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Halak-Lindgren lead way to Rangers 3-1 win over the Senators |
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> The Rangers finally put together a full contest, defeating the Senators 3-1 on Wednesday. Jaroslav Halak notched his first victory as a Ranger while Ryan Lindgren contributed primary assists on all three of New York’s scores. The Blueshirts will face Ottawa again on Friday and Chicago on Saturday, both contests to be played at MSG.
Game recap:
Lines:
Here's the Rangers' lineup tonight in Ottawa:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Vesey
Panarin-Chytil-Kakko
Lafrenière-Trocheck-Kravtsov
Blais-Goodrow-Gauthier
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Schneider
Jones-Trouba
Halák
Shesterkin
Scratches: Carpenter, Hajek
A few thoughts:
1) Halak was strong when needed, but more important, did not allow any soft goals, which has been his issue to date. Granted, Halak hadn’t seen much goal support, as Arthur Staple noted he had received just seven goals in his outings. But the .881 save percentage did not inspire much confidence.
Halak became the 10th goalie to win a game for the Rangers and Islanders. Staple noted who the other nine goalies were and it's a fun list: John Vanbiesbrouck, Kevin Weekes, Steve Weeks, Mike Dunham, Jamie McLennan, Glenn Healy, Martin Biron, Chad Johnson and The Garden Faithful podcast’s own Steve Valiquette!
Coming into the game, given Igor Shesterkin's comments post-game Monday and slamming of his stick in practice the other day, you could tell he needed a mental day off and reset. That hopefully was accomplished yesterday. Igor did what all elite athletes should do - take the burden on himself and say he is the problem - but there needs to be a line and maintenance of your confidence. You can tell he is fighting himself on the ice and each goal allowed further chips away at that confidence.
Coach Gerard Gallant and goaltender coach Benoit Allaire likely will go back to Shesterkin on Friday when the Senators come to town, If that happens, then Halak goes Saturday against the Hawks (or vice-versa), though it's possible Halak doubles-down and gets Ottawa with Igor facing Chicago. If Igor plays well, then he should play Monday versus the Blues. If not and Halak is strong again, then have him face St. Louis.
2) Jimmy Vesey continues to show why he belongs in the lineup and earned a spot from his PTO in training camp. Not just the goals, but the reading of plays and knowing the right place to be on the ice. Add his ability to kill penalties and cheap cap hit and he has been somewhat invaluable the first quarter-plus of the season.
Staple noted the play Vesey made prior to the goal that helped lead to the scoring chance, which evidences what I noted above: "The play he made before his first-period goal was almost as sweet as the rebound he deposited. Vesey hung back at the point while Lindgren followed his own dump-in, then knew exactly when to attack down the wall to keep the play alive as Lindgren drifted back to his usual left-point spot. Vesey curled to the slot, stopped and was where he needed to be to score."
3) Vitali Kravtsov finally got back in the lineup. His performance wasn't phenomenal but he should remain in the lineup. The only way to really tell what he brings to the lineup and what New York has is for him to be active. Kravtsov had one unnecessary offensive-zone penalty in the second period and a handful of moments, though nothing stood out, in 10:30 of ice time, primarily with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière.
As Vince Mercogliano noted, the third line with Kravtsov, Lafrenière and Trocheck registered four high-danger scoring chances while only allowing one, according to Natural Stat Trick. And the fourth line of Barclay Goodrow, who scored, Sammy Blais and Julien Gauthier produced a goal and played an effective possession game, generating a handful of extended offensive-zone shifts.
4) Offensive strategy - Staple nicely laid this out in his column. He called it high-low, you can call it north-south or a combination of both. If you view north-south as how to operate from the defensive to offensive zone, then the high-low is separate, since it's how you play in the opponent's zone. Completely eliminating east-west if not feasible, because you can create that way. But New York is better north-south, but likes playing a more fancy game, which leads to bogged down offense and forays through the neutral zone.
Staple: "Barclay Goodrow noted that those low-to-high plays in the offensive zone were a point of emphasis the past few weeks in practice and video sessions, using the preferred phrasing Gallant uses when his team tries to go more east-west inside the O-zone. “We were maybe getting a little too cute,” he said, so the solution was gaining the zone, sending the puck back to the point and crashing hard to the net.
Ryan Lindgren executed this superbly on Wednesday, with three of his point shots resulting in all three Ranger goals. Two were nice deflections from Goodrow and Chris Kreider, and one was a rebound goal by Vesey."
5) Lindgren. Warrior. Dan Girardi 2.0. Sets the tone for the defense and is somewhat irreplaceable. Adam Fox and Lindgren, who should never be broken up as a pair, were excellent once again Wednesday, He's collected six assists in his last five games and is only seven away from tying his career high for a season with 57 games to play. Lindgren takes a beating nightly but somehow wills his way to remaining in the game. He is the 2020s version of the block-ness monster. His offensive ability is better than first thought when acquired, same with his skating ability. But he does the dirty work nightly without complaining. Lindgren is in the second year of a three-year, $9 million contract, which to date has been a steal and he is set up for a big next deal with the Rangers, barring major injury.
"He's a character guy," Gallant said of Lindgren. "He blocks shots, he does everything for us. I think he's got five assists in his last [three] games, so he's been great for us all year."
6) The power play has become way too predictable. Go cross ice to Zib for the one-timer or try for Kredier deflection. The lack of puck and player movement is very evident lately. Fox doesn't have a howitzer of a shot, so getting clearer angles for attempts is key. New York has to get to moving in the offensive zone to avoid getting stagnant and forcing the D and goalies to have more options to defend rather than one or two.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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