Artemi Panarin

New York Rangers Overcome Slow Start, Bury Avalanche

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New York Rangers

The New York Rangers are getting into a bad habit of having slow starts to games. However, they overcame their most recent slow start and defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-3. In doing so, recently promoted goalie Igor Shesterkin picked up his first NHL victory.

Shesterkin Shines in Debut

Despite going down 2-0, Shesterkin showed resolve in only allowing one more goal after this. For the game, he stopped 29 of the 32 Colorado shots attempted. in earning the win, Shesterkin is one of only two Rangers goaltenders since 1979-80 who have earned a win in their regular-season NHL debut while playing at MSG. A solid debut for a young man who was quoted after the game as saying: “On the way to the arena my hands were shaking, I couldn’t even drink water. But as I stepped onto the ice, I felt everyone’s support and energy and it really helped me”  Head Coach David Quinn was quick to praise his goalie in post-game comments by saying he was impressed that he could  “To be mentally tough enough to pull himself together”.  Of course, this was due to the fact that J.T. Compher scored at 4:44 of the first period to give Colorado a 1-0 lead, and Nathan MacKinnon scored his 26th goal on a breakaway to make it 2-0 at 6:34. But to his credit, Shesterkin did not melt. he settled down after that, giving up just one goal on the next 29 shots. Igor Shesterkin became the fifth Rangers goalie in 40 years to win in his NHL debut. The others: Mackenzie Skapski (Feb. 20, 2015), Dan Cloutier (Jan. 3, 1998), Mike Richter (Oct. 19, 1989)  and John Vanbiesbrouck (Dec. 5, 1981).

Strong Offense Picks Up Soft Defense

The defense did not do a lot early to help their young goaltender.  The first goal was scored on a deflection and the second goal was scored on a breakaway. Not a great start to help out a young goaltender. But to their credit, the  Rangers bounced back.  Chris Kreider redirected a Ryan Strome‘pass through the five-hole on the power play to make it 2-1. Mika Zibanejad chipped in a loose puck from the slot under the arm of the Colorado Goalie to tie it 2-2.  Brady Skjei‘s huge slapshot from the blueline at 8:05 of the second period gave New York a 3-2 lead.  Colorado rebounded to tie the game but Strome’s fifth goal in the past six games gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead. Artemi Panarin added an empty-net goal to make the final score 5-3. So after some slow stretches, the Rangers’ studs are stepping up. Panarin has 10 assists and 12 points in the last six games. Strome has five goals and four assists in his last six games. Mika Zibanejad has 10 goals and 16 points in his last 12 games

The New York Rangers Need to Take Advantage of January Home Cooking

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New York Rangers

The familiarity and comfort that come with playing at home are significant advantages and the New York Rangers are hoping that a home heavy January schedule can help them get right back into the playoff race. The Blueshirts have six of their remaining eight games at home and after the team’s winless trip to Western Canada, they will need to take advantage of these home games.

This Week: Two at Home, One on the Road

The Rangers start with the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night at MSG. The good news for the Rangers is that the Avs are on a road trip of their own, and will have to play back-to-back games as Colorado will play the Islanders Monday night.  However, the Avs are 7-1-1 in their last nine road contests and 9-2-1 in their last 12. Colorado is also 11-2-2 against the Eastern Conference.  Then on Thursday, the Rangers host the New Jersey Devils, who had a three-game winning streak snapped last Saturday by Colorado. The 15-20-6 Devils will host the Islanders on Tuesday night before making their way to MSG. The Rangers finish out the week by taking a trip to meet the defending Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues. Realistically, going 2-1 this week would be a nice start to making a playoff push.

Next Stretch Includes Three Games with the Islanders

Before the All-Star break, the Rangers will play three of their four games against the Islanders. Two of these games are home, and one is out on Long Island. The Blueshirts will also host one game with Artemi Panarin’s former team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. That means that after a quick trip to the midwest, the Rangers will get stay in the Metropolitan area for the rest of the month.  The first game after the All-Star break is a home game on January 31 against the Detroit Red Wings. The Islanders have also struggled recently, losing 5 of their last seven going 2-4-1. The team that stormed through the season’s first seven weeks, going 16-3-1, has won fewer than half its games (9-8-2) since Nov. 21. A Rangers team that could go 4-1 through that stretch could show the league that they are playoff ready.

New York Ranger Go Winless during Their Western Canada Trip

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New York Rangers, Brett Howden, Filip Chytil

The New York Rangers certainly thought that after notching two wins in the first part of this critical five-game swing that they would be able to carry that momentum into the three-game section of this trip to Western Canada. That did not happen. The Rangers lost all three games after falling 2-1 to the Vancouver Canucks. That loss was made more difficult by the fact that the Rangers played well in that game, only to see the Canucks score the game-winner with just over a minute to play in the third period.

