Artemi Panarin

New York Rangers pick up an important win against the Washington Capitals

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After a slow start to the season, the New York Rangers had one of the better games of the season in defeating not only one of the better teams in the East Division but one of the better teams in the NHL. In defeating the Washington Capitals 4-2 on Thursday night, the Blueshirts have won two games in a row and are 3-0-1 in their last four games.

Ryan Strome had two goals and Artemi Panarin had three assists in the victory.

With the two goals, Strome tied a single-game career-high with two goals and has posted a two-goal game for the 10th time in his NHL career. He now has 99 goals in his NHL career, and he has tallied 98 points with the Rangers. Strome extended his point streak to four games (two goals, two assists), and he has also tallied a point in five of the last six games (three goals, two assists), per @NYRStatsandInfo

Despite the strong performance from Strome and Panarin, the goal of the night goes to Anthony Bitetto when in the second period, he carried the puck behind the net, regathered it in the corner after getting checked by Carl Hagelin, and then went up the left-wing boards. He then avoided a hit from Nick Dowd before cutting into the middle, avoided a stick check from John Carlson, and beat Capitals goalie Vitek Vanecek with a backhand.

Pavel Buchnevich scored into an empty net with 27 seconds left accounted for the Ranger’s final goal.

Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves for his third straight win.

In the loss, Capitals’ superstar Alex Ovechkin scored his 709th goal to move into seventh place in NHL history. Ovechkin is eight goals away from Phil Esposito, who is sixth in league history with 717 goals.

“I like a lot about our game right from the get-go,” a pleased head coach David Quinn said after the game in his Zoom conference. “We were all dialed in, we were mentally and physically ready to go. Our penalty kill stood tall again and Shesty had a good and I thought a bunch of people stepped up tonight.”

Quinn also addressed the fact that these two points are very important for a team that needs to do some catching up in this abbreviated 56 game schedule. “I don’t care where we are playing, on the moon or here, we need points,” Quinn said. “It is a little bit different with no crowds as playing at home is a little bit different as is playing on the road but we have to continue to be dialed in. We are starting to get a little Mojo and feeling good about ourselves. When you get seven out of your eight points you start to feel good about yourself.”

The Rangers were slated to play Saturday afternoon at New Jersey, but it was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak for the Devils. The Rangers will have the weekend off before returning to action Monday night at home against the Islanders.

 

 

 

 

Early New York Rangers MVP: Pavel Buchnevich

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Even though he was kept off the scoresheet on Monday night, the New York Ranger‘s Pavel Buchnevich has been the solid consistent force for a team that has been solidly inconsistent through nine games this season.

Head coach David Quinn is well aware of this and has trusted Buchnevich as the young Russian led all Rangers forwards in ice-time in Monday night’s 3-1 victory with a 21:41 TOI.

Buchnevich trails only Artemi Panarin for points scored for the Blueshirts, but his unselfish and energetic play has made him one of the more, if not the most valuable player for the team through nine games.

This was the kind of play that the Ranger’s brass was hoping for from the 25-year-old. At the beginning of training camp, Quinn talked about the impact that Buchnevich might have and tabbed him as one of the players who might have a breakout season.

“The guy that’s kind of jumping out to all of us is Buchnevich,” coach David Quinn said. “Obviously, he had a real good second half last year. This is the best camp he’s had since I’ve been here. I loved the way he played in the scrimmage Thursday night, I just love the way things are going for him. He and I have had long conversations about what his abilities are and we certainly know what he’s capable of doing. I’m excited for the fact that it looks like he’s got a chance to maximize his potential for a full season as opposed to just half.”

He jumped out of the gate during the Ranger’s first win of the season. It was Buchnevich who scored the Rangers’ first goal of the season at 2:12 of the first period, giving them a 1-0 lead over the Islanders with a far side wrist shot from the left circle off a pass from Mika Zibanejad. This goal seemed to settle the Rangers down a little bit and they played much better than they did when they were shutout in the season opener by the  Islanders.

