Artemi Panarin

New York Rangers’ last second goal defeats Buffalo 5-4

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New York Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren scored the game-winner with .07 seconds left to cap a crazy 5-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

The New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres appeared to be ready to take their contest into overtime Sunday night.

Chris Kreider had the puck pinned in the Saber’s end with a little over five seconds remaining when the puck found its way onto his stick. He then chipped the puck to a pinching Adam Fox who feed it to Mika Zibanejead.

All the while Ryan Lindgren skated his way to the right of the Buffalo’s goaltender, the only one who saw him was Zibanejead who feed him a perfect tape-to-tape pass that Lindgren easily put into the net, sending the Garden faithful into a frenzy on Hockey Fights Cancer night.

The win was the 11th for the Blueshirts (11-4-03) and was their fifth win in their last six games (5-1).

Sneaking In

Lindgren and Adam Fox were at the blueline and decided to sneak into the offensive zone as they both realized there wasn’t much time should the Sabres get possession of the puck to skate into the Ranger’s end.

“Me and ‘Foxy’ are standing up kind of back towards the point and look up and see the clock and kind of realize with five seconds left there’s probably not going to be enough time for them to bring it all the way down, so you just keep sneaking in,” Lindgren said to Heather Engel. “The puck got to Foxy, who kicked it out to Mika. Obviously, a great play by him. Just a great win.”

Artemi panarin had another three-assist game and was named the number one star of the game. The Rangers and Sabers combined to score four goals in the second period in a span of 1:22. The two teams scored three goals each in that stanza taking a 4-4 game into the second intermission.

Georgiev Continues to Struggle

Alexandar Georgiev started the game for the Rangers, but it was Igor Shesterin who led the team onto the ice for the start of the third period.

Georgiev seemed to be fighting the puck off most of the night. The Sabres’ fourth goal of the game and third of the second period by Rasmus Dahlin seemed to be the last straw for head coach Gerard Gallant.

Shesterkin made four saves in the third period winning his ninth game of the year.

 

Notes (Via NYR PR)

Ryan Lindgren scored the game-winning goal with 0.7 seconds left in the game, marking the fourth time in franchise history that the Rangers have scored a go-ahead goal in the final second of a third period. The last to do so was Brad Richards in 2011 against the Phoenix Coyotes. It is the 24th time in NHL history a team has won a game in the final second of the third period. Lindgren became the fourth defenseman in NHL history to score a go-ahead goal in the final second of regulation.

The Rangers pushed their home win streak to five games with a win tonight, their longest win streak at home since Dec. 22, 2019-Jan. 13, 2020.

New York recorded at least one point for the ninth time in its last 11 games (7-2-2) and has at least one point in 14 of its 18 games this season.

The Rangers won their third-straight game against the Sabres and have extended their point streak to eight games against them (7-0-1). In their last 18 matchups dating back to Feb. 2, 2017, the Rangers have only lost three times in regulation to Buffalo (14-3-1). At MSG, New York has won five straight and nine of 10 games against the Sabres. In their last 16 games at home against Buffalo, the Rangers are 13-3-0 for 26 points.

The Rangers had 12 different players record a point tonight, the most players to record a point in a single game this season.

The Rangers and Sabres combined for four goals in a span of 1:22, marking the fastest four goals in a game since March 21, 2017 (SJS at MIN: 1:03).

New York scored three goals in the second period tonight, the third time this season they have scored three second-period goals. The Rangers have 19 second-period goals this season, tied for the 10th most in the NHL.

Tonight was the fourth occurrence this season in which the Rangers scored five or more goals in a game.

Artemi Panarin recorded his 50th career three-point game with three assists. Since entering the NHL in 2015-16, his 50 three-point games are tied with Patrick Kane for the third-most in the NHL. Tonight marked the 11th time since joining the Rangers that Panarin has recorded three or more assists in a game, trailing only Connor McDavid (16) for the most among all players over that span. Panarin has recorded points in four of his last six games (2G-6A). Tonight was the 20th time in his career that Panarin has faced the Sabres and he has points in 15 of those matchups. Panarin has points in six of his last seven games (3G-10A) against Buffalo.

