The Rangers slump continued Thursday as they fell 3-2 in a shootout to Detroit. The top line’s struggles, following the deal of Mats Zuccarello, were evident again versus the Red Wings, with Chris Kreider riding the pine for a bit. Pavel Buchnevich scored the Blueshirts’ only two goals while Henrik Lundqvist was solid between the pipes. New York is in New Jersey on Saturday.
David Quinn Post-Game:
Lines:
20 Kreider - 93 Zibanejad - 26 Vesey
90 Namestnikov - 16 Strome - 17 Fast
89 Buchnevich - 21 Howden - 48 Lemieux
24 Nieves - 50 Andersson - 72 Chytil
18 Staal - 77 DeAngelo
76 Skjei - 42 Smith-
43 Hajek - 44 Pionk
30 Lundqvist
40 Georgiev
Freddy Claesson was a healthy scratch along with Connor Brickley and Kevin Shattenkirk. Lias Andersson, scratched previously, centered a fourth line of Boo Nieves and Filip Chytil. After missing Wednesday’s practice with the flu, and playing sick Tuesday in Dallas, Marc Staal remained in the lineup, avoiding his first scratch of the season. He has played all 67 games this season, which is a testament to his fortitude but maybe not the best use of the team’s assets, especially the younger players.
A few quick thoughts just to change the blog subject:
Scratching Shattenkirk:
“Just a little bit of slippage in his play,” coach David Quinn said. “Over the course of the last few weeks, I think he’s been a little bit frustrated with his power-play play. He’s putting a little bit too much pressure on himself and I think sometimes that affects the rest of his game. I just think this is the right thing to do for tonight.”
Shattenkirk has not come even remotely close to earning his salary form the four year, $26.6 million deal he signed in July 2017. I thought he had played better since returning from his injury, but likely warranted the benching. The fun part becomes on what New York decides to do with him this offseason. Do they buy him out, try and move him with an asset, bench him or hope that he somewhat stays healthy and rebounds next season?
Brendan Smith, who had been in the lineup as a forward for the past six games and eight of the past nine, returned to the blue line in Shattenkirk’s normal spot, paired with Brady Skjei. The former Red Wing was solid in a season-high 22:13. Smith has actually played pretty well this season. For all the talk of buying him out and benching Smith, he actually has deserved to be in the lineup. When he plays with some snarl, he is much more effective than when he just tries to play positional hockey.
Sitting Kreider:
Kreider played sparingly over the final 20 minutes of regulation, taking just three shifts for a total of 2:13, with right wing Jimmy Vesey’s time getting cut down as well, as Quinn reconstituted the top like. Instead, it was Boo Nieves (on the left) and Filip Chytil (on the right) playing with Zibanejad for most of the third.
“I thought other guys were playing better [than Kreider], so they’re going to get the ice time,” coach David Quinn said. “I thought both those guys [Nieves and Chytil] had legs. I thought they were going to put in an effort and I thought they did that. That line had some chances and spent time in the offensive zone."
Kreider’s and Zib’s play and production have really leveled off. Zucc was the creative one on that trio. Since he was dealt, the offense has dried up, especially the top line. Vesey has played well, but his style is more straight forward compared to Zucc, who was able to find open spaces and make plays for other. I could see Buchnevich moved to go see if he fits on that line.
After a poor Tuesday in Dallas, Buchnevich — on a line with 21-year-old Brett Howden and 22-year-old Brendan Lemieux — provides all the Rangers offense. Buchnevich nearly finished off a hat trick, and the game, in OT, and his chance to extend the shootout rang off the crossbar to end the game. I like how he rebounded from that poor game to be the best player on the ice for New York. For all the talk of how bad of a year Buch is having, he is up to 15 goals and his production of almost in line with last season. The fun question is do the Rangers go with a bridge deal or a long term deal for the RFA?
Good point by Carp. “After a bunch of games in a row in which the Rangers gave better teams all they could handle, the last two have fallen off in terms of performance. The Rangers have stopped that nice little run they had of getting pucks deep and going to work, with possession. Except for Lemieux , Howden and Buchnevich, and a few other forwards.” Without Zucc and Kevin Hayes, the top-six talent and scoring is lacking, which hopefully gets remediate this offseason.
The Rangers have now been outscored 16-14 in regulation during the six-game losing streak, not counting a late empty-netter against the Canadiens. That’s a result of the lack of talent noted above. Until the offseason - while we may see pockets of production - the consistent output will be lacking.
Penalty kill:
While the Rangers came into Thursday with the 24th-ranked penalty kill in the NHL (78.4 percent), Quinn has focused on the unit’s play of late and credited assistant coach Lindy Ruff for its turnaround. They killed off three more penalties Thursday and have allowed only 10 goals on 73 power plays (86.3 percent) over the past 24 games. In addition, the team has stopped all 14 chances the past four games.
“We’ve been more aggressive,” Quinn said. “Listen, I know where we are from a full-season standpoint with our penalty kill statistically. I don’t care about that. I’m much more concerned about what’s been happening over the last few weeks and the last month. And it’s been the best it’s been all year.”
Henrik Lundqvist played his 850th career game, becoming the third goalie to play in that many games with one franchise. Lundqvist became the third goalie in NHL history to play 850 games with one team, joining Martin Brodeur (1,259) and Tony Esposito (873). It was Lundavist’s 32nd career game of 40 or more saves, as Detroit, even without Dylan Larkin (back) carried play.
As I wrote the other day, for those looking forward and at the records, which seem to be most of us, five of the next seven games for New York come against Detroit, New Jersey, Edmonton, Vancouver and Detroit again with Calgary and Minnesota mixed in. These games will play a huge role on where the Rangers finish, since it's a battle for the lower part of the standings. I will post the record for each game below.
Detroit - loss 3-2 in shutout, picked up one point
Following those seven contests, New York then faces Toronto, Pittsburgh, Boston and St. Louis before closing against Philly, New Jersey, Ottawa, Columbus and Pittsburgh. Settle in, as we will see how many ping pong balls the Blueshirts get.
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