Artemi Panarin

Mika Zibanejad puts the New York Rangers On His Back in Victory Over the Caps

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New York Rangers, Mika Zibanejad

If you missed Thursday night’s game, you may have missed an epic moment in New York Rangers history. Mika Zibanejad scored five goals, including the game-winner, in defeating the Washington Capitals 6-5.

Artemi Panarin had three assists, and as a footnote, Tony DeAngelo had the other goal for the Blueshirts. This crucial win keeps that Rangers within striking distance of a playoff spot.

It also spotlight’s the crucial role Zibanejad plays with the team, not so much for the number of goals, but for the fact that he came up with so a big play after the Alex Ovechkin tied the game with under a minute left to play.  In breaking their three-game losing streak, the Rangers are now just two points behind that other team with New York in front of their name for the final playoff spot.

Zibanejad comes up huge for the New York Rangers

So we must start with how significant this night was. With his fifth goal, Zibanejad tied the single-game franchise record, shared with two other players. He is only the fourth NHL player in the 21st century to accomplish the feat.

After his fourth goal, he was the first Ranger to score four in a game since Ryan Callahan did that on Mar. 6, 2011. Oh, because he scored three, he earned the coveted hat trick, the fourth hat trick of his NHL career, his second this season, and his first hat trick at MSG. With the five goals, his season total jumped from 33 to 38.

In doing so, he became the first Rangers center who scored at least 35 goals in a season since Eric Lindros accomplished that feat in 2001-02. This is not a one-game or even one-week type of hot streak. Since February 1, his 17 goals is the most in the NHL. Since this almost feels like an infomercial for Zibanejad, we could use the phrase “Wait…there is more!!” So here it is: Zibanejad recorded his 14th power-play goal of the season, tying his career-high.

This also ranks him third in the NHL for this category. So if you watched this game, this puts his tremendous night in perspective. If you did not get to watch, at the very least hunt down the highlights somewhere, such as at NHL.com.  You will not be disappointed.

Valiant effort by the New York Rangers Falls Just Short Against the Blues

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New York Rangers

The New York Rangers are not looking for moral victories, but they did get one in playing very well but losing 3-1 to the defending Stanley Cup champions St. Louis Blues. Mika Zibanejad scored, and Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves for the Rangers, who have lost three straight following a five-game winning streak. Artemi Panarin had his 13-game point streak end.

Zibanejad has goals in eight of the Rangers” last nine games and 12 of the past 15 to take over the team lead from Panarin, who has 32 goals and 90 points.  Unfortunately, the Rangers ran into a team on a streak, who have the best record in the Western Conference and previously had winning streaks of seven and eight games this season. The Ranger will continue to need some improved effort as they have a tough road ahead with Washington visiting on Thursday, then New Jersey on Saturday, followed by a trip to Dallas, Colorado, and Arizona.

Head Coach David Quinn pleased with New York Ranger’s effort, not so with officiating.

Despite the loss, most are pleased with the Ranger’s effort. This includes head coach David Quinn who said after the game that “It is all about winning and losing, but you also have to take into consideration, do you give yourself a chance to win? And that was a big boy hockey game right there. There wasn’t a lot of room out there. There was a playoff feel to it.”

It certainly was a well-played game, especially in the second period, when the game went over 10 minutes without a whistle. Also, Quinn was not especially pleased with the officiating, especially some of the calls that were not made against the Blueshirts.” Listen, when that team is allowed to do some of the things they do…and they compete their behinds off, so I’m not taking anything away from them. And I loved how we fought through it. We just kept playing through it.”

Being tactful as ever at some of the very obvious calls that were not made against the Blues. The good news is that everyone ahead of the Rangers lost, meaning that Rangers remain just four points out of a playoff spot.