Chris Kreider scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season and eighth on the power-play, trailing Leon Draisaitl (9) for the most PPG’s in the NHL. Since 2019-20, Kreider’s 28 power-play tallies are second in the NHL to Draisaitl (40) Kreider has points in four of his last six games against Buffalo (3G-2A) and seven of his last 10 games against them (6G-2A).

 Adam Fox notched his 13th and 14th assists of the season, giving him the most assists among defensemen in the NHL. Fox extended his assist/point streak to seven games against the Sabres (1G-13A).

Ryan Strome prolonged his point streak to six games (1G-6A) with an assist tonight, his longest point streak since his 11-game streak from March 13-April 1, 2021 (2G-14A). It marks the third time in his career that Strome has had a point streak of six-plus games.

Mika Zibanejad registered an assist on the game-winning goal, giving him five assists in his last six games. Zibanejad has at least one point in six of his last seven games against the Sabres.

Kaapo Kakko tied his career-long point streak of four games (3G-2A) originally set Apr. 6-11, 2021. In each of his last five games, Kakko is a plus-1 or better and in total is a plus-6 since Nov. 13.

 Ryan Lindgren scored his second goal of the season and first career game-winning goal with the tally with 0.7 seconds left to play.

Jacob Trouba scored his second goal of the season and tallied his fifth point (2G-3A) in his last six games.

Filip Chytil recorded his 75th career NHL point in his 201st NHL game. Chytil is the 89th Czech-Republic-born skater in NHL history to tally 75-plus points. Chytil has three points (1G-2A) in his past five games.

 Ryan Reaves skated in his 700th NHL game tonight and recorded his first point as a Ranger (assist). Reaves became the 20th skater from the 2005 draft class and second from the fifth round (Darren Helm) to skate in 700 games. Reaves has split the 700 games between St. Louis (419), Vegas (209), Pittsburgh (58), and New York (14). Since the NHL began tracking hits in the early 2000’s, Reaves is one of 11 players in the NHL who have played in as many games (700) and recorded as many hits (2,387) as Reaves has.

 K’Andre Miller scored his second goal of the season tonight, giving him his 15th career point. Miller scored his first NHL goal against Buffalo on January 26, 2021.

Barclay Goodrow earned his 101st career point with an assist tonight. Goodrow has three goals and five assists for eight points this season, one of six players on New York with five-plus assists.

The Ranger’s next game will be at the new UBS arena when they visit the New York Islanders on Wednesday night, 7 p.m.

New York Rangers: Igor believes he can play better, a tough start for the Breadman & Foco Holiday gear

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The New York Rangers have not played a game since Monday’s nights win over the Florida Panthers, but there has been action in Rangerstown on and off the ice.

THeir 7-3-3 record can be misleading. The New New York Rangers might be the most underrated team in the National Hockey League, sitting in third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Winning games can sometimes hide the deficiencies in the team’s game plan, but for the Rangers, this has not been the case. Head coach Gerard Gallant knows his team needs to play better despite the team’s record.

He was visibly irate following the team’s 4-3 win over the 10-0-1 Florida Panthers are Monday night at the Garden. The team built a 4-0 lead entering the third period, and then watched as the Panthers clawed back to within one goal with 40 seconds left in the contest.

The team’s recent three-game road trip last week saw the Blueshirts build multi-goal leads only to see them evaporate in each contest and eventually losing all three games.

Igor Can Be Better

It’s hard to believe that Igor Shesterkin can play better hockey than he has played this season. He holds a 6-2-2 record in 10 appearances with one shutout. He holds a 2.72 GAA along with a .931 save percentage.

Shesterkin spoke about his game and the shots he has faced to the New York Post’s Mollie Walker after practice on Thursday.

“I can play better” was his answer to the question asked if he feels he’s playing the best hockey of his career.

Breadman Struggles

Artemi Panarin has not had the start he was hoping for this year. Has 13 points but only two goals in 13 games this season.

Now that is pretty good for most players in the NHL, but for a superstar, it is sub-par. Panarin recognizes his struggle but knows he will play better as long as he stays in a good mood.

“Not really, tough start. But, right now, better. Most importantly, I’m in a good mood. That [gives] me more motivation,” when asked if his game is where he wants it to be right now.

