The Rangers fell 3-2 in a shootout to Vegas on Friday to fall to 2-3-1 in their last six contests. Without Artemi Panarin, coach Gerald Gallant shuffled the lines, moving Alexis Lafrenierte to left wing on the second line to replace Panarin while also sliding Filip Chytil to wing with Barclay Goodrrow centering the third line. Later, Chytil slid up to the second line with Dryden Hunt moving down. Nils Lundkvist missed another game, but hopefully is close to returning. New York, now off until Wednesday when they face Montreal, activated Igor Shesterkin off injured reserve Saturday, sending Keith Kinkaid to Hartford while Patrik Nemeth landed on the COVID-19 list.
Game recap:
A few thoughts:
1)
Top line: the top line was rolling Friday, led by Mika Zibanejad. I said recently that I thought Zib was close to getting hot. After a solid contest Wednesday, Friday might have been his best game of the season, as he was dominant in all phases. Zib scored the Rangers first goal then dished to Chris Kreider for the team's second goal of the game. Add in seven shots on goal, a pair of takeaways and a remarkable 15-for-19 mark between the dots.
Gallant: "Mika was jumping from the first shift for the whole game. I really liked his game. He stepped up big-time for us tonight."
2)
Alexandar Georgiev was a major reason why New York earned a point. Under siege in the third, Georgiev stopped nine of 10 shots. In the overtime, Georgiev stoned Max Pacioretty on a pair of breakaways to keep the game even, While Igor was activated, as I said in my last blog, I wouldn't be shocked if Georgiev gets the nod against the Habs, giving Shesterkin four more days to rest during the Xmas break before facing Detroit on Dec. 27. The Rangers take on the Panthers and Lightning that week, so a few additional days off would not be the worst thing in the world.
3)
Consistently inconsistent: Despite being down 1-0 on of course a goal by Brett Howden, who assisted on Vegas' second goal later, the first period was fairly even between the two sides. The Rangers then dominated the second stanza in possibly their best and most complete 20 minutes of the season. New York outshot Vegas 11-4 in the second, scoring twice to take a 2-1 lead and carrying all the momentum into the locker room.
Gallant: "I came in after the second and I just said, ‘You know what? If we match that period again, boys, there's no contest. We're going to win this game."
We know what happened. New York took their foot off the gas, going over 15 minutes without notching a shot while getting outshot 10-2 and surrendering the tying goal. After the game, we heard the same statements we have heard before. The team knows what they have to do, yet fail to remain assertive, possibly too afraid to make a mistake. But as we know, "safe is death," and the team was nicked to death, as Vegas kept coming in the zone after New York just cleared the puck out without creating any form of counter attack. Moving forward, to get to the next level, finding that balance between safety and aggression is paramount.
"You try and keep pushing and going forward, but you're saying, ‘Let's try not to pinch too much. Let’s try not to make those mistakes,’" Gallant said. "It happens. They won a faceoff and they scored a goal."
"We’ve shown flashes in every game," Kreider said. "The challenge for us is putting together the full 60 (minutes)."
"We're stretching out those good periods of play into larger chunks (and) stacking periods," Kreider said. "There's definitely lapses, but those are the things that we've got to take the lesson and leave the mistake. I think that it's few and far between compared to how it was the first 10, 12 games of the season when Igor (Shesterkin) was really carrying us, so it's just continuing to build."
4) With the league canceling games for several teams the past few days, the NHL announced
updated COVID measures through January 7. The change is a return to preventative measures consistent with last year’s Protocols for all Players and all members of the Club Traveling Party. This includes more consistent wearing of masks and daily testing.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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