 

The New York Rangers Cannot Let the Chris Kreider Injury Become an Excuse

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New York Rangers, Chris Kreider

The New York Rangers continue to struggle without Chris Kreider, falling 5-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers Sunday afternoon at MSG. Mika Zibanejad scored two goals and Pavel Buchnevich scored once for the Rangers but it was not enough. The Flyers scored four goals on special teams to extend their season-long winning streak to six games. Henrik Lundqvist made 21 saves in his first start since facing the Dallas Stars on Feb. 3. However, the most apparent takeaway from this game was the team missing injured star Chris Kreider, and not having enough players step up enough to overcome his absence.

All of the New York Rangers need to step up in Kreider’s absence

It will take more than just waiting for Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin to carry the whole load. The Blueshirts will need to have all players pick up their game if they want to continue their playoff run. They have done it before. Head Coach David Quinn reminded everyone about that fact when he commented about how the team played earlier in the season when they lost Zibanejad for a bunch of games. “I don’t think anybody thought that we were going to have any success without Mika and we went 8-4-1. We beat some good teams without Mika. I think we all feel that we’re a much better hockey team today than we were in November when we didn’t have Mika.” This will become even more important as they are in the middle of a big 19 game stretch, which started with the home-and-home contests against the Flyers. In this stretch, 14 will come against teams occupying playoff spots, and 10 will come on the road. They play the past three Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, a combined six times, while also drawing the Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning. With no timetable yet on Kreider’s return, the Blueshirts will need to regroup and see what they can do to better there play until their valuable injured players come back to the ice.

Red-Hot Mika Zibanejad leads New York Rangers to their Ninth Straight Road Win

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New York Rangers, Mika Zibanejad

Maybe it was the Poutine that caused the New York Rangers to be a bit sluggish but they rallied in the third period with four goals to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. Mika Zibanejad started the four-goal rally by scoring at the 11-minute mark of the third period.

Ryan Strome scored twice and added an assist while Phillip Di Giuseppe and Adam Fox each added a goal.  Third-period rallies are nothing new for the Rangers now have outscored opponents 81-56 in the third period this season, and their plus-25 goal differential in the third period this season is the best in the NHL.

Their nine-game road winning streak is tied for the eighth-longest in NHL history. They are also the first NHL team that has posted a nine-game road winning streak since the Nashville Predators accomplished this during the 2017-18 season.

Mika Zibanejad leading the way for the New York Rangers

One of the keys to the third-period comeback was to place Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin together on a line. In post-game interviews, players mentioned that head coach David Quinn was less than pleased with their effort, especially with the first two lines, and this led to the pairing.

Zibanejad has now scored in six straight games for the Blueshirts. He is the first Ranger who has posted a six-game goal streak since Jaromir Jagr during the 2005-06 season.

That six-game goal streak is tied for the longest goal streak in the NHL this season, and he is one of four players who have posted a six-game goal streak in 2019-20 joining the likes of Patrick Kane, Sebastian Aho, and Max Domi.

Thursday night’s goal was his thirtieth of the season, making him the first Ranger who has registered 30 or more goals in two consecutive seasons since Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06 and 2006-07, and the first from a center since Mark Messier did this in 1995-96 and 1996-97.

After the game, Zibanejad said of the third-period line switch that the result of that was that they “Played harder, worked harder, played faster, and we saw the result of that today.”  They will need to continue that philosophy as they travel to Philadelphia to face the Flyers on Friday night.

 

New York Rangers Survive Shark Attack: Now Wait on Trade Deadline Activities

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New York Rangers, Artemi Panarin

It might be a little understandable if the New York Rangers looked a little flat on Saturday night. After playing for the fourth game in the past six days, and dealing with constant trade talk, the Rangers slipped past the San Jose Sharks by the score of 3-2. Igor Shesterkin stopped 44 saves to win for the seventh straight time. Artemi Panarin set up a pair of goals with passes that were beyond spectacular, and Jesper Fast broke a third-period tie with his second goal of the night. The Rangers won for the third straight time, the seventh time in their last eight games, and moved to 10-3 since the All-Star break. Also, the Blueshirts are now within four points of the final playoff spot.

