The New York Rangers did not get the offensive explosion they were hoping for but solid defense and goaltending were enough to lead the Blueshirts to a 3-2 shootout victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
After giving a goal in the first 59 seconds of the game, Colin Blackwell‘s power-play goal in the second period tied it up. It was the first power-play goal of his NHL career. Blackwell has tallied a goal in two consecutive games for the first time in his NHL career. He has recorded five points (three goals, two assists) in seven games with the Rangers.
The Rangers took the lead in the third period on Brendan Smith‘s first goal of the season but the Flyers tied it up when Joel Farabee punched in a shot during a scramble in front of the Ranger’s net.
The Rangers defense was stellar on the night as they only allowed the Flyers to get 22 shots and killed all five of the Flyer’s power-play attempts.
The Flyers played their first game after 11 days off due to players being placed on the COVID-19 protocol. Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton, Oskar Lindblom, Jakub Voracek, and Justin Braun were out. None of the six will make the trip to Lake Tahoe on Sunday for Philadelphia’s outdoor game against Boston.
Alexandar Georgiev stopped two of the three Flyer’s attempts in the shootout and had 20 saves on the night. This was Georgiev’s third straight overtime game.
The New York Rangers were pleased with their resiliency
In his post-game press conference, Smith talked about how the Rangers did not get down after the Flyers scored late in the third period. “I think we didn’t break. I think with a lot of younger teams that they will break after giving up the tying goal. It was good resilience and a good effort. We really needed that.”
Artemi Panarin said after the game that “Today we played better and after the second goal against it was great that the team didn’t give up. It was a big win for us”
In his post-game Zoom conference, head coach David Quinn talked about how proud he was of his team. “I’m very proud. This has been a tough go for us and losing can wear on you. I don’t care how we needed to do it, I don’t care how pretty it looked, I don’t care how it came to fruition we needed two points and we got two points.”
The Rangers will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Washington to face the Capitals with a 12:30 p.m. puck drop.
For the seventh time in 14 contests, the New York Rangers scored two or fewer goals in a game. Most know that is not a successful formula for winning in the NHL.
Many of the issues for the Blueshirt’s woes have focused on too many turnovers and too many lost battles for pucks.
While that is also true, there is another issue that has also plagued the Rangers in the offensive zone: Too many passes.
This issue is especially evident on the power play, as during last week’s 1-0 loss to the Boston Bruins, the Rangers went scoreless on six power-play attempts.
Head coach David Quinn discussed this issue during his post-game Zoom conference. “We pass when we should shoot. We shoot when we should pass. We just make bad decisions and we are slow,” Quinn said.
This has actually been an issue for a while with this team. Last year, their power-play was compared to the Harlem Globetrotters playing keep-away with the basketball from their hapless opponents rather than trying to make a basket.
It was the same thing with the Rangers. Quite a lot of passing, not a lot of shooting.
An interesting quote from the New York Rangers post-practice Zoom conference
However, something that was mentioned in Wednesday’s post-practice Zoom conference might have turned on a light bulb for some of the Blueshirts.
Ryan Strome mentioned that he asked goaltender Alexandar Georgiev what he is seeing as a goaltender. Strome said Georgiev told him “Throw pucks at the net. Teams are expecting us to make that extra pass.”
Sounds simple. Sounds like something that Quinn has probably mentioned to them before.
However, sometimes, coaches are like parents. We have a tendency to tune them out after a while. Sometimes we need that same reminder from a peer instead of an authority figure.
It has been almost two weeks since the New York Rangers removed defenseman Anthony DeAngelo from the team’s roster. A physical altercation with goaltender Alexandar Georgiev was the finals straw in a turbulent career in New York for Tony D.
DeAngelo has been in and out of the team’s dog house since his arrival in 2017. Despite his ongoing feuds on social media, which much of the time were more related to his political view than his play on the ice, he has shown he can be a valued asset to this team.