What Went Wrong for the New York Rangers

In the first two games, slow starts and poor defense led to leads that the Rangers could not overcome. On Saturday night, the Rangers ran into a red-hot team with an equally hot goaltender. Jacob Markstrom made 36 saves for his sixth straight win for the Canucks.  Vancouver outscored opponents 30-17 during their win streak. Markstrom made his best saves with the Canucks being outshot and outplayed by the Rangers for long stretches of the third period. The best of those happened when he made a diving glove save to rob Jacob Trouba with under four minutes remaining. Despite the pressure, the Rangers could not get that second goal past him. Also, some of the big-name players for the Blueshirts seem to be in a mini-slump. It was the second straight game without a point for Rangers forward Artemi Panarin, who had 21 points in his previous 11 games. Not too worrisome as Panarin is still on pace for career highs in most of the major stat categories.

Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev started the game because Henrik Lundqvist was sidelined with an illness. Lundqvist took part in warmups after skipping the morning skate and was the backup but did not sit on the Rangers bench. Georgiev made 25 saves in the game.

The Rangers will not make the long trip back to New York and host Colorado on Tuesday night.

 

New York Rangers’ Resolution to Start Games Better Fails; Lose to Flames

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New York Rangers, Henrik Lundqvist

Across the board, members of the New York Rangers hockey team stated that they needed to come prepared to play at the beginning of games. This followed the debacle in Edmonton in which the team gave up six goals in the first two periods before a furious rally came up just short. However, that did not happen on Thursday night as the Rangers fell to the Calgary Flames 4-3. Yes, that same Calgary Flames team that had been 0-4-1 in its last five home games.

The New York Rangers have Plenty of Blame to Go Around

In the loss to Edmonton, the poor defensive play was pointed out as one of the main culprits in that game. In Calgary, that was not the case. Sloppy play lead to the first two goals. Poor passing led to Johnny Gaudreau sliding a backhand between Lundqvist’s legs on a breakaway to put Calgary up 1-0 at 4:15 for the first period.

The breakaways were not done as an old nemesis returned to the Ranger power play: too much passing. During a five on three power play, the Rangers passed the puck around multiple times until an errant Tony DeAngelo pass was nabbed by Michael Backlund, who made it 2-0 with another breakaway at 7:16 of the first period.

Not a good way to start a game, especially against a reeling team that had been outscored 22-9 during its five-game home-ice losing streak. A glaring stat from the game was that the line of Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome, and Jesper Fast were a -3 for the game, so it is not surprising to see where the sloppy, inconsistent play started.  It does not get better as Saturday as the Rangers head to Vancouver to face a Canucks team that has won six straight.

There was some good news for the New York Rangers

The Rangers did bounce back after going down by two goals. Jacob Trouba scored on the power play on that same 5-on-3 to cut the lead to 2-1 at 7:42. Filip Chytil, still with the man advantage, scored on a rebound 25 seconds later to tie it 2-2. Kaapo Kakko had a goal and an assist breaking a scoring drought while Adam Fox had three assists against the team that drafted him.

New York Rangers Show Grit In Almost Fully Recovering from Slow Start, Officiating In Edmonton Loss

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New York Rangers, Brad Skjei

The New York Rangers did their very best to make sure the fine people of Edmonton enjoyed their New Year’s Eve. They allowed the Oilers to score six straight goals, including the first one, just eleven seconds in the game. They then almost accomplished what has never been done in NHL history: coming back from a six-goal deficit to win. The Blueshirts scored five goals in the final 20 minutes and 26 seconds of the game but came up short when the Oilers scored an empty-net goal to make the final score 7-5.

Why Did the New York Rangers Start So Slowly?

Given the comeback, not very many people wanted to focus on why the Rangers came out of the gate so sluggishly.  As apparent as it was that they were not ready to play, they may have become a bit shell shocked after the Oilers scored just 11 seconds into the game. After that, the Rangers seemed to lose focus. They played poor defense and took too many penalties and found themselves down 6-0.  This lead to goaltender Alexandar Georgiev repeatedly bashing his stick on the net and having Head Coach David Quinn pulling him. But it was not entirely all his fault. The Rangers were very aware of their inability to commit to playing defense, which includes being physical along the boards and in front of the net. None of this was seen for the first two periods of the game.