Regarding his mood, Panarin has to deal with the ups and downs of a professional hockey player like every other athlete,

“Sometimes, but not really. Sometimes when everything is going right and [you’re like], ‘Okay, that’s normal.’ Sometimes you need to [feel] down to appreciate what you have, usually.”

Toughness Questioned Once Again

Shesterkin was bumped, hit, and flat-out ran into throughout the game on Monday which brought up the toughness of the current Rangers squad. Ryan Strome addressed the situation.

“I think a few guys had some words for — I think it was Duclair — when he went by the bench,” Ryan Strome said. “But, I mean, I thought our response — I thought our bottom six was really physical. You can’t just chase around a skill guy to fight, he’s not gonna fight anyone. [Ryan Reaves] was yelling at him and a few guys, so there’s only so much you can do. I think we’ve taken matters into our own hands and been physical. I’ve heard from a few people around the league that they think we’re harder to play against, and they’ve felt that. That’s a good sign. “I don’t mind our response. It’s not always about going on and fighting a guy, especially a guy like Duclair, I don’t think he’s going to drop the gloves. But I don’t think he meant to hurt anybody. We obviously got to watch out for our goalie, for sure.”

Holiday Time In NYC

A schedule change for the day after Thanksgiving now as the Rangers game at Boston is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. on ABC television.

Foco has come out with their Rangers Holiday Collection and they have something for every Blueshirt fan.

Foco offers several different items fans may be interested in from a five-pack of shatterproof glass ball ornaments and other thematic pieces including an ornament depicting a New York Ranger’s recliner.

Other ideas include;

-Mittens and gloves.

-Rangers Nutcracker.

-Rangers slippers.


New York Rangers fail to play a complete game, lose 3-2 in OT to Vancouver

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The New York Rangers’ five-game road winning streak ended on Tuesday night with a 3-2 OT loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

A complete 60-minute hockey is going to be needed if the New York Rangers are going to have any chance at a playoff birth.  Tuesday night loss to the Canucks was a result of the team failing to play a strong final period in their 3-2 loss.

The good news for the New York Rangers is they have been improving when they have the man advantage. The bad news from Tuesday night’s loss was the team couldn’t find a way to score an even-strength goal.

With that loss, the team’s five-game road win streak comes to an end, but they continue to extend their road point streak to six games.

The Rangers had built a 2-0 lead entering the third period on power-play goals by Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin.  Adam Fox had assists on both of the goals, giving him nine points in the team’s first 10 games.

Mika Zibanejad recognized why the team was unable to keep their road winning streak alive, acknowledging that it takes a complete game to get wins in the NHL.

“We made a couple mistakes, they obviously had a push back and scored on their chances in the third,” center Mika Zibanejad said to Kevin Woodley of NHL.Com. “I thought we did a pretty god job up until the third, but it wasn’t a full 60 minutes and that’s why we sit here with the loss.”

With his two assists, Fox recorded his 100th career point in his 135th career game. Fox becomes the 22nd defenseman in NHL history and third in Rangers history (Sergei Zubov, Brian Leetch) to notch 100 points in 135 or fewer games. Of the 22 defensemen, 16 are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. With 11 points in 10 games, Fox is the first Rangers defenseman since Brian Leetch in 2001 to record 11 or more points in the first 10 games of a season.

Penalty Killing Supremecy

The Rangers were 6-6 on the PK Tuesday night. They have killed off 27 of their last 28 penalties since October 16. In that span, New York’s 96.4% PK leads the NHL. The last time the Rangers had a perfect PK when shorthanded six or more times was Feb. 1, 2021, against Pittsburgh. (NYRPR)

Third Period Struggle

Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller had a poor third period, as did the entire team.  Trouba was a minus 2 on the night with Miller a minus 3.

The third line of Lafreneier-Chytil-Blais was a combined minus 3 on the night. The coach had called out that line, stating he expected them to play better than they did in their last game at Seattle.  The line combined for just one shot on goal which Blais had in the first period.

For the second consecutive game, the Blueshirts allowed 13 shots against.  Igor Shesterkin held the Canucks scoreless in that period but was unable to keep them off the scoresheet in the third period.