Last season DeAngelo had a career year. He was ranked fourth in defenseman in scoring, recording 15 goals, 38 assists for 53 points while appearing in 68 games.
What Went Wrong
How things turned so incredibly bad can not be answered in one simple statement. It looked like for every one step forward the defenseman took, he then took two steps backward. It appeared that the Rangers were happy with how things were going with their relationship with DeAngelo when the team signed him to a two-year, $9.6 million contract in October 2020.
During the offseason, DeAngelo started a lot of dialogue on his Twitter account which led to a lot of banter between him and his fans. A Donald Trump supporter, DeAngelo never held back what he felt, which tended to get him into some trouble.
The organization wanted him to back down a little bit with regards to what he had to say on Twitter, but holding back an opinion was not DeAngelo’s style.
He spoke to Larry Brooks of the New York Post about his time on Twitter and views of the MAGA stance saying,
“I’m definitely misportrayed in my opinion,People have different opinions and I respect everyone’s opinion. I never attack anyone for their opinion. I have mine that obviously I shared, but I never thought that I crossed the line with anything. I understand people not liking it, the way things went, but I’m definitely not an extremist, that I can tell you. I thought I gave my opinion, I respect other people’s opinions, and that’s all I thought I was doing.”
More cause for concern was the unproven and false story that DeAngelo took the first goal puck of rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller.
DeAngelo was the center of another drama prior to the Georgiev altercation that incorrectly stated he would not return the puck to Miller.
“K’Andre Miller was never part of any part of the Tony DeAngelo story at all, there were no issues between them of any kind. There is no reason he should be part of this.“As far as the first-goal puck being an issue, K’Andre never even knew it to be an issue. It was always his understanding that the puck was with the training staff. It’s not right that he has become part of this story.”
The altercation with Georgiev was all general manager Jeff Gorton was willing to take. DeAngelo was placed and cleared waivers days later.
Is Isolating Tony D The Right Move?
In the five games DeAngelo has missed, the club has a record of 2-2-1. They have been shutout in two out of their last three games and have managed to score just nine goals in the five-game span.
The power-play has been invisible during this stretch. In the last 5 games, the Blueshirts have had 18 man-advantage opportunities but have managed just one power-play goal. The club is currently ranked 28th in the league with the man-advantage this season (11.5%).
Last season the club finished the abbreviated shorten season ranked seventh in the NHL at 22.9% effective. DeAngelo had 19 power-play points last season (3G, 16A).
After two weeks of isolation, with the teams struggling to find goal scoring and wins, suffering game after game of one-goal losses the question must be asked, are the Rangers causing their own demise by not re-activating Tony D back into the lineup?
The team has been unable to trade him currently which was no surprise. Though there has been a little chatter about a potential trade, nothing has panned out so far. Rumors and unsubstantial reports have circulated that the team will sit the 25-year-old until the end of the season where they will then -lace him on the unprotected expansion draft list, then buy him out if he is not claimed.
That’s is a huge waste of salary cap and talent to prove a point. DeAngelo is scheduled to make $4.8 million this season to sit at home and wait.
Pride Needs To Be Placed Aside
Let’s forget about his political views and his antics on and off the ice. The kid can play hockey when he is focused.
The Blueshirts were not a strong team defensively prior to the start of the season, and now due to injuries to Brendan Smith and Jack Johnson are relying on Libor Hajek and Anthony Bitetto.
DeAngelo may not appear to be the savior the club is missing, but he is an offensive threat when he is on the ice, something the team has been lacking with the struggles are Mika Zibanejad and Ryan Strome among the many on this team.
At the end of the day, it is all bout getting wins which this team has done only four times this season (4-6-3).
A distraction or a needed addition is what the organization needs to answer. Two weeks is a long time to take a look at what the pros and cons would be for bringing DeAngelo back to the team.
What the team can ill afford to do is let him sit at his home in New Jersey and watch the team struggle to find a way to win one-goal contests.