Shesterkin magnificent in goal for the New York Rangers

The Rangers came out flat Saturday night against the Sharks, having outshot the Blueshirts 22-3 in the first period. It was pretty much the work of Shesterkin in the net that allowed them to survive the onslaught and regroup for the win.  In getting the win, Shesterkin became just the fourth goaltender in NHL history to earn nine wins through his first 10 career games. He is also the first NHL goaltender since saves were first tracked in 1955-56 to have four 40 or more save games, as well as four 40 or more save wins, in his first 10 career appearances. This has to be even a bit over the Ranger’s expectations when they brought him up and have tried to juggle the dreaded three goalie scenario.

What will the New York Rangers do at the trade deadline?

There are a couple of different scenarios that the pundits have suggested. The first, and the least likely is that the Rangers do nothing before the trade deadline and deal with the impending salary cap issues in the off-season. This scenario could happen as the Rangers are now in contention for a playoff run, and won’t do anything to upset the team chemistry that seems so strong in recent weeks.

So the next issue is Chris Kreider. If they do re-sign him, then almost every other player on the roster, with the exceptions of Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, would be on the block. Some players with higher price tags like Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchenvich, Brady Skjei, and Tony DeAngelo could be the players who are traded, to help deal with the salary cap implications of re-signing Kreider

If the Blueshirts cannot re-sign Kreider, he will most likely be traded, probably for a nice haul. This is the scenario that would seem to hurt the Rangers playoff chances the most as this would upset the team chemistry quite a bit. This becomes even more critical as the Rangers begin a stretch of four games against opponents in the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.

Live From Carolina: Did We See Chris Kreider’s Last Road Game With the New York Rangers?

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New York Rangers, Chris Kreider

The New York Rangers survived a minor winter “storm surge” in North Carolina and as well as the Carolina Hurricanes themselves en route to a 5-2 victory Friday night. There were many of us in Ranger Blue present at PNC Arena in Raleigh, who was wondering if we were witnessing Chris Kreider‘s last road game as a New York Ranger. A large number of Blueshirt fans in attendance also witnessed Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanajed each scoring goals as Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves to lead the Rangers to their seventh straight road win.

Can the New York Rangers sign Chris Kreider to a deal?

On Monday, Pierre LeBrun of TSN reported that the Rangers and Kreider’s representatives were in serious talks to reach an agreement. At this point, it appears that the Rangers are making a strong effort to sign the 28-year-old forward to a deal. If they cannot sign him, he will probably be moved before the 3 PM deadline.

LeBrun also stated that the price for acquiring Kreider would be a first-round pick, a prospect, and some other piece. Some other piece could be a player, it could be a lower-level prospect, it might be a lower-level draft pick, and there might be a conditional pick in there, too, if the team could re-sign Kreider.

One of the projected teams that may have been very interested was the Boston Bruins. However, the need for Kreider became a little less critical for the Bruins when they acquired speedy winger Ondrej Kase from the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. What this could mean is that if Kreider stays, the Bruins might be interested in acquiring a lower cost forward like Pavel Buchnevich.

He may not command the same return as Kreider, but Buchenevich will still undoubtedly come at a steep cost for the Bruins if the Rangers deem him to be available, as he is currently ranked 28th on the TSN Trade Bait List. That price may be easier to stomach for the Bruins, however, given that Buchnevich carries a $3.25 million cap hit this season and next season.

This makes him more than just a rental for a Bruins team very much looking to capitalize on their aging core’s remaining competitive seasons. Kreider is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The left-wing has spent his entire career with the Rangers after he became the 2009 NHL Entry Draft’s No. 19 overall pick in the first round.

 

New York Rangers Steal a Win in Minnesota as Igor Shesterkin Sits With an Ankle Injury

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New York Rangers

The New York Rangers took a victory from the jaws of defeat Thursday night when they rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to defeat the Minnesota Wild in an overtime shootout.  Pavel Buchnevich brought New York within 3-2 at 11:51 of the third period, and Mika Zibanejad tied the game 3-3 at 18:54. The highlight of the game may have come in the overtime shootout when Artemi Panarin used a flurry of dekes to score on Wild goaltender Alex Stalock, which needed to be reviewed to make sure that Panarin followed shootout rules in scoring.