Former Ranger J.T. Miller scored two goals including the OT game-winner.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 33 of 36 shots and is now 4-0-1 on the road this season.

The Ranger’s next game will be against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.

Rangers win their 5th road game defeating Seattle 3-1

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rangers

The New York Rangers ended the month of October with a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken.

The New York Rangers had no right winning last night’s game in Seattle. If not for the outstanding play of Igor Shesterkin, the Blueshirts would be wondering what went wrong instead of enjoying a 6-1-2 record.

New York finished the first month of the season with a 6-2-1 record and 13 points, five of those wins coming on the road. It marks the Rangers’ most points in the month of October since notching 16 (7-2-2) in the 2015-16 season. The Rangers have set a franchise record for the most road wins through the first nine games of a season and their five road wins in October are the most road wins in the month of October in franchise history.

Shesterkin made 31 saves in the remand 3-1 victory on Sunday night.  He earned his fifth win in his seventh start of the season. Shesterkin’s five wins are tied for the third-most in the NHL. On the road this season, Shesterkin is an NHL-best 4-0-0 with a .970 SV%.

The Rangers were outshot 32-18 for the game including an outstanding 13-2 in the second period. 

Kreider lights the lamp in the first period

Chris Kreider netted his seventh goal of the season scoring early into the first period in the Ranger’s first trip to Seattle since that city was awarded an expansion team. 

The Rangers took the ice in the second period flat. They were outplayed in all areas of the ice and if not for Shesterkin’s brilliance the score would have been worse at the conclusion of the second period than the reality of a 1-1 contest. 

Fox gets Blueshirt’s a 2-1 third period lead

A more even third period allowed the Rangers to grab their second lead of the game when Adam Fox took a pass from Artemi Panarin and wristed a shot past the Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer. 

It was Fox’s second goal of the season. 

Barclay Goodrow ended the night with an empty netter. 

Post Game Numbers

  • The Rangers have set a franchise record for the most road wins through the first nine games of a season and their five road wins in October are the most road wins in the month of October in franchise history.
  • The Rangers won their fifth-straight road game, tied for the 11th longest streak in franchise history and longest since winning nine straight from Jan. 16-Feb. 27, 2020. The Rangers have also tied Calgary for the most road wins in the NHL (5).
  • The Rangers went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill tonight and have killed off 21 of their last 22 penalties since October 16. In that span, New York’s 95.5 PK% leads the NHL.
  • The Rangers blocked a season-high 20 shots tonight. New York finished the first month of the season with 130 blocked shots, the sixth most in the NHL.
  • Artemi Panarin notched an assist to give him four points in his last two games and eight points in his last eight games.
  • Mika Zibanejad assisted on Goodrow’s empty-net goal, his sixth assist and seventh point of the year. Zibanejad was a plus-2 and a team-high 8-for-12 on faceoffs tonight (min. two draws).

Via NYR PR

The Rangers will visit the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night.

New York Rangers host the Calgary Flames Monday night at MSG

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The New York Rangers, on a four-game winning streak, host the Calgary Flames at the Garden on Monday night.

New York Rangers– 4-1-1 (9 Pts.)

Calgary Flames– 2-1-1 (5 Pts.)

Venue: MSG

Television: MSG Network, 7:00 P.M.

The New York Rangers return to Madison Square Garden on Monday night as they welcome the Calgary Flames. This will be just the second home game of the season for the Blueshirts who dropped their home opener to the Dallas Stars on Oct. 14.

The Blueshirts are in first place in the Metropolitan Division and are third in the NHL behind the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers ( both with 10 Pts.).

Streaks

Barclay Goodrowhas has scored a goal in each of the past two games.

Sammy Blais has recorded three assists in the past two games

Adam Fox has an assist in each of the past two games.

The Blueshirts are a perfect 3-0 when they score the first goal of the game and have a 1-1-1 record when the opposition scores the first goal of the game.

Special Teams

The Rangers are still looking for the first power-play goal at home this year. They are 0-4 with the man advantage at MSG and overall are 3-24 on the power-play. Currently, they are ranked 28th in the NHL with a success rate of 18.5%.

The penalty Killing is only slightly better than their power-play. The rangers have been short-handed 21 times this season allowing four goals. That is good for 18th in the NHL (81%).