The New York Rangers made a bit of a surprising move on Sunday when they placed Defenseman Tony DeAngelo on waivers. What made this somewhat surprising is that DeAngelo is in the first year of a two-year, $9.6 million contract that was signed just this offseason.
However, the 2-4-2 Rangers have not gotten off the start they wanted, and their poor play in the defensive end has been a part of their slow start. DeAngelo has one assist over six games this season after having a career season in 2019-20, scoring 15 goals and adding 38 assists over 68 games.
There could be many issues to this, starting with the idea that the Rangers may need to move on from an offensive type of blue-liner who is not helping the locker room culture.
In this case, offensive is referring to his skills in being a point-producing defenseman, not at all related to his political leanings that seem to send some in the Twitter universe into a frenzy. More on that later.
This appears to more of a case of a player who was not only underachieving but also someone whose antics have finally become more of a detriment to the team.
After the announcement of DeAngelo being placed on waivers, Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic posted an article that stated that DeAngelo got into an altercation with Alexandar Georgiev after the OT loss. The incident was a result of the fact that DeAngelo and Georgiev had a miscommunication on a loose puck almost immediately before the winning goal was scored. The inability to clear the puck did not allow the exhausted players on the ice to change up, which resulted in part in Sydney Crosby being able to win the game for the Penguins.
Georgiev was held out of practice for “maintenance” on Sunday.
However, one incident does not usually result in a player being put on waivers. Physical altercations sometimes happen with players in teams on all levels of sports. This is more about many factors contributing to this decision.
After Sunday’s practice, head coach David Quinn addressed this issue per Stephen Whyno of AP Sports: “There’s always rumors, I’m not gonna address rumors. This isn’t about one incident. It’s not about one thing.”
Translation: Yes, something happened and yes between his behavior and on-ice play, we may be moving on from this player.
DeAngelo does have some behavior history, most recently when he has benched two games for an unnecessary unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the opening night loss to the Islanders. This is on top of two known benchings in the last three seasons.
Yes, the team has talked to DeAngelo quite a bit about his social media postings, but this is only a small part of the issue. Playing poor hockey and provoking a confrontation with a teammate is not only unacceptable, but it is also more magnified when the team is struggling out of the gate of a new season.
DeAngelo’s antics have long followed him in his hockey career. He was suspended twice in juniors for violating the league’s harassment, abuse, and diversity policy for making inappropriate comments. He was also suspended in juniors and while a member of the Arizona Coyotes for abuse of an official.
At this point, the New York Rangers have to send this message to him and the team in order to maintain and/or promote a positive culture on a team that is struggling. It is bad enough when you are underachieving and losing. It cannot be compounded by a “hot head” who is not contributing to the team in a positive way.
The “fans” who are very happy about DeAngelo being put on waivers should not rejoice too quickly. It is not likely that he will be claimed by any team before noon on Monday.
More than likely, the Rangers will have some decisions to make.
Cutting him outright is not likely since the Blueshirts will probably not want to eat the cap hit this move would require. They could send him to Hartford but that is transferring the issues to another team.
The most likely scenario will see him being sent to the taxi squad, which could keep him away from the main group of players for a bit until DeAngelo can have some time to re-think how he wants to proceed with his hockey career and the behaviors that are associated with being a team player.
Until something can be figured out, Quinn has indicated that Anthony Bittero will replace DeAngelo in the lineup with Lidor Hajek next in line from the taxi squad.
It will not go down as a defensive masterpiece as the New York Rangers let a third-period lead slip by as Sydney Crosby slammed a shot past Alexandar Georgiev to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 5-4 victory in overtime.
In the three-on-three overtime, the Penguins took advantage of the fact that the Rangers could not clear their own defensive zone, allowing the Penguins to bring fresh players on the ice three consecutive times before Crosby’s goal ended the game.
While the Rangers did take a little bit of advantage of the depleted Penguins defense, their own defensive efforts were equally lacking in the Saturday night game.
