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Game 45: CLM 7 NYR 5, defense offensive in loss to Blue Jackets

January 14, 2019, 9:15 AM ET [158 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers lost 7-5 to the Blue Jackets in a game where defense looked to be optional at times. For New York, the Brendan Smith-Kevin Shattenkirk pairing were exposed repeatedly throughout the contest. Alexandar Georgiev surrendered the seven goals but actually played fairly well in the loss while Rick Nash was feted by the home crowd after announcing his retirement Friday.

Game recap:


David Quinn Post-Game:


Lines:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Zuccarello
Chytil-Strome-Fast
Vesey-Nieves-Namestnikov
McLeod-Howden-Buchnevich

Skjei-Pionk
Staal-DeAngelo
Smith-Shattenkirk

Georgiev

A few thoughts:
1) Defense - the Kirk-Smith pairing wasn’t particularly good and that’s being kind. I admit, I was wholeheartedly wrong on Shattenkirk. My thoughts when he signed that his struggles in Washington mufg have been partially due to the defensive system deployed by the Capitals. It turns out that his decline, which started mildly in St. Louis and continued broadly in Washington, has reached epic proportions in New York. The Rangers, if they can, may have to sell for pennies on the dollar, if they could find a taker. His defensive game has fallen off a cliff, and while in the past, his offense, especially on the power play, made up for his defensive deficiencies, that has been far from the case since he signed with the Rangers. That could be seen on how he was caught flat-footed, then was blown past and outmuscled by Anthony Duclair, who beat Georgiev top-shelf.

Fredrik Claesson was solid as Shattenkirk’s pair mate. Now, with Claesson out, length to be determined, coach David Quinn has to figure out who to deploy alongside ‘Kirk. Quinn played Tony DeAngelo the other day, but that pairing left a lot to be decided. Smith made some semblance of sense as someone who would allow Kirk to be more offensive while Smith playd the role of the more defensive blueliner of the duo. But I am unsure which direction Quinn goes in now, especially with Claesson out.

Neal Pionk, who missed Saturday’s game with an injury, was able to play yesterday. He replaced Adam McQuaid, which made little sense. The Skjei-Pionk duo was okay, but McQuaid had helped settle down Skjei a bit, allowing Skjei to play his game knowing that a more solid blueliner was back to cover for him. Skjei and Pionk are both offensive defensemen whose play in their own zone is an issue. So pairing those toe together makes little sense, almost like Shattenkirk and DeAngelo. But pairing Skjei and Pionk together keeps Pionk away from Marc Staal and may be the duo that Quinn tries for a while to see if these two mesh. I think we may see Smith-Shattenkirk as a pair, though that may depend if McQuaid is back in Tuesday.

2) Offense - the positives are that Ryan Strome has looked a lot better since getting moved back to center. Maybe he is boosting his trade value (h/t jimbo), as New York could look to deal him before February 25. In addition, he and Filip Chytil have appeared to establish some semblance of chemistry as a pairing. Mats Zuccarello scores against giving him tallies in back-to-back games as he hopefully raises his trade value.

Boo Nieves and Brett Howden swapped spots. Pavel Buchnevich is still on the fourth line and hasn’t shown much to warrant a move up the roster. When Kevin Hayes returns, Buch could be the odd man out. We railed on AV for burying and benching Buch, but he hasn’t done much under Quinn to show that decision was as big of a mistake as originally viewed by many. Buch needs to prove that he deserves increase ice time and higher line placement, so far, that has been far from the case.

New York won just 31% of face offs in the game. Mika Zibanejad (9-for-24) and Boo Nieves (2-for-16) struggled mightily between the dots. This is an area where Hayes’ absence also shows up.

3) David Quinn Quotes Post-Game from the above video. Clearly not happy again about the compete level. This is an area that the team has worked on in practice, so to see the squad get outworked as they did has to be disconcerting. Is it a heart or compete level, because effort can beat talent when the effort outworks the takent, which is how New York has to play to beat teams.





4) Alexander Georgiev started in place of Henrik Lundqvist to give Hank another day off and extended mental/physical rest. I advocated this move in yesterday’s blog seeing how well Georgiev played Saturday. As Steve Valiquette notes, despite giving up seven goals, as odd as it sounds, Georgiev played fairly well. If you look at most of the goals, he didn’t have much of a chance.



5) Rick Nash, who retired Friday after 15 NHL seasons due to concussions, dropped the ceremonial puck before the game. Nash was selected with the No. 1 pick by the Blue Jackets in the 2002 NHL Draft and is their all-time leader in games played (674), goals (289), assists (258) and points (547). He also played more than five seasons with the Rangers after he was acquired by them in a trade with Columbus on July 23, 2012. You know my view on Nash, most of which I noted Friday. Hopefully he has no more medical issues or long-term effects from the concussions.

Rick Nash Puck Drop and Blue Jackets video:





Interview with Rick Nash on MSG Network:


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