Projected Lineup

Ryan Strome (Covid Protocol) and Kaapo Kakko (UBI-IR) were both on the ice for practice on Sunday. It is anticipated that Strome will return to the lineup on Monday night.

The lines used during practice;

Lafreniere – Zibanejad – Kreider

Panarin – Strome – Goodrow

Blais – Chytil – Gauthier

Hunt – Rooney – Blais

Defense

Fox-Lindgren

Trouba-Miller

Nemeth-Lundkvist

Power Play

PP1 – Fox, Zibanejad, Strome, Panarin and Kreider

PP2- Trouba, Lundkvist, Lafreniere, Chytil and Blais

Shesterkin should get the start in net.

LAST GAME


New York Rangers 3, Ottawa Senators 2 – Oct. 23, 2021 (Canadian Tire Centre) NYR Goals: C. Kreider (4), R. Lindgren (1), B. Goodrow (2)
OTT Goals: N. Paul (2), J. Norris (2)
NYR Goalie: A. Georgiev (W) – 26 Saves
OTT Goalie: A. Forsberg (L) – 1 save, M. Murray (ND) – 22 saves
NYR Shots: 26
OTT Shots: 28
NYR PP: 1/4
NYR PK: 4/4

Next Five Games

UPCOMING GAMES (All Times ET)

Mon, Oct. 25 – vs. CGY – 7:00 PM (TV: MSG – Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM)
Fri, Oct. 29 – vs. CBJ – 7:00 PM (TV: MSG – Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM)
Sun, Oct. 31 – at SEA – 9:00 PM (TV: MSG, NHL Network – Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM) Tue, Nov. 2 – at VAN – 10:00 PM (TV: MSG – Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM)
Fri, Nov. 5 – at EDM – 9:00 PM (TV: MSG+ – Radio: TBD)

New York Rangers news and notes: Final roster remains undecided

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The New York Rangers training camp is entering its last week and head coach Gerard Gallant still has some tough decisions to make to get his roster to 23 players.

The New York Rangers split their two games this weekend.  On Friday night the team was embarrassed in a 7-1 loss in New Jersey against the Devils. The Blueshirts rebounded the following night in Boston as they won that contest 4-3 in overtime.

The coaching staff along with general manager Chris Drury has been hard at work putting the pieces together they feel will bring the best results when the season begins in just 10 days.

Roster Moves

Prior to Friday’s game against the Devils, the club announced that following being placed on waivers Anthony Greco, Jonny Brodzinski, Ty Ronning, Tim Gettinger, Anthony Bitetto, and Keith Kinkaid to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Sunday saw more moves as the Rangers begin to see how their team will look for the final two preseason games this week.

The team cut its training camp roster down to 27 players as Will Cuylle has been assigned to his junior team, the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and Matthew Robertson, Braden Schneider, Lauri Pajuniemi, Tyler Wall, and Adam Huska have been assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL).

The Rangers have 27 players remaining in Training Camp. The roster breakdown is listed below:

FORWARDS (16)

10 – Artemi Panarin
13 – Alexis Lafrenière
14 – Greg McKegg
15 – Julien Gauthier
16 – Ryan Strome
17 – Kevin Rooney
20 – Chris Kreider
21 – Barclay Goodrow
24 – Kaapo Kakko
29 – Dryden Hunt
47 – Morgan Barron
72 – Filip Chytil
74 – Vitali Kravtsov
75 – Ryan Reaves
91 – Sammy Blais
93 – Mika Zibanejad

DEFENSEMEN (9)

5 – Jarred Tinordi
6 – Zac Jones
8 – Jacob Trouba
12 – Patrik Nemeth
23 – Adam Fox
25 – Libor Hajek
55 – Ryan Lindgren
64 – Nils Lundkvist
79 – K’Andre Miller

GOALTENDERS (2)

31 – Igor Shesterkin
40 – Alexandar Georgiev

Upcoming Games

On Wednesday the Rangers will host the Devils at the Garden with a 7 p.m. faceoff. The preseason schedule concludes in Bridgeport, CT. where the team will play the Islanders.