Buchnevich scored again at 5:57 of the second period, giving the Rangers a 3-0 lead with another far side wrist shot from the left circle, a game the Rangers would eventually win 5-0.

Ever since then, Buchnevich’s play has provided the team the stable play while some of the other players have struggled out the gate, and while others have been lost due to injury.

Quinn has recently reward Buchnevich by bumping him up on the top power-play unit.

It is that model of consistency that coaches love and look for, especially when the team has not played well. Whoever ends up on a line with Buchnevich, those two players seem to play much better because of Buchnevich.

Buchnevich has been among the only Rangers who have come to play every game this season. He has been consistent and impressive, playing with an energy that rubs off on others around him.

The Rangers will need that to continue if they have any hopes of rebounding from their slow start and making a run at the playoffs.

 

 

 

 

The New York Rangers overcome a turbulent weekend to defeat the Pens

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New York Rangers, Chris Kreider

You could have understood if the New York Rangers were distracted by the previous 48 hours. But instead, they set the distractions aside and defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins by the score of 3-1.

The win came after a tough weekend following the altercation between Tony DeAngelo and Alexandar Georgiev after the Ranger’s overtime loss last Saturday night.

Before the game, general manager Jeff Gorton told the media via a Zoom Conference that DeAngelo has played his final game for the New York Rangers despite going unclaimed on waivers. The decision came after a warning from the organization about his behavior and the “incident” he was involved in.

In addition to not having DeAngelo, the Rangers were also without Colin Blackwell, who will miss 7-10 days, as well as Kaapo Kakko, who was placed on the league’s COVID protocol list.

Igor Shesterkin started in net and made 25 saves in the victory.

However, the save of the night may have made by K’Andre Miller, who sacrificed his body to block a Pierre-Olivier Joseph shot that seemed destined for the back of the net.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists but it was Chris Kreider’s power-play goal at 11:10 of the third period that proved to be the game-winner. Kevin Rooney’s goal opened the scoring for the Rangers.

It was Kreider’s 161st goal with the Rangers, the second-most by an American-born player in team history behind Hall of Fame defenseman Brian Leetch.

Head coach David Quinn was very pleased with the effort, especially under the trying situation. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of our group.” Quinn said in his post-game Zoom conference “It has been a very difficult 24 to 36 hours. The way we kind of came together, with the first period being shaky, we were kind of feeling our way through, I thought we were fortunate to get out being down only 1-0, but other than that we got back to doing some of the things that we were doing well in the early part of the season. It is amazing what you can accomplish if you play as one.”

The Rangers may be down another defenseman as Brendan Smith left the game in the first period after a collision with Penguins forward Brandon Tanev. Smith did not return with what was reported as an upper-body injury.

Both the Rangers and the Penguins will have games postponed against the New Jersey Devils, who have had multiple players placed on the COVID-19 protocol list.

The Ranger’s next game will be against the Washington Capitals on Thursday night at MSG.

 

 

 

 

The New York Rangers fail once again to hold on to a third period lead

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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.

Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Kevin Rooney, and Brendan Lemieux scored for the Blueshirts. K’Andre Miller had two assists, and Georgiev made 33 saves in the loss.

The Rangers are now 1-5 in their last six games decided by a goal.

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 two teams face off again on Monday night.

 

 

Lafreniere’s goal could give the New York Rangers a much needed confidence boost

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After Tuesday night’s loss to Buffalo, New York Rangers head coach David Quinn discussed the recent streak of losing the last four games by one goal but finished his comments by saying “I have zero doubt that we are going to get out of this.” Not only was he correct, but Alexis Lafreniere’s overtime winning goal may have given the Blueshirts the “shot in the arm” that will carry over beyond this win.

Colin Blackwell made a great defensive play in the neutral zone to spring a 2-on-1 rush that led to his assist on the Lafreniere goal. That was not Blackwell’s best assist of the night. That goes to the fact that it was Blackwell who was mindful of the fact that it was the rookie’s first NHL goal and promptly scooped up the puck for Lafreniere.

