minute of the game, but Panarin turned the wrong way. Josh Morrissey got to the puck inside the Rangers line and whipped a quick feed to Mark Scheifele in front of the net, his quick shot beat Shesterkin to put the Rangers in a quick hole.
"I can't speak for Mika and where he's at," Laviolette said when asked if he's sensed frustration from Zibanejad. "I know that we count on Mika. He's an impact player for us. Not him, but sometimes when you are pushing offensively to try and make things happen, things can go the other way."
Zibanejad tried to pull up and make a play in the Jets zone late in the second at 2-2 but lost the puck. Panarin made an ill-advised rush at Neal Pionk rather than staying back to cover for Jacob Trouba, who was up on the rush; Pionk fed Kyle Connor for a Jets two-on-one and a Winnipeg lead.
Finally, in the third, it was a neutral-zone turnover by Zibanejad that sent the Jets to work, with Scheifele converting in front 1:08 in. No. 93 is usually one of the most responsible Rangers forwards, but he’s pressing and it’s making things worse.
Laviolette, in an attempt to jumpstart Zib, created the Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafrenière line. They finished with a minus-four rating while being outshot, 9-2, in 8:40 time on ice together. As noted above, three of those goals against were directly traced back to a Zibanejad turnover.
Zibanejad is stuck on three five-on-five points (one goal and two assists) through 14 games played, with Panarin and Lafrenière getting dragged down, as well. They were the Rangers' two leading scorers when that line was formed on Nov. 2 but have combined for just three 5v5 points in four games since. Vincent Trocheck has not adopted well to the line change as well. With Trocheck scuffling and the Zib line not excelling either, it’s getting harder to justify not going back to the original trios.
2) If one positive continued yesterday, it was the play of the Will Cuylle–Filip Chytil–Kaapo Kakko line, who continued to produce and keep a clean sheet defensively with two goals, from Cuylle and Kakko, both in tight on Connor Hellebuyck and off rebounds. As Mercogliano noted, they were the only of the four starting trios to finish in the positive for goals (2-0), shots (9-6) and high-danger scoring chances (3-0), according to Natural Stat Trick. As a line, they've outscored opponents 11-0 so far this season.
Kakko looks rejuvenated on the new Kid Line, as he is being physical while also showing a willingness to shoot that was missing the last year or so. Cuylle has taken a massive step forward while Chytil has been the team’s best center, with the only area in need of upgrading is his face off performance. This line has to remain together irrespective of what the other units are doing.
3) Opportunistic - the Jets had too many odd-man rushes and transition chances to count as the Rangers, continuing a bad trend from the start of this season, gambled for offense and weren’t responsible enough to support one another and prevent some of the opportunities the Jets cashed in on. Now, three of those came from Zib and Miller didn’t help matters, so it sure you can pin the above on the entire team. New York had chances, many of which were stoned by Helly. I come out of this game somewhat happy as they showed they can stay with Winnipeg, but hard to win when two of your players basically bolster the opponent.
4) Stop me if you heard this before - i was a similarly rough showing for the Miller-Jacob Trouba defensive pair, which was minus-three on Tuesday and is now minus-seven in their last four games together. In further evidence that this pair is not working, they’ve been on ice for seven of the 11 goals the Rangers have allowed at 5v5 in that span and look increasingly disjointed.
Miller, in particular, has gone into a tailspin after a fairly promising start to the season while playing alongside Adam Fox. That duo had their difficulties as well, but nowhere what we saw in the past and have seen again from Miller-Trouba. Miller has all the talent in the world, but he makes poor decisions and has shown that despite his larger frame, he is too soft in his own zone. He too should be watching from the press box for at least a game, but we know that also won’t happen.
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