Head coach Gallant still has not announced who the third defensive pairing will be or who the extra roster players will be once the season starts.  That should become clearer this week as the Blueshirts work out the kinks and fine-tune the team to be ready for opening night on Oct.13 in Washington.

New York Rangers: Training Camp -Day 1 news and notes

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New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant made it through his first day of training camp on Thursday as the team prepares for its first preseason game Sunday at MSG.

The boys are back. The New York Rangers laced up their skates and participated in their first day of camp with Gerard Gallant at the helm.

The players were divided into three teams along with a  goalie team.

Line Combinations

Now let’s remember this was the first day of camp, and the combinations aren’t etched in stone. Here is what Gallant went with yesterday when Team one played Team two representing what could be the top two lines to start the season next month.

Kreider-Zibanejad-Lafreniere
Panarin-Strome-Kakko

Line combinations for team three looked like this;

Goodrow-Chytil-Kravtsov
Blais-Rooney-Reaves

Highlights of the day

Adam Fox stepped onto the ice wearing his familiar #23 but with “NORRIS” on the back of his sweater.

 

Some new faces and new numbers were skating in Tarrytown along with returning Blueshirts

Funny Tweet of the Day

Former Rangers captain and current ESPN broadcaster Ryan Callahan had a great Tweet that captured the real Blueshirt fan.

Death, taxes, and over thinking the line combination on day 1 of camp! Only sure things in life.

Great way to end day one of training camp!

Rangers Head Coach talks about training camp, line combinations and a Captain

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New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant had his first press conference on Thursday afternoon.

The New York Rangers began their training camp on Wednesday morning with players reporting for physicals and media day activities.

Day one of camp is uneventful for the team as a whole, with the lone highlight of the head coach’s first official press conference of the season. Gallant sat in front of the New York Media as they questioned him on varying topics.

The Elephant In The Room

Gallant didn’t waste any time when the question of who would be the next captain of the Blueshirts.

“If I was a betting man, I think we’re gonna have a captain on day 1”.

He did acknowledge that having a captain is a priority but wasn’t sure of the exact timing of when the captain would be named.

Gallant is an “old school” coach as was evident when he was talking about systems coach’s use in the National Hockey League. He emphasized the system is not as important as the player’s ability to “buy in” to the schemes the coaching staff put in front of them.

“Let’s be honest: Everybody has their systems, (but) there’s not a big difference in NHL teams. A lot of us do the same things. It’s about executing them and believing.. and getting 23 guys to buy in.” – Vince Mercogliano

Line Combinations

The head coach is looking for a fresh start to of lines, though he hasn’t ruled anything out. He wants to look at placing Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad on the same lines, possibly moving Alexis Lafreniere to the right wing to get him more ice time, and would he dare split up Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren?

Training camp is a way for the coaching staff to see what works well and what doesn’t. No lines are etched in stone, and Gallant will use at least the first four games to try different line combinations and defensive pairings to judge what works and what ideas need to be trashed.

The plan is to have his 23 roster players and the line combinations set for the end of the preseason.

Thursday morning will be the first practice for the team under their new head coach. It begins in the team’s Tarrytown facility at 10 am.  The players will be divided into three teams plus a squad of goalies and follow this schedule;

Team 1 & 2 Scrimmage…10:00-11:40 AM
Team 3 Goalies on ice…1:00-1:30 PM
Team 3 Practice…1:30-3:15 PM

A new era is beginning in New York with high expectations. Gallant has plenty of work to do in his quest to make this team a tough opponent to play against.

The New York Rangers to lose Panarin after Wilson melee

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After Wednesday’s practice, it was confirmed that the New York Rangers would be without Artemi Panarin for the final three games of the season.

Ryan Strome mentioned the news after Wednesday’s practice, as reported by the New York Post’s Mollie Walker. Head coach David Quinn later confirmed the news, stating that the injury did occur due to the actions done by Tom Wilson in Monday night’s game.

Walker reported that Strome made a point to say Wilson is a skilled player that can produce in this league but added, “I know it’s not my responsibility, but I just can’t believe that. It sends a bad message, in my opinion. I just think that the league missed one big time.” Strome also added that “I think it’s a joke, to be honest with you,” about the fine the NHL levied against Wilson.

