The Rangers played a solid enough road game but it was not enough to defeat the Jets. New York fell 2-1 as they were unable to generate much of a sustained attack versus a strong Winnipeg defense. The Blueshirts head to Minnesota to play the Wild today.
Scratches: Pärssinen, de Haan, Berard
IR: Edström (lower-body), Fox (upper-body)
A few thoughts:
1) The score was somewhat misleading. Winnipeg had several odd-man breaks and breakaways, all of which were stoned by Igor Shesterkin. As such, while the score was 2-1, it could have been vastly worse. This is also not to see the team played. abad game, but they had little sustained attack. When a goal was needed in the third, they put just five shots on net. Granted, they had 20+ attempts, but nearly all were to the outside, the Jets blocked whatever came close and Winnipeg rarely looked threatened.
Further evidence of just how different this year is to last year or 2022-23 came at the end of the game. Mika Zibanejad, with the Rangers on a 6-on-5 and goalie pulled, attempted to bat a deflection out of the air and past Connor Hellebuyck. Last season and three years ago, we all know that the puck would have ended up in the net. This year, the shot went wide. Right there is a microcosm of this season.
2) Hard to blame Igor for either goal. The first came on a defensive breakdown when both players went with the puck holder wide and the middle was left open. Hey, where have we heard that before? Cole Perfetti was wide open, his shot on net bounced around a bit. Vladislav Namestnikov got inside position and the puck deflected off him. I am not fully blaming Carson Soucy, but I don't think he has been great since arriving and maybe Calvin de Haan neds to be back in the lineup.
The second goal came on the power play. Cole Perfetti flubbed his initial pass. That delay created an opening when the defensemen slid over, allowing Gabe Vilardi to be open in the slot. Vilardi potted his 27th of the year. A small little glitch created a chance. Contrast this with the Rangers PP that still looks very disjointed and out of sorts. Their attack on the man-advantage scares no one right now. Maybe it's the loss of Adam Fox or the system or both. But right now, it's ugly.
3) Great debate in the prior blog comments on the top-10 d-men in the league and which ones could lead a team to a Cup The genesis of this was where does Fox fall overall in the pantheon of current blueliners. Most of us have the view that he lacks a true top pairing pair mate, which would allow his skills to flourish and enable that team to be a shutdown duo. This needs to be a focus of GM Chris Drury this offseason, again.
4) Jonathan Quick inked a one-year deal to remain with the Rangers next season. He is not having the same kind of season he did last year, posting a 9-6-2 record, .896 save percentage and 3.14 goals against average in 17 starts, but is still a solid netminder. This also signals that the organization does not believe Dylan Garand is ready yet to be Igor's back up. I disagree a little, but the salary difference between Garand and Quick should not have a material impact on who they can pursue this offseason, but every dollar will be key given the remaining RFAs and the lineup improvements needed.
$550,000 signing bonus
$1,000,000 base
$300,000 of possible performance bonuses
Starts 20 games & .915+ save % - $75,000
Plays 35 games - $25,000
40 games - $50,000
Wins 20 games - $50,000
Wins 25 games - $100,000
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