New York Ranger’s top goaltender sits with an ankle injury

Igor Shesterkin missed his start tonight due to the ankle injury he suffered on Tuesday in Winnipeg. Coach David Quinn described Shesterkin’s situation as “day to day” meaning he could possibly start Friday night in Columbus. Recently, Quinn doubled down on his earlier statement that “keeping people sharp is no longer a high priority of ours,” and unequivocally declared Igor Shesterkin the current No. 1 goalie. The ankle injury kept him from starting tonight but it was unlikely that Shesterkin would have started on back-to-back nights. Quinn didn’t rule him out for the second leg of this road back-to-back Friday night in Columbus. The 24-year-old rookie, who made his NHL debut Jan. 7, is 6-1-0 with a 2.18 goals-against average and .941 save percentage in seven games.

New York Rangers Head Coach Quinn very pleased with the character of the team

After the game, an obviously very pleased Coach David Quinn was quite impressed by the effort of his team in coming back from two goals to earn a hard-fought victory. “We just never quit. We’ve been talking about the belief we have in each other, and it continues to grow throughout the season. It was never more evident than it was tonight.”  Quinn also praised the maturity of his young team when he stated that: “Our team has come a long way. I think before you might have seen some panic and some pressing and some frustration. But I thought for the most part in the third period, we were calm on the bench.”

 

In Wake of Victory over L.A., Igor Shesterkin Will Be the Starter in Goal

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New York Rangers, Igor Shesterkin

Many are quite aware that the New York Rangers are one of the youngest teams in the NHL. With that youth, there will be some up and downs like the games they played last weekend. After losing a poorly played game against the Buffalo Sabres Friday night, the Rangers rebounded to defeat the Los Angeles Kings Sunday night by a score of 4-1. Eighteen-year-old Kaapo Kakko scored his first goal in 14 games. Greg McKegg, Artemi Panarin and Tony DeAngelo also scored for New York. Igor Shesterkin picked up the win and recorded 42 saves.

New York Rangers end goalie rotation

After Sunday’s win, head coach David Quinn announced that he will no longer rotate goalies and that Igor Shesterkin will continue to start. Quinn indicated that Shesterkin will continue to start regularly because he’s been the most consistent of the Rangers three goalies. “The best guy is going to continue to play,” Quinn said. “Keeping people sharp is no longer a high priority of ours. It’s going to be winning hockey games and the guy who plays well is going to keep playing.” Shesterkin has won three straight starts and five of his first six in the NHL. He is the first Rangers goalie in history to accomplish that feat. On Monday confirmed that Shesterkin will be in net when the Blueshirts travel to Winnipeg to take on the Jets. This is the first of a three-game road trip that includes stops in Minnesota and Columbus.

The “Consistently Inconsistent” New York Rangers

After Friday’s loss, Quinn noted that his young Rangers sometimes will struggle. “We like to keep things interesting. We’re getting better at it, but we have a hard time playing simple hockey from time to time.” This was an especially difficult loss at the Sabres had been struggling before coming into Friday nights games. Sunday night’s performance was much better in defeating a struggling, but pesky Kings team. Quinn pointed out that in order to win, the young players will need to contribute like they did Sunday night when they got big contributions from  Shesterkin,  Kakko, Filip Chytil and the recently called up, Phillip Di Giuseppe. Quinn summed up the night by saying that “it may have not been pretty hockey, but it was hard played hockey”.

New York Rangers’ Three Goalie Rotation Still Working in Thumping of Isles, But For How Long?

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New York Rangers, Henrik Lundqvist

One of the thoughts, when the New York Rangers decided to start Alexandar Georgiev on Monday night, was that it was an audition for other teams who might be interested in trading for the young Russian netminder. If that was the case, he passed his screen test with flying colors as Artemi Panarin tallied five points as the Rangers throttled their rivals from Long Island 6-2. In addition to Panarin’s excellent work, Jesper Fast had a goal and two assists while Adam Fox added a goal and an assist.