Head Coach David Quinn Very Frustrated with the Officiating

Part of the situation that saw the Rangers get down so quickly was the number of penalties they took. Not a good idea against the number one power-play unit in the NHL. Some of the penalties were legit, and some of them raised the ire of Quinn. The worst of these was when Ryan Lindgren was assessed an extra minor for slashing in a dust-up with Jujhar Khaira.  The Rangers were then slapped with a bench minor before the post-goal faceoff even occurred, as Quinn had a few choice words for the officiating crew. Quinn was frustrated after the game but kept his composure, hopefully assuring that he will not receive any additional fines for his displeasure with the officials.

Lost on all of this was that Artemi Panarin had four points while Ryan Strome, meanwhile, scored for the fourth time in four games and Mika Zibanejad for the ninth time in nine. But up and down the roster, players and coaches used one word to describe the comeback: character — something they will need to continue when they travel to Calgary for a Thursday night game.

 

Surging New York Rangers Head to Western Canada

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New York Rangers

It would have been effortless for a young New York Rangers team to fold up shop after the Toronto Maple Leafs scored two goals in the third period, including the tying goal with just 53 seconds remaining in the game. But that didn’t happen. Instead, Artemi Panarin hit Tony D’Angelo with a pass that he buried for the game-winner just 52 seconds into overtime to lift the Blueshirts to the victory.  The win gave the Rangers two in a row and broke Toronto’s six-game winning streak.

Can the New York Rangers Keep the Momentum Going?

That is certainly on the Rangers’ minds as they head out to Western Canada for three games against the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Vancouver Canucks.  One of the keys to sustaining momentum will be the continued strong play at goal. Slightly lost in last night’s game was that goaltender Alexandar Georgiev stopped 43 of the Leaf’s 47 shots. This marked the third time that Georgiev made 40 or more saves in a game against Toronto. This follows Friday night’s reliable performance by Henrik Lundquist in their win against Carolina.

The other factor in sustaining the momentum is for the stars to keep doing what they have been doing. On Saturday night, Ryan Strome had two goals and two assists while Panarin added three assists, including the one on the game-winner. Mika Zibanejad scored a goal with an assist from Chris Kreider.

These combos on the first two lines need to continue to lead the way in order for the Rangers to continue their winning ways on the road. This also includes the intangibles, which include the ability to keep their composure when things are not going well. Such as the case on Saturday night when they gave up two goals that sent the match into overtime. Even with that, the Rangers remained confident.

After the game, Tony D’Angelo stated:

“I don’t think anyone was panicking when we gave up the lead. They had a lot of good chances and Georgiev played real well, but just like we got our goals, they got theirs, and sometimes that’s how the game goes, but we stuck with it and found a way to pick up the extra point.”

A great attitude for a maturing team.

Injury Update

The Rangers will be missing Brendan Lemieux, who will out three to four weeks after sustaining a broken hand on Friday. They recalled Steven Fogarty from Hartford to take his place in a related note. The Maple Leafs are without Ilya Mikheyev, who had surgery to repair an artery in his right wrist and will be out at least three months. The league announced that in the wake Mikheyev’s injury, the NHL’s laceration task force will meet to discuss ways of making the game safer at All-Star weekend.

 

New York Rangers Rediscover Their Power Play, Topple Carolina

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New York Rangers

The New York Rangers knew they were heading into a critical stretch of their schedule. Coming off the NHL three-day holiday break, they tinkered with some lines and used some inspired play to down the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3. The Rangers top players came up big as Henrik Lundqvist stopped 39 shots, and Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejed each tallied three points.

Power Play Drought Ends for the New York Rangers

One of the most significant factors of the night was that the Rangers ended their 0-18 streak on the power play, tallying two power-play goals out of five chances. In fact, the entire specials units for the Blueshirts were outstanding as they also killed all five of Carolina’s power-play chances.  Zibanejad scored the two power-play goals and added his third point on an assist for Chris Kreider’s goal.  Panarin had a goal and two assists, giving him 14 points in his past nine games. In fact, the highlight of the night was not a goal, but rather Panarin’s spectacular pass to Ryan Stromme that set up the Ranger’s fifth and final goal.

The critical decision of the game came from the coaching staff, especially the video crew, when Carolina had a would-be first-period game-tying power-play goal by Sebastian Aho overturned after the Rangers challenged for offside. Both teams cited this as a massive momentum shift.   The only negative that came from the game was that forward Brendan Lemieux sustained a fractured hand and would be out indefinitely. In his post-game comments, Head Coach David Quinn didn’t have details on a timeframe for Lemieux’s injury or if the Rangers would recall a forward from Hartford.