A very frustrated Kreider said in his post-game news conference said that “Yeah, this is a reoccurring thing at this point. We’ve shown what we can do in spurts what we need to do to be successful by cranking up the intensity in the third period but then we get away from it and we start going east-west and not advancing it in the zone. You don’t win at the NHL level doing that.”
Head coach David Quinn addressed the lack of holding leads in the third period during his post-game Zoom Conference. “We’ve had a bad of a period as we had all year. They beat us to every loose puck, they beat us in every battle. They (the Penguins) were smarter and looked like a little hungrier team than we were in the third period.”
Quinn also addressed that lack of solid defense by the Rangers in this game. “We were very soft around our net. We haven’t said that a lot throughout the season. They upped the ante in the third period and we were not able to match it.”
The New York Rangers just got the memo that the New Jersey Devils might be for real this year, falling to their tri-state rival by the score of 4-3. Mackenzie Blackwood was outstanding in net for New Jersey in stopping 47 shots.
The Devils scored three times in the second period, led by 2019 first overall pick Jack Hughes who had two goals and an assist.
Once again, the Rangers got off to a slow start by allowing New Jersey to score within the first 32 seconds of the game, courtesy of a Travis Zajac goal. The play was set up when Miles Wood got a long pass from P.K. Subban and brought the puck up the right side while the Rangers were making a line change. Wood then fired a shot from the right circle that Alexandar Georgiev stopped, but Zajac put the rebound in the net.
Georgiev started for a second consecutive game after shutting out the Islanders on Saturday night but gave up four goals on 20 shots through two periods. Igor Shesterkin came on to begin the third and finished with eight saves.
In the post-game Zoom press conference, Jacob Trouba addressed the issue of getting off to a slow start. ” There are some things that we want to adjust and there are some things to be happy about or get super discouraged about but getting off to a faster start is something we want to do.”
Postgame head coach David Quinn echoed those sentiments: “We played 48 minutes instead of 60.”
In spite of Blackwood’s outstanding play, Chris Kreider felt that the Rangers could have been more efficient considering that the Rangers had 50 shots in total. “He (Blackwood) probably saw a few too many shots and we’ve got to do a better job of screening,” Kreider said in his post-game Zoom conference. “But at the end of the day, you have to tip your cap to him.”
Kreider also addressed the slow start by saying that “For whatever reason, we got back to trying to do too much in that first period. If we had that same kind of desperation that we had in the third we probably would have gotten off to a better start.”
It may have easy for New York Ranger fans to look at the schedule and see a potential breather game on Tuesday night against their rivals, the New Jersey Devils. After all, the Devils finished last in the Metropolitan Division last season, 11 points behind the Rangers when the season came to a grinding halt last March due to the coronavirus.
However, the Devils are off to a strong 1-0-1 start, with the even more impressive fact that the points came against last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners, the Boston Bruins. To add a little bit to the Tuesday night drama is that the Devil’s new head coach is former Ranger assistant Lindy Ruff.
The Rangers defense will have to deal with the Devils’ first line that has been excellent during the first two games of the season. This line features Jack Hughes, who was drafted first overall by the Devils in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. With the Rangers drafting Alexis Lafreniere first overall, this will feature a matchup of the last two overall top selections.
Hughes struggled last season but already has 3 assists on the season. Hughes has shown some nice chemistry on the young season with linemates Kyle Palmieri and Yegor Sharangovich. Even with the shortened training camp, Sharongovich has had some nice chemistry with his linemates after just coming over from his KHL team.
This will provide a challenge to the Ranger’s goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, who was named the starter for the game after Monday’s practice by head coach David Quinn. Igor Shesterkin started that opener but looked shaky. Georgiev started on Saturday night and shut out the Islanders.
Part of this goes with David Quinn’s philosophy of sticking with what worked, including the apparent benching of defenseman Tony DeAngelo. Quinn told lohud.com beat writer Vince Mercogliano that doing this was “Much more about sticking with what worked. The discipline piece is done and over with. You win 5-0 and play the way we did, you want to build off that.”
