The Rangers earned three of a possible four points this weekend, defeating the Oilers 5-4 in a shootout Friday and falling 3-2 in overtime to the Flames on Saturday. New York fell behind in each contest before rallying to notch points in each. The Blueshirts picked up five points on the three-game Western Canada swing to maintain pace with the Hurricanes and Devils atop the Metro Division.
Update: New York reacquired
Tyler Motte for another stretch run. The cost was Julien Gauthier and a conditional seventh rounder that could live up to a sixth. Gauthier gets a chance to possibly see their line minutes with the Senators, but seeing how he was being used in NY, hard to find fault with this trade. Motte, presuming he can stay healthy, bolsters the fourth line substantially. By moving Gauthier $800K salary, New York still has wiggle room to add another forward due to the $550K difference between the two salaries. I would love Sam Lafferty for that role, but Nick Bjugstad or Nick Bonino also would fit. Great job by GM Chris Drury with this trade.
Rangers-Oilers
Revenge is a dish best served cold. That was the case in each game. Friday, the Rangers gave a little payback to the Oilers for what they did to New York when these two teams faced off Nov. 26 at Madison Square Garden. That time, it was the Rangers on the wrong end of a three-goal comeback for a loss. This time, the Blueshirts returned the favor, rallying from 3-0 and 4-1 deficits to notch the victory. (Of course, the same happened Saturday, as Calgary got revenge for the loss to New York at MSG, though the game flow was a lot different)
After getting broadly outplayed in the first period, especially defensively and between the pipes,
New York clamped down defensively in the last two stanzas and overtime. The Rangers carried possession and outshot the Oilers 22-11 in the second and third - allowing just shots in that last frame - to get back in the game. Jack Campbell robbed Filip Chytil and Jimmy Vesey in second or the game might have ended in regulation.
"The difference in the first (period) from the second and the third was that we were a lot closer to them," coach Gerald Gallant said. "We talked about our D zone. We gave them too much time and space to make those plays. In the second or third period, I thought we were a lot closer to them. They didn't have those one-time plays and the open chances."
Igor Shesterkin had another uneven game. He allowed four goals on 12 shots in the first period, though not all were on him. A scramble in front on RNH's goal while Tyson Barrie's goal came from deep in the the slot, If you want to came blme, Igor was way off his angle on Derek Ryan's goal and beaten up high, In addition, he was slow in squaring up on Leon Draisaitl's PPG la the first.
He has posted an .875 save percentage in his last four starts, leading the reigning Vezina Trophy winner to wonder if he was going to get pulled to begin the second. Gallant stuck with him, likely due to Jaroslav Halak being slated to start the next night, and was rewarded. The 27-year-old responded with two shutout periods and a scoreless OT, stopping each of the final 17 shots he faced and another four in the shootout.
Beyond the win and the two goals from
Chris Kreider, who keeps moving up the Rangers All-Time goals scored list, the main positive was the continued fine play of
Alexis Lafreniere. After seemingly taking a step back, the reunification of the Kid Line has paid massive dividends for him and his linemates. Laf added another goal giving him four goals and five assists his last 10 games while also scoring the game-winner in the shootout.
Rangers-Flames:
Holy ugly start Batman, Two goals allowed in the first minute coming eight seconds apart. Turnover in the offensive zone by Vladimir Tarasenko led to a goal by Andrew Mangiapane, who held off K'Andre Miller and beat Halak. Then Adam Fox, who has been somewhat pedestrian lately, with a lazy pass picked off in the neutral zone and goal by Nazem Kadri. Before you could blink, 2-0 Calgary after falling behind 4-1 the night before.
New York was better the last seven minutes of that period. But they were lousy the first 10-12 minutes of second, resulting in the
Gallant blender. The new lines looked like:
Kreider - Zib - Kakko
Panarin - Trocheck - Tarasenko
Laf - Chytil - Goodrow
Vesey - Leschyshyn - Gauthier
The change seemed to wake the team up. Vesey missed an open net. Vincent Trocheck, who was by far the team's best forward last night and has picked up his game the last two weeks, hit the crossbar while shorthanded. Chytil robbed by a pad save by Jacob Markstrom.
Vladimir Tarasenko cut the lead to 2-1 with just under four minutes left in second, giving New York some life.
Midway through the third, Mika Zibanejad drew an interference penalty on Nazem Kadri, who was tossed after regulation with a misconduct penalty that didn't result in a power play. The First unit didn't score as Zib missed twice. Trocheck sets up the goal with a good play in the offensive zone. Chytil shot sits on line and Laf poked it in for his first career PPG. Let that sink in - HIS FIRST CAREER PPG, crazy when you think about it.
A rough Penalty in OT on Fox, who came into a scrum on the boards between Artemi Panarin and Dillon Dube and got his stick up. The game ended on a deflection goal in front by Mikael Backlund. Halak had no chance on the play but he was the main reason the team got a point. Play with fire enough by falling behind and you will get burned.
One positive was that I thought
Niko Mikkola and Braden Schneider had a better game than they did Friday. The advanced stats are not kind to Schneider, but I didn't see him struggle that much last night and felt Mikkola was very solid. The top-four, especially Miller and Fox, who had bad games, were meh at best. They need to be much better defensively, as they have looked pedestrian at best in their only zone.
Two-thirds of the fourth line was benched in the third. Ice time - Julien Gautheir 4:33, and Jake Leschyshyn 5:48 - as the bench shortened, Barclay Goodrow moved up as the game went on, rotating with Vesey on the third line. This is a major area of weakness right now and needs to be remediated by the trade deadline. The team has enough cap room to likely add two lower-priced fourth line candidates.
The main target should be Sam Lafferty, but he won't come cheap and he has lots of interest. Nick Bjugstad should be towards the top of the list., Tyler Motte, who is clearly on the block - see below - as well and would be an uplift for the fourth line. I would love Ivan Barabashev but he might end up being too expensive, both in terms of cost and cap hit, unless you find a third team to take some salary, allowing two players to be brought in.
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