Strome finished his statements about the NHL: “As players, you want the league to have your back in those situations. I just feel like they didn’t.”

Quinn echoed Strome’s sentiments, based on Walker’s reports of the press conference. “To me, anybody in hockey, certainly in our organization, is very disappointed. I certainly thought it warranted a suspension, which is really disappointing. A line was crossed. [Panarin] didn’t have his helmet on, vulnerable, he got hurt. You know, to me, there was an awful lot there to suspend him.”

Wilson only received the maximum $5000 fine from the NHL’s Department of Safety.

How will the New York Rangers respond?

Strome and Quinn were also asked how the Rangers would respond as the two teams meet again on Wednesday night.

According to Walker, Strome responded to the question of how the Rangers would respond by saying, “Just go and play hard. They have a big, strong team. They’re heavy. We know who we are. We know who they are. I don’t think there’s going to be anything crazy. It’s not the type of team we have.”

Some of the Ranger’s more physical players are out with injuries, including Chris Kreider and Ryan Lindgren. Quinn also stated that Lindgren and Jacob Trouba would miss the last three games of the season.

Quinn told the media that “We’ve talked about it as a team this morning. The fact is, we’ve got to protect each other. We’ve got to stick by each other, which is what we did last night. There are different ways to do it. The way we’re built, it’s not going to be a brawling situation.”

Walker asked Quinn about calling up Mason Geertson, a 6-foot-4, 216-pound defenseman with 43 penalty minutes in 18 games this season in Hartford. Quinn did confirm any scenarios but did say that “We’ve talked about a lot of different scenarios.”

The game between the two teams will be nationally televised on the MSNBC network.

 

 

 

 

 

The New York Rangers-Tom Wilson Fiasco will not go away Silently

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In a normal season, the New York Rangers may not have to see Tom Wilson and the Washington Capitals for a little while after just playing them on Monday night. However, in the pandemic-adjusted NHL schedule, the Rangers will get to see Mr. Wilson again on Wednesday night.

Of course, this is just more than a team trying to win a game. This contest will come off the heels of a second-period melee that earned Wilson four minutes for roughing, a 10-minute misconduct, and sent Artemi Panarin to the dressing room for the rest of the game. It started with Wilson pinning Pavel Buchnevich to the ice with his stick and punching him in the head a couple of times.

The NHL did not do much about this incident, recently releasing a statement saying that Wilson was fined $5000 for the incident. This appears to be the extent of his punishment.

The whole situation did not sit well in Ranger nation, and the fine folks running the Capital’s social media account added fuel to fire by posting this on Twitter:

The Capitals deleted the post after about 30 minutes, telling members of the Washington media that the post did not meet the team’s social media standards.

Even though it could be more of a coach standing up for his player, the Capitals head coach’s comment after the game did not help either.

“I thought it was just a scrum, like a physical play,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. “There was something going on originally with the goalie and they’re jamming at the goalie and a bunch of players jump in there. It happens a lot.”

Those who watch a lot of hockey are scratching their heads at this comment.

The New York Rangers have a genuine concern about player safety

Head coach David Quinn had a different take on the situation. “There are lines that can’t be crossed in this game. There’s just zero respect for the game in general. You got one of the star players in this league now that could have gotten seriously, seriously hurt in that incident.”

This statement was not without exaggeration, as veteran Ranger’s beat writer Larry Brooks of the New York Post re-tweeted a slow-motion video of the incident.

Unfortunately, the small fine seems to be the only punishment Wilson will receive for this.

This brings into question, how serious the NHL about the safety of their players, especially as everyone has learned about the serious effects surrounding people who suffer concussions.

Wilson is no stranger to suspensions. Earlier this season, he was suspended seven games for an illegal check to the head of Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo. In his career, Wilson has received a total of 30 games in suspensions and forfeited nearly $1.3 million in salary for his actions.

Despite the video showing what he did to Panarin, the people who run the NHL Department of public safety stated they didn’t find any compelling evidence that Wilson threw Panarin to the ice by pulling on his hair.

So Wednesday night’s game has just added some more intrigue to the contest. There is no truth to the rumor that the Rangers will call Ogie Ogilthorpe out of retirement.