The Devils also have an outstanding goalie of their own in Mackenzie Blackwood, who would get noticed a lot more if the Devils were a better team. In fact, Blackwood may have been the primary reason why the Devils were so successful against the Bruins.
In those first two games, Blackwood has stopped 52 of 52 shots at even strength. With an early .954 save percentage, the Blueshirts will need to find a way to slip the puck past him.
The game on Tuesday will also see the Rangers celebrate and honor the commitment, sacrifice, and contributions of frontline workers across the Tri-State area. The Rangers will also wear custom warm-up jerseys to be auctioned after the game at auctions.nhl.com, and an exclusive patch, inspired by Northwell Health’s first responders, will also be available for purchase. Proceeds of both will benefit Northwell Health Foundation.
Coming off a poorly played 4-0 loss to the Islanders, the New York Rangers will need to turn things around very quickly if they are to improve upon Thursday night’s effort. The added sense of urgency is also needed as the Blueshirts will face those same Islanders at the Garden on Saturday night.
In his post-game virtual press conference after the game, head coach David Quinn was quite clear that this needed to happen. “We need to be quick learners,” Quinn said. “It might be a good lesson and a reminder for a bunch of guys who don’t have it in their hockey DNA to play the way we need them to tonight.”
"Obviously a tough first game, but we'll get better."
The first lesson will revolve around discipline and execution, especially concerning penalties. While they were 0-3 on the power play, their eight penalties led to two Islander power-play goals. While the Rangers did not seem to get any favors from the referees, there were some penalties that were totally unnecessary.
Quinn may have started his lesson on this topic when on Friday’s practice, Tony DeAngelo, who took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and generally played poorly in the loss, skated with the “taxi squad”. Anthony Bitetto was on the ice with the varsity in a tweet posted by Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic.
The next message sent to players was a Friday practice change in the forward line pairings. Vince Mercogliano of lohud.com shared that Alexis Lafreniere was now skating with the second group while Kaapo Kakko was skating on the third line.
When Mercogliano asked Quinn about this after the practice, Quinn replied “It’s not just a message to Kakko – it’s a message to everybody… If someone plays better than you, they should get a better opportunity.”
Whether or not any of the changes will take place when the puck drops remains to be seen but at least, school is back in session for this young group of Rangers.
One change that will know will take place will be that Alexandar Georgiev will be in goal in the rematch with the Isles.
Even though Igor Shesterkin did not play particularly well, there should not be too much read into the goalie change.
During Wednesday night’s virtual town hall with Rangers fan, Quinn made it quite clear that he feels that “We have two number one goalies.” The general expectation during this unusual 56 game schedule that is put together differently than most years will be that both goaltenders will see a substantial amount of time in the net.
Regardless, the Rangers are going to need better play from the goaltender if they are going to compete with the Islanders.
Then again, that could be said for just about everyone who wore a blue jersey Thursday night.
The New York Rangers are entering their 95th campaign in the National Hockey League. This season has been delayed due to the Covid pandemic, but the hard work during the offseason has kept the organization focused since last season concluded in the Toronto Bubble.
The club has been preparing for a marathon 56 game schedule, which begins on Jan. 14 against the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden and concludes on May 8 in Boston against the Bruins.
Empire Sports Media writers Jim Bay and Frank Curto take a look at what has transpired since the Blueshirts were eliminated from the playoffs last summer in the qualifying round against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Team President John Davison, along with general manager Jeff Gorton is set to bring the youngest team in the NHL back to the playoffs in an attempt to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1994. Plenty of obstacles stand in their way, yet the team is set up for success as they play in the toughest division in the NHL this season.
Players come and go, but the one constant is the name on the front of the sweater. Here is a look at the upcoming season’s preview, oh baby, this is going to be a lot of fun.