The immediate effect on the Rangers was apparent in head coach David Quinn’s post-game Zoom conference when he said how he felt about the win: “(It feels) pretty friggin’ good, I’ll tell you that,” Quinn said. “We needed this. We needed this because, again, we had done a lot of good things. To come out of this trip with three points, we felt like we played better. We felt like we maybe deserved a few more points. That being said, the way we responded under these circumstances says an awful lot about this group. There’s a lot of things you learn about your team as your season moves forward, and we learned an awful lot about our team over the last 24 hours.”

The Rangers probably played their best game of the season on Thursday night. They did everything the way it was supposed to be done, especially compared to Tuesday night’s loss. While losing an OT game would not be ideal, the who, what, and how the game ended could provide a spark to the team that needed to get over a hump that has dragged on since last summer.

In addition to the morale boost, Artemi Panarin is starting to come around as he picked up a goal and an assist in Thursday’s game. Panarin continues to be a model of consistency as he has recorded 423 points in 398 career NHL games; the only active players who have tallied more points within their first 400 career NHL games are Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Connor McDavid, per @NYRStatsinfo

To help keep the momentum and positive vibes going forward, seven of the Rangers’ next eight games will take place at MSG, and each of the eight contests will take place in the New York Metro Area. The only road game comes on February 6 when the Rangers travel to New Jersey to take on the Devils.

 

 

 

 

Alexis Lafreniere’s first NHL goal gives the New York Rangers an OT victory

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After a silent start to the season, Alexis Lafreniere announced his New York Rangers presence in a big way by scoring the winning goal in overtime as the Blueshirts defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2.

Lafreniere’s goal came after the Sabres’ Jack Eichel turned the puck over in his own zone. Colin Blackwell snagged the loose puck and drove up the right side before flipping a pass through the middle to Lafreniere, who one-timed the puck inside the near post.

In scoring this goal in overtime, Lafrenière became the first Ranger to register his first career NHL goal in overtime since Mats Zuccarello did that on Jan. 5, 2011.

Also, At 19 years 109 days, Lafrenière is the youngest player in NHL history to net an OT-winner for his first career goal. The only other teenager to do that was Cody Ceci (also 19) in 2013.

The win also means that the Rangers finally won a one-goal game after going 0-3-1 in their past four outings.

While wearing the broadway hat in his post-game Zoom conference, Lafreniere said that “Yeah, it’s pretty crazy, in overtime, getting the game-winning goal. It is really special and I will never forget this moment.”

It was a long wait for the first overall pick, who had to wait four months to be drafted first overall and then wait until his seventh game to score his first NHL goal.

A very pleased head coach David Quinn continues to be impressed by Lafreniere. “This guy is a ballsy kid. I don’t care if he is the first pick or the 271st pick, he’s a ballsy kid. He’s a kid you want to be around.”

Artemi Panarin had a goal and also set up Ryan Strome’s goal that started the scoring for the Rangers. This was the 200th NHL game for Panarin.  Since entering the NHL in 2015-16, Panarin ranks third in the league in points (223) and assists (142) on the road, and he only trails Connor McDavid and Patrick Kane in each category.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 37 shots for his first win of the season.

Next up for the Rangers is a two-game homestand against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday and Monday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is one critical thing the New York Rangers need to have happen

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New York Rangers, Chris Kreider

There were many issues that were identified by the players and coaches for the New York Rangers during their 1-4-1 start to the season. It is not like the Blueshirts are getting blown out in these games. Outside of the opening night loss to the Islanders, the other losses have come by just one goal. Of the issues, there is one that needs to be addressed immediately if the team is going to turn things around in a hurry.

Sorry Ranger fans, it is not Jack Johnson. Despite the fact that Jack Johnson’s name became a top Twitter trend after he took a penalty which led to a Sabres power-play goal, he is not at the top of the list of issues for this team.

The related issue is special teams, which were awful on Tuesday night. In this early part of the season, the Rangers do not kill penalties nearly consistently enough. Then they allowed a way too easy pair of power-play goals in this game.

Speaking of penalties, they take too many bad ones, even if they had been a bit better recently.

