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Game 73: NYR-DET, Final 10-game stretch starts tonight against Red Wings

March 19, 2019, 12:36 PM ET [239 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
New York kicks off their last 10 games of the season with a contest against Detroit at MSG tonight. The Rangers and Red Wings are each playing out the string, with development of the younger players and aiming for more ping pong balls the end goals. The Blueshirts, to that end, called up John Gilmour and Vinny Lettieri on Monday, though it’s unclear if either or both will be in the lineup tonight.

The Rangers lines at practice yesterday. Jesper Fast (maintenance) and Filip Chytil (flu) were not out there. Chytil is out for today’s game and not clear if Lettieri will opt in:

Kreider-Zibanejad-Strome
Namestnikov-Howden-Buchnevich
Vesey-Andersson-Lemieux
Smith-Nieves-Brickley

Fairly substantive changes. Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad are reunited, joined by Ryan Strome, who moves out of the second line center spot. Shifting Strome opens up additional ice time for Lias Andersson and Boo Nieves, who will both line up at their natural center position against the Red Wings. Brett Howden slides up to the second line between Vladislav Namestnikov and Pavel Buchnevich while Andersson will be flanked by Jimmy Vesey and Brendan Lemieux and Nieves should skate on a unit with Brendan Smith and Jesper Fast, depending on if Lettieri, had 23 goals in 44 games for Hartford, is in the lineup.

Andersson, who was scratched in Calgary on Friday and has averaged 8:55 of ice per for his past six games on the fourth line, should see more ice time with the move of Strome. He gets 10 games to show something, which hasn’t been the case to date, save for sporadic moments, partially or potentially largely impacted by his usage and line placement. As Larry Brooks noted, Nieves gets a chance to build on what had been a string of impressive performances in a generally limited role as fourth-line winger before he sat out the past two games as a healthy scratch. I think most of us agree that Nieves can be an effective fourth line pivot with the potential to move up a line along with possible penalty kill utilization.

D pairs:
Staal-DeAngelo
Skjei-Pionk
Claesson-Shattenkirk

Gilmour, who scored 20 goals for a woeful Hartford team, finally gets the call again. A potential unrestricted free agent after the season, Gilmour has yet to re-sign with New York. The Rangers should give him one more chance to see what he has. We know the offense is there, defensively, he needed work. Sounds a lot like Neal Pionk, though Gilmour is probably better than Pionk in his own zone, even though that isn’t saying much.

Lundqvist

Brooks on Kreider. Please revive TPC after reading the below. My question is why would you continue to play Kreider with an injury when the games really matter little? He should have been shut down. I commend Kreider for wanting to play, knowing he was way less than 100 percent, but having him in lineup seems foolish and short-sighted. If the Rangers can sign Artmei Panarin and/or a second piece and come out of the draft with a high pick that is viewed as an impact player, there is more of a likelihood of Kreider re-signing. I am all on board with a long term deal for him, as believe he has morphed into one of the key leaders on this team. But, that may not be the prevailing view or one shared by the organization, though I hope it is.

Kreider has scored only twice in his past 20 games beginning Feb. 6. As such, he rests on 26 goals, still two shy of the personal-best 28 he recorded in 2016-17. He has 49 points, four shy of his career-high 53 he established two seasons ago. Kreider, who has gone 10 straight without a goal since Feb. 24, sustained a hamstring injury against the Lightning at the Garden on Feb. 27 in the Blueshirts’ first match since the trade deadline, The Post has learned. Monday was the first time the injury had been disclosed.

“He’s done everything he can and I give him a lot of credit,” said the coach, whose team faces Detroit at the Garden on Tuesday. “For a guy who depends on his legs so much, I thought he did a real good job fighting through that lower-body injury and did everything he [could].”

Now Kreider is in Ryan McDonagh’s situation, either a couple of months away from a lucrative contract extension — figure, conservatively, six years at $6.5 million per for the winger who will turn 28 on April 30 — or a trade in which he would be exchanged for a package of draft picks and prospects/young NHL-ready players.

This is an either/or that will be settled reasonably early. There is not even the slightest chance Kreider will be back for training camp without an extension.

If management believes it is multiple years away from being a legit playoff team, never mind Cup contender, then it may not make sense to lock up Kreider into his mid-30s. Then, too, moving yet another substantial marquee guy for future commodities kind of ensures the Rangers would indeed be multiple years away from presenting an authentic tournament team.


Brooks on where New York stands in terms of record and ping-pong balls. Interesting view on going with placing the record against NHL .500 rather than projecting. Though, that may not be the most apt comparison and doesn’t reflect how teams are playing. If the Rangers continue to struggle, they could may slide down one more slots, below Anaheim, as they are tied with them in points but the Blueshirts have two games in hand. In addition, Edmonton and Buffalo have two more points than New York and t have played the same number of games while Vancouver is three points north of the Rangers, who have one game in hand. New York faces Detroit, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Boston, St. Louis, Philly, New Jersey, Ottawa, Columbus and Pittsburgh down the stretch.

The Rangers, 1-5-5 in their past 11 games, have slipped to 26th-overall, which puts the team in a pre-lottery sixth-overall draft position. Rather than attempting to compare points and games-in-hand when attempting to get a clearer picture of the forecast, it is wise to distill the teams to their record against NHL .500.

So that entering Monday’s games, the reverse order approaching the April 9 pingpong-ball exercise in Toronto, stood: 1. Ottawa (Colorado) -16; 2. Los Angeles, -13; 3. Detroit, -12; 4. Devils, -10; 5. Anaheim, -5; 6. Rangers, -3; 7. Vancouver, -2; 8. Buffalo, -1; 9. Edmonton, -1.


Patrik Virta, a seventh round pick in 2017, will not be offered an extension by his SHL team and is coming to North America next year. More depth for Hartford and one with true upside to get a role in New York next year or the year after. Has blossomed more than originally expected, which is why I am hopeful more growth is yet to come.

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