Canada Swing Starts in Toronto

The Blueshirts will be back in action tonight when they face Original Six foe the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs also played on Friday, defeating the New Jersey Devils 5-4 in overtime. Toronto suffered a critical injury of their own Friday night when forward Ilya Mikheyev sustained a significant laceration to his wrist in the third period. He was transported to a Newark, NJ hospital for evaluation, and remained there overnight. Late reports stated that Mikheyev is stable and has full feeling in his hand and fingers. Face-off is at 7 pm, and the “Hockey Night in Canada” feature game will be shown on MSG+ and the NHL network.

New York Rangers: “Rest” Doesn’t Help End Losing Streak

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New York Rangers, Brad Skjei

The New York Rangers had a theory: That a three-day break after a long West Coast trip may rejuvenate their team. In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company decided to replace its traditional product with “New Coke.”  Neither theory worked. New Coke was widely criticized and was eventually dumped. On Friday night, the Rangers were trounced 6-3 by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

A Tiring West Coast Trip didn’t end well for the New York Rangers

In reality, the Rangers did need a bit of a break.  The Rangers started December having played eight games in 11 days.  After a 4-1 loss to the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 2. They then had a back-to-back, in Columbus and at home against the Canadiens, before leaving on the weeklong four-game trip out west. That trip went from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, then north to San Jose, and back south to Anaheim for a Saturday afternoon game.  After flying back home, they played the Nashville  Predators in the Garden on Monday, losing 5-2.  I am tired just writing about it. Following a day off Tuesday, the team returned to the ice for a light practice Wednesday with five players taking maintenance days: defensemen Marc Staal and Tony DeAngelo, and forwards Ryan Strome, Artemi Panarin, and Pavel Buchnevich.  Seeing how this week played out, one would think that the Blueshirts would be ready to go on Friday night against the Leafs. That did not happen.

A clunker of a game

The thought was that goaltender Alexandar Georgiev would be the perfect man in the net against the Leafs, as when he stopped 99 out of their 101 shots last season. Unfortunately, Georgiev allowed a season-high six goals in last night’s debacle. This, of course, comes after I referred to him as “red hot” in a recent article.  But there is plenty of blame to go around.  The Rangers were outshot 40-22 and gave the puck away 23 times. They went 0-for-3 on the power play, extending their streak to nine man-advantage opportunities without a goal. Toronto nabbed 12 takeaways.  In his post-game press conference, Head Coach David Quinn stressed “a need to pay more attention to detail” for his young team.

The schedule ahead is also difficult

Friday’s loss is followed by a back-to-back, starting with a  Sunday matinee at home against the Ducks and then heading to  Philadelphia Monday night. The Rangers will get another break with the league-wide three-day dark period for Christmas. They come out of that with another back-to-back, Friday at home against the Hurricanes then in Toronto on Saturday, which leads right into their New Year’s trip, this time going through western Canada starting in Edmonton.  Coach Quinn and the young Rangers will be challenged more than ever as they try to end this three-game losing streak.

New York Rangers: Has The Bread Man Delivered so far in 2019?

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New York Rangers, Artemi Panarin

Quick Question: When is the last time the New York Rangers had a 100 point scorer in a season? You have to go back to the 2005-06 season when some guy named Jagr scored 123. The Rangers have a player that is on pace to duplicate that feat in their significant free-agent acquisition Artemi Panarin.

So far, Panarin has been everything the Rangers had hoped for when team President John Davidson signed the forward in the offseason. It probably helped that Davidson had been President for Columbus, where Panarin lead that team in scoring the past two seasons. Panarin was brought in help anchor a young rebuilding team and is now on pace to score 110 points over 82 games.

How Great Has Panarin Been for the Rangers in 2019?

Early on, Panarin started paying dividends as he put up a 12 point streak from Mid-October to Mid-November, providing the Rangers with the scoring consistency a young team needs. Panarin has been vital in helping frequent linemates Jesper Fast and Ryan Strome, who has also seen a bit of revival since being acquired from Edmonton last year. Strome has been so impressed with Panarin and skill set that he has frequently referred to him as a “game-breaker.”

Even though some may consider 33 games too small a sample size, Panarin scoring 20 goals and 23 assists for 43 points is not out of character for him. He did lead Columbus in scoring last season with 87 points. He also scored 77 and 74 points in his first two years with the Chicago Blackhawks while sharing ice time with prolific scorers Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews.

Panarin has also been a positive force in the locker room. Up and down the roster, players have pointed to his commitment to playing an all-around game as one of his standout qualities. Teammates also describe him as a guy who is dynamic offensively but is willing to play that whole 200-foot game, which lets everyone know that, if he can do it, everyone has to buy into that defensive responsibility as well.

Free agency can be hit-or-miss in any league, but it’s safe to say that the New York Rangers’ decision to pursue Artemi Panarin has been a very good one.