Much of this has been focused on the top six, as mentioned by head coach David Quinn in his post-game press conference. “We’re not getting enough from our top six. That’s for sure,” Quinn said.

In all fairness, it is not everyone on the top six, but especially the veteran leadership on the team that needs to go out and set the tempo to help correct all of the flaws that the Rangers have shown over the first six games.

This leadership is especially important for a team that has seven players 22 years old or younger on their active roster (Chytil, Fox, Howden, Kakko, Lafrenière, Lindgren, and Miller). They also have had more players who are 22 years old or younger play at least one game this season, which is more than any other NHL team.

While it is nice to talk about the play of K’Andre Miller and Phillip Di Giuseppe, we should be hearing more about the outstanding play of Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, and even Ryan Strome, something that is not happening. It is something that needs to happen. Any coach or player will tell you that in any sport, veteran leadership is extremely important, especially with a roster of young players.

The worrisome part of Zibanejad is that he knows it, but is he healthy enough to do it? After the game, Zibanejad knows that the “top six” need to play better. “We’re supposed to contribute. We’ve got to figure a way out of this.”

Even though Zibanejad says he is healthy after recovering from his bout with COVID-19, one has to wonder if there are any lingering effects. There have been a handful of healthy MLB and NFL players who have talked about the virus “kicked their butt” for quite a while after contracting it.

Kreider also knows that they need to step up. Talking about it one thing, doing it is another such as not taking one of the bad penalties like he did Tuesday night.

“It’s about finding ways to win,” Kreider said in his post-game Zoom conference.  “It’s four in a row? I mean, we’ve got to hate losing in that room.”

That mentality must start with the guys who were the big “A” on the jersey.

Hopefully, it will when the Rangers and Sabres meet again in Buffalo with a 7 p.m. puck drop. The game will be televised on MSG.

 

 

The New York Rangers face a crucial series against the Buffalo Sabres

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It is definitely not the start that the New York Rangers were hoping for when the 2020-21 season started. After five games, the Blueshirts sit at just three points, in last place in the East Division, behind the Buffalo Sabres. Now the Rangers head to Buffalo for two games with the Sabres, which has made these games crucial to win some points during this 56 game sprint of a season.

The Sabres are coming home on a little bit of a high note, defeating the Washington Capitals 4-3 in a shootout. The Sabres also faced a tough schedule to start the season, Buffalo six straight games to open the season against Philadelphia and Washington, with four of them on the road.

The Rangers will also be without Filip Chytil, who collided with the Penguins Evan Rodrigues in the second period.  He appeared to have hurt his left arm but played another shift, before leaving for the night. It was later revealed that Chytil has returned to New York to be evaluated by team doctors and will not be available for Tuesday night’s game.

As the media was unable to view Monday’s practice, it was unclear how the Rangers would replace Chytil on his line. However, the leading candidates for this daunting task appear to be Brett Howden, Kevin Rooney, and Colin Blackwell. A tough task indeed as the third line of Phil Di Giuseppe, Chytil, and Kaapo Kakko has been the Rangers’ most consistent so far in this young season.

The other task that the Rangers must overcome is the ability to hold on to leads and get the win, something that head coach David Quinn addressed in his post-game Zoom conference Sunday night.

“Really, you’ve got to find ways to win,” Quinn said. “We can sit here and talk about some of the good things we did and the chances we had in the third period. But you’ve got to win hockey games.”

Artemi Panarin also addressed this issue after Monday’s practice when he told the media via Zoom that “each player on this team has to get better.”

Panarin also talked about how things were working with his linemates, Pavel Buchnevich and Ryan Strome. “At the beginning of the season, we did not have that much confidence. We have had many chances and to get many chances you have to be doing a lot of things right. And when the bad luck passes, we will be scoring 5 goals a game.”

The Rangers need to have all of this happen quickly because, after the two-game set in Buffalo, the Rangers return home to face the Penguins for two games. The same Penguins who they just blew two third period leads.