Departures
Marc Staal
Jesper Fast
Henrik Lundqvist
Vinni Lettieri
Boo Nieves
Gregg McKegg
Michael Haley
Steve Fogarty
Lias Andersson
The Rangers traded veteran defenseman Marc Staal to Detroit on Sept. 26, 2020, and the forward Jesper Fast signed as a free agent with the Carolina Hurricanes. The toughest transaction was the buyout of 15-year veteran Henrik Lundqvist.
Arrivals
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images
Alexis Lafreniere
Kevin Rooney
Anthony Greco
Johny Brodzinski
Colin Blackwell
Anthony Bitetto
K’Andre Miller
Jack Johnson
Tarmo Reunanen
Keith Kinkaid
The Rangers selected the first overall selection in this year’s NHL Draft, Alexis Lafreniere. Gorton and Quinn have high expectations for the success of rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller as he looks to make the team out of training camp. Brendan Smith could be on the bubble with so many new faces on defense.
Goaltender Keith Kinkaid was originally brought in to help ease the team’s expansion draft requirement, but now could be a valuable asset in the Covid pandemic abbreviated season.
Offense
The first line will be led by Zibanejad, who was a goal-scoring machine last year with 41 goals in 57 games, a ridiculous 59-goal pace over a full season, with 15 of those coming on the power play. Zibanejad made some nice improvements in creating more chances at both even strength and on the power play, with the hope that the 15 percent and 26 percent rates continue into this season.
Kreider and Buchnevich will again flank Zibanejad on either side, and both have “analytically” graded out as productive top-six players for the team. The chemistry that the trio achieved was a huge reason why the Rangers improved so much in the second half of the season.
The second line will be anchored by Panarin, who will have Strome returning, will see Kakko added as his linemate to start the season.
What Panarin has brought to the Rangers is not only on-ice results but also how much of a positive influence he has on his linemates and teammates. This will hopefully hold true for Kakko, who showed signs of improvement upon returning to play in the summer after the league was paused due to the pandemic.
The bottom six is where the Rangers struggled last season. Help will come in the form of the first overall pick in the draft, Alexis Lafreniere.
It is tough to see how quickly Lafreniere will adapt to the NHL game with a small camp and no preseason games to evaluate his skills. However, many projection models have him getting 57 points this year. That may seem high for a first-year player, but with the skills that he brings to the team, this seems achievable.
Much of this may depend on his linemates. Chytil has been projected for improvement this year after being a negative goal contributor last season to an expected positive one this year. Gauthier presents some grittiness and size that could complement his linemates.
Howden will hopefully solidify the third line and has had a nice camp. During Zibanejad’s absence at the beginning of camp, Howden stepped in on the first line and did quite well. He also impressed those with his play during last summer’s playoffs. Lemieux provides the grit for this line, and hopefully, not too much-unwanted attention from the referees. Last season, Di Giuseppe provided the solid and steady play that you want to see from a bottom-six contributor.
The defense will look to improve this season. Jacob Trouba will enter his second season on Broadway and needs to be better than he was last season. By his own acknowledgment, he was not happy with how things progressed, though he seemed more comfortable as the season concluded.
The dynamic duo of Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren was the highlight of the defense corp. The two rookies became stronger once they were paired together by former defensive coach Lindsy Ruff. With a year under their belt, the two could be the team’s top pair and see plenty of ice time once again.
The club has plenty of new faces on the back end, with rookie K’Andre Miller leading the way. Miller has been praised by the head coach in training camp earning a roster spot on opening night.
Jack Johnson along with Anthony DeAngelo and Brendan Smith will be pushing each other early on to be in the lineup every night.
Igor Shesterkin will take the reigns as the team’s number one goaltender this season. With such a condensed schedule, Alexandar Georgiev should expect more playing time and responsibility with the teams playing a marathon like a schedule.