The New York Rangers Can Make the Three Goalie Carousel Work for a While

The notion of the Georgiev audition comes after some media reports indicated that the Rangers are willing to “listen” to offers for the young netminder. Reports have suggested that the asking price is high, and nothing that happened in Monday night’s game will change that. If anything, the price just went up. However, the Rangers may want to re-think this situation and keep three goalies for a while.

There are a couple of different scenarios that could allow them to hang on to all three to see if the situation can work itself out naturally. One of the takeaways from Monday night’s game is that Georgiev can still be useful after not seeing the ice in a while. Georgiev did not play the last three games as Igor Shesterkin, and Henrik Lundqvist got the start in those matches.

However, the veteran Lundqvist is the player who has been used to regular work, and he is the one that truly needs it. So, in that case, the Rangers could approach him and let him know that if he wants to stay in New York, and hamper the progress of young talented goalies, and cause a significant hit on their cap, then he will have to play the “difficult” games.

That would mean like last Saturday in St. Louis, he will have to face top teams on the road, thus proving he deserves time in the net while allowing the youngsters to ease into their roles. For example, Lundqvist could get the start on Thursday night against the Isles, using his experience to deal with the hostile Long Island environment.

You could then follow that by giving Shesterkin the home start on Sunday against Columbus and then have Georgiev face the Islanders at home two days later. This will take them up to the All-Star break, giving the Blueshirts 10 days before their next tilt to figure things out. It could also allow them to send Shesterkin down to Hartford, under the guise of letting him have the honor of playing in the AHL All-Star Game, which is held the same weekend as the NHL affair.

This will give you at least until the end of the month to consider options, and have a plan in case an injury should occur. A workable situation in making sure your two young prized goaltenders’ values are optimized.

New York Rangers Still Have Many Positives Despite Loss to Blues

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New York Rangers, Chris Kreider

The New York Rangers and their fans can still look at the team and find many good things about the way the team has been playing. On Saturday night, the Rangers lost 5-2 to the defending Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues. Despite some turnovers and shaky defense, the Blueshirts did finish the week 2-1, which is about what many had realistically hoped for since losing to a first-place team that had won their last seven games in a row at home should not be totally unexpected.

The Young New York Rangers are Doing Many Things Well

So the reality that a lot of the fans and media will take is that because of last night’s loss, the Rangers “took a step backward,” or that the Rangers “stink” is just not based in reality. Right now, the Blues are just a better team than the Rangers. The Blues are probably just better than all of the teams in the NHL. So instead of pandering to the haters and Debby Downers, let’s take a look at some of the things that the Rangers have been doing well in recent games.

Artemi Panarin is good, but just how good has he been? Since Dec. 11, Panarin leads the NHL in points with 24. Entering last night’s game, he leads the NHL in even-strength points (47), even strength assists (29), 5-on-5 points (40), and 5-on-5 assists (26) this season. When he tallied his 60th point on Thursday, he became the first player in franchise history who has recorded 60 or more points in his first 43 career games with the Rangers.  And finally, per NHL Stats and Information, when Panarin tallied his 59th point earlier in the week, he became tied for the most by a Ranger in his first 43 career games with the team.  He was tied with Wayne Gretzky, who was a pretty decent player in his time.

But enough about Panarin. The younger Blueshirts are playing well. According to our friends at NHL Stats and Information, the Rangers lead the NHL in goals by players 21 years old or younger with 28 and points by players 21 years old or younger with 78. The includes players like Filip Chytil, who has tallied 11 goals this season in 35 games.  This matches his total from last season in 75 games. He ranks third among NHL players 20 years old or younger in goals this season.

Even in last night’s loss, the Rangers’ two goals had been recorded by a player 21 years old or younger. In addition, Rangers’ players 21 years old or younger have recorded four of the team’s five points in that game (Chytil – two; Howden – one; Lindgren – one). Twenty-one-year-old Brett Howden has tallied six goals this season in 44 games, matching his total from the 66 games he played last season. There is a lot more, but you get the point. This is a good and improving young team, even if it may not be playoff ready.  In reality, the only stinky, disappointing, and crushing loss last night happened in Baltimore.