Puck drop for the Rangers-Sabres tilt is at 7 P.M. and will be broadcast on MSG 2. Alexandar Georgiev is scheduled to be in the net for the Blueshirts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York Rangers fall on late Pittsburgh Penguins goal

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After taking another lead into the third period, the New York Rangers surrendered two goals in the third to fall to the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2. Jake Guentzel scored the game-winner with just 1:31 left in the game. It was the 100th goal of Guentzel’s career.

Colin Blackwell started the scoring for the Blueshirts by redirecting an Adam Fox shot past Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry at 16:36 of the first period. Blackwell was promoted to the active roster from the taxi squad for this game. The 27-year-old played 27 games with the Nashville Predators last season, recording 10 points and 31 shots on goal.

After a Bryan Rust goal tied it up for Pittsburgh in the second period, Ryan Strome chipped in a shot later in the second period to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Jacob Trouba put the initial shot on goal from the slot, and Strome flipped the rebound over Jarry from the top of the crease. Artemi Panarin also had an assist on the goal and has points in four consecutive games.

After the game, Mika Zibanejad addressed in the post-game Zoom conference the issue of not being able to hold on to third-period leads by saying that “It’s happened two games in a row where we have a lead and can’t close it out. I think it’s a mix of things that we have to do better, to learn from, and to do it quick.”

A disappointed head coach David Quinn said in his post-game Zoom conference that “You have to find ways to win. A guy can’t get a shot from that area with a minute and thirty to go. You have to have an urgency, you have to know who is dangerous. To come in here and play some good hockey and get just one point is really disappointing.”

Quinn also addressed the fact that while some of the younger players are doing well, some of the veterans need to step up. “The veterans know that they have got to be better. We have talked to them privately, and they know it. The good news is that these guys are established players in this league.”

Filip Chytil left the game after a collision with the Penguins Evan Rodrigues. Quinn said that he is being evaluated and that they would know more on Monday.

The Rangers now head to Buffalo for two games on Tuesday and Thursday. The Rangers will host Pittsburgh for a two-game set on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 at Madison Square Garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New York Rangers waste a solid effort by third line in shootout loss

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While usually, the first and second lines lead the New York Rangers, tonight was a different story. The third line of Philipp Di Giuseppe, Filip Chytil, and Kappo Kakko provided the spark for the Blueshirts. However, the effort was somewhat wasted when the Rangers fell to the Penguins 4-3 in a shootout.

Di Giuseppe was a menace on the ice tonight, registering 8 hits along with two assists in allowing the Ranger’s third line to make an impact in this contest.

Chytil scored 2:41 into the second period when two Pittsburgh defensemen ran into each other. Adam Fox gave the Rangers the lead when he blasted a shot from the point into the net at 5:18 the second. Kakko needed just 24 seconds to extend the advantage to two goals when a rebound off a shot by Di Giuseppe landed right on Kakko’s stick.

The positive part of earning one point from the shootout loss is that the Rangers’ three goals in Friday’s game have been scored by players who are 22 years old or younger.

Igor Shesterkin started in net and allowed 3 goals on 29 shots. One of the goals was not Shesterkin’s fault as Ryan Lindgren accidentally put the puck in his own net trying to shuffle the puck pack to Shesterkin.

Artemi Panarin did pick up an assist on the Fox goal, recorded his 100th career point as a Blueshirt in his 73rd game with the team. This makes Panarin the faster player to get to 100 points in Rangers history, surpassing the record set by Mark Messier.

K’Andre Miller did notch his first career NHL assist/point with an assist on Kakko’s goal.

Meanwhile, first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere remains pointless in the season and did not perform well playing on the first line, as he didn’t record a shot on goal and was a -2 on the night. He appeared to pass up good shots in order to set up his linemates and was slow to get off his shots on a couple of occasions. Lafreniere also did not get a shift during the 3-on-3 overtime session.

While not explicitly addressed, it is apparent that the lack of a full training camp and exhibition games has affected the young forward’s acclimation to the speed and strength needed to play NHL hockey. Something that the Rangers and their fans hope happened quickly.

The Rangers and Penguins will meet again on Sunday night.