Taxi Squad Projected Players
The taxi squad will be a big piece of the puzzle for the Blueshirts. With the AHL delaying the start of their season until Feb. 5, the Rangers are eligible to carry a minimum of 4 to a maximum of six players. These players can practice and travel with the team but are not on the active roster until they are recalled.
Philadelphia Flyers – The Flyers were one of the most complete teams in the NHL last season, finishing in the top 10 in both goals scored and allowed. With their team from last year mostly intact, they are my favorite to win this division.
Boston Bruins – Boston suffered some notable losses on the blueline in Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara, and that might be enough to put them behind the Flyers. However, with a top offensive line and goaltending tandem, don’t be surprised to see them win this division.
The Pens still have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, so you have to put them in the top four.
Washington Capitals – The high scoring offense should carry them, put questions with their goaltending may them one of the leading contenders to get bumped by either the Rangers or Islanders.
New York Rangers– The Blueshirts have many obstacles with this season that will be difficult for a talented but a young team to overcome. A short training camp with no preseason games is not ideal for a young team, especially when you have the first overall in Alexis Lafreniere coming to town. Playing a 56 game season will not help either.
New York Islanders – In addition to not wanting to put them ahead of the Rangers, this is still quite a mysterious team. Last season, they were two games from the Stanley Cup Final in spite of the fact they allowed more goals than they scored in the regular season.
Buffalo Sabres – The Sabres did get better in the offseason, but playing against such tough divisional opponents every night will mean that they will finish ahead of only New Jersey.
New Jersey Devils– The Devils hope that Jack Hughes will be better, but the Devils are still destined for the bottom of the division. The recent retirement of Corey Crawford will not help either.
Team Awards
Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
MVP: Artemi Panarin Rookie of the Year: Alexis Lafreniere Top Defenseman: Adam Fox Most Improved: Kaapo Kakko Players Player: Brendan Lemieux Steven McDonald Extra Effort: Mika Zibanejad Leading Goal Scorer: Mika Zibaenjad – 48G Points Leader: Artemi Panarin- 90 Pts.
Schedule
Photo via NewYorkRangers.com
The unusual 56 game schedule will see the Rangers face only the other members of the temporary Eastern Division and will not have any preseason games for their young players, such as first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere, to gel with their new teammates outside of the two-week training camp period.
One of the “benefits” of this schedule is that the Rangers will also get eight contests with some of the rivals, including the Islanders, Devis, and Flyers.
In this compact schedule, there are some important times that stand out over the slightly condensed schedule this season that commences for the Rangers on January 14.
Like in a horse race, it is important to get out of the gate well, and this will also be the case for the Blueshirts this season. Easier said than done, especially as they face the Islanders in their first two games to start the season. The opening stretch will also see the Blueshirts face the Devils, as well as four meetings split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.
February will be a challenging month as, on the 10th, the Rangers start a stretch of games with two against Boston before a two-game battle with the Flyers. They then head to Washington to play the Capitals twice, play the Flyers once more, capping things off with two more meetings with the Bruins. This stretch should show whether the Rangers are a true playoff contender or not.
After facing three games against Sabres and Devils, March will again see the Rangers run through a gauntlet of Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington for most of the month. If they are going to survive this stretch, they must reverse the fortunes of 2019-20 that saw the Rangers go a combined 0-5-1 against the Bruins and Flyers.
April will see the Rangers play many games against the Islanders, Devils, and Sabres. In fact, starting on April 9, the Rangers will have back-to-back road games against the Islanders and then play four straight against the Devils before capping it off with a final tilt with the Isles. Any chance to stay or get into playoff contention may hinge on the outcome of the games, against teams that the Rangers went 3-1 against (Islanders) and 2-2 (Devils) in 2019-20.
The Rangers will need their top players to play as they did last season. The pressure will be heavy once again on Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin to have consecutive great seasons shield the Blueshirts look to replicate last season’s playoff run.
Igor Shesterkin takes over for Henrik Lundqvist, huge skates to fill but something Shesterkin is capable of doing.
The wild card is the head coach himself. Dave Quinn and his coaching staff will walk a fine line between coaching the veterans, along with bringing the younger players through one of the most demanding schedules since the early 1970s.
There are no easy games this season, no time to take a night off. A team that has a rich tradition along with high expectations from its fan base will need to find the right chemistry out of the gate in order to keep up with the teams within this division.
This season will be like no other. A schedule that has the Rangers playing each division opponent eight times, Covid protocols that will have games postponed and re-scheduling at almost a daily pace, and playing most games in front of little or no fans at all.
2020-2021 season will be the hardest battle of endurance and stamina the Rangers have ever encountered. The reward will be more precious should the team exceed their expectations.
It all begins Thursday night at the world’s most famous arena when the Rangers host the biggest rivals in the NHL.
Empire Sports Media Writers Predictions
We have some great writers at ESM, So Jim Bay and I asked what they predict will transpire in the upcoming season.
Brandon Schnapp Most Goals: Panarin Most Points: Zibanejad MVP: Panarin Best Defenseman: Fox Rookie of the Year: Lafreniere
The team will miss the playoffs (Brandon is an Islanders fan, BTW)
Jim Bay Most Goals: Panarin
Most Points: Panarin
MVP: Panarin
Best Defenseman: Trouba
Rookie of the Year: Shesterkin
Playoffs: Not this year
Frank Curto Most Goals: Panarin Most Points: Zibanejad MVP: Panarin Best Defenseman: Fox Rookie of the Year: Shesterkin Playoffs: Yes, will be eliminated in the second round
Alex Wilson
Goals: Panarin Points: Ziba MVP: Panarin Defenseman: DeAngelo Rookie of the Year: Lafreniere
Playoffs: The team makes the playoffs, eliminated in the second round.
The Ruse, Bulgaria native was signed by the Blueshirts as an undrafted free agent on July 19, 2017. Georgiev is the only Bulgarian-born player in NHL history. He is expected to provide the 1-2 punch in net along with Igor Shesterkin.
Georgiev has appeared in 77 career games over parts of three seasons (2017-18 – 2019-20), all with the Rangers, posting a 35-31-7 record, along with a 3.00 GAA, a .913 SV%, and 4 SO. Georgiev holds the Rangers franchise record for saves in a game that the team won (55 – February 10, 2019, vs. Toronto), and he also holds the franchise record for saves by a Rangers goaltender in his NHL debut (38 – February 22, 2018, at Montreal). He ranked second among NHL rookie goaltenders in appearances (33) and saves (966), and ranked fourth among NHL rookies goaltenders in wins (14) during the 2018-19 season.
Alexandar Georgiev, signed 2x$2.4M by NYR, is an above-average goalie who excels on the PK. He stole a fair number of games for the Rangers while stopping plenty of high-danger chances this season. #Rangerspic.twitter.com/mPortdFFJG
The 24-year-old appeared in 34 games with the Rangers this past season, posting a 17-14-2 record, along with a 3.04 GAA, a .910 SV%, and 2 SO. He established career-bests in several categories in 2019-20, including appearances, games started (32), and wins, and he led Rangers goaltenders in all three categories during the season. Georgiev won 13 games in which he made 30 or more saves this past season, which was tied for the sixth-most in the NHL. He posted a 13-5-1 record in 19 road appearances in 2019-20; his 13 road wins were tied for the fifth-most in the NHL during the season, and his .921 SV% on the road was tied for the ninth-best in the NHL (min. 10 road appearances). Georgiev posted a six-game road winning streak from November 23, 2019, at Montreal to December 28, 2019, at Toronto, and his six-game road winning streak was tied for the third-longest by a Rangers goaltender in franchise history (trailing only Mike Richter (eight games in 1996-97) and Dave Kerr (seven games in 1934-35)). Georgiev also tied for ninth among NHL goaltenders (min. 23 appearances) in SV% while shorthanded this past season (.888).
