Chris Kreider

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.

 

 

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 sink deeper into the East Division cellar

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New York Rangers, Mika Zibanejad

The New York Rangers suffered their fourth straight loss by one goal in losing to the Buffalo Sabres by the score of 3-2. The Rangers are now 1-4-1, firmly in last place in the East Division.

The loss ruined a couple of milestones in the games, as K’Andre Miller scored his first NHL goal off a rocket of a slap shot with just seven seconds left in the first period. Miller continues to be one of the few bright spots for the Rangers, leading the Rangers in plus/minus rating thus far this season and he has been on the ice for eight of the team’s 11 even-strength goals.

On Miller’s goal, Colin Blackwell recorded his first assist as a Ranger, and he has tallied a point in each of his first two games with the Rangers. Blackwell has been on a bit of a roll, registering seven points (two goals, five assists) in his last eight NHL games.

Chris Kreider opened the scoring for the Rangers with a goal set up by a stellar pass from Pavel Buchnevich.

Despite this, the Rangers could not overcome some key mistakes and so other noticeable deficits in their game to pull out the victory.

Some of the more glaring stats from the loss was that the Rangers were 0/3 on the power play and they lost a whopping 69% of the faceoffs in this game.

Mika Zibanejad talked about this issue in his Zoom post-game conference. When asked the question, Zibanejad answered the question after a long pause by saying “I think its…….I don’t know to be honest with you.” Zibanejad did follow up by saying that “centermen’s have to do a better job of not losing it clean, as a whole unit we need to work together. All around we have to be better.”

In his post-game Zoom conference, head coach David Quinn talked about how the NHL face-off stats can be misleading but did say that “with that being said, we were abysmal on face-offs tonight. it was incredible how bad we were on draws. It was a huge issue tonight. We were at 30% and it fell like we were at 10%.

The turning point to the game seemed to come when the Sabres’ Tobias Rieder scored his second goal of the season at 6:03 of the second period. The goal came two seconds after the Sabres killed off a minor for too many men on the ice when Rieder received a pass from defenseman Matt Irwin as the Rangers defensemen were caught too deep in their own offensive end.

“Boy did our bench get demoralized'” Quinn said after the game. “I mean you could just feel it, there wasn’t any life to our bench. We better cure this in a hurry.”

“in a hurry” is exactly right as the two teams will meet again on Thursday night.

 

 

 

 

Can the New York Rangers take advantage of a depleted Penguins defense?

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When the New York Rangers face the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday night, the one thing that they know is that they will have to deal with Penguin superstars Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby, in typical Crosby fashion, swept in a rebound 1:11 into overtime Tuesday for his third point to help the Penguins overcome a pair of two-goal deficits to defeat the Washington Capitals 5-4.

However, Pittsburgh played the third period of that game with only four defensemen. Marcus Pettersson left late in the second after taking a blindside hit from Washington’s T.J. Oshie at center ice. Juuso Riikola‘s injury status was uncertain as he did not return to the bench for the third period. The Penguins already had Mike Matheson (undisclosed) and Zach Trotman (right knee) on injured reserve. This could force Pittsburgh to dig deep into their roster for replacements. The three leading candidates to step in are Cody Ceci, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, and Kevin Czuczman.

Chad Ruhwedel did not participate in practice Thursday after becoming a first-time father, which means that potential line pairings will have to wait until game time.

This also comes on the heels of an expected line change based on the lines assembled for Friday’s practice, as Alexis Lafreniere skated on the first line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. After practice, head coach David Quinn told the media that he moved Pavel Buchnevich to the second line in hopes that he could provide some help for Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome.

Zibanejad seemed to feel that Lafreniere is ready for the first line, telling lohud.com’s Vince Mercogliano that “Lafreniere is very mature for his age, and the speed he plays at and the way he sees the ice. He’s a real pro, so I’m just excited to get to play with him.”

The Penguins also had some help on the offensive side join their team on Tuesday in 24-year-old Kasperi Kapanen. The young forward, son of former NHL star Sami Kapanen, was delayed in joining his team after difficulties in securing a work visa. When the visa was finally processed, Kapanen was allowed to enter the country on Jan. 9, but he had to undergo a seven-day quarantine as per the NHL’s rules regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

The Rangers and the Penguins will see a lot of each other, as they play each other in four of the next six games in this modified 56 game schedule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York Rangers stonewalled by the Devil’s Blackwood in one goal loss

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New York Rangers

The New York Rangers just got the memo that the New Jersey Devils might be for real this year, falling to their tri-state rival by the score of 4-3. Mackenzie Blackwood was outstanding in net for New Jersey in stopping 47 shots.

The Devils scored three times in the second period, led by 2019 first overall pick Jack Hughes who had two goals and an assist.

Once again, the Rangers got off to a slow start by allowing New Jersey to score within the first 32 seconds of the game, courtesy of a Travis Zajac goal. The play was set up when Miles Wood got a long pass from P.K. Subban and brought the puck up the right side while the Rangers were making a line change. Wood then fired a shot from the right circle that Alexandar Georgiev stopped, but Zajac put the rebound in the net.

Georgiev started for a second consecutive game after shutting out the Islanders on Saturday night but gave up four goals on 20 shots through two periods. Igor Shesterkin came on to begin the third and finished with eight saves.

 

In the post-game Zoom press conference, Jacob Trouba addressed the issue of getting off to a slow start. ” There are some things that we want to adjust and there are some things to be happy about or get super discouraged about but getting off to a faster start is something we want to do.”

Postgame head coach David Quinn echoed those sentiments: “We played 48 minutes instead of 60.”

In spite of Blackwood’s outstanding play, Chris Kreider felt that the Rangers could have been more efficient considering that the Rangers had 50 shots in total. “He (Blackwood) probably saw a few too many shots and we’ve got to do a better job of screening,” Kreider said in his post-game Zoom conference. “But at the end of the day, you have to tip your cap to him.”

Kreider also addressed the slow start by saying that “For whatever reason, we got back to trying to do too much in that first period. If we had that same kind of desperation that we had in the third we probably would have gotten off to a better start.”

Mika Zibanejad and Kreider both scored on the power play, while Filip Chytil also had a goal for the Rangers. Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox each had two assists.

Things do not get easier as the Rangers travel to Pittsburgh on Friday to face the Penguins in back-to-back road contests.

 

 

 

 

The New York Rangers disappoint on opening night

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New York Rangers

It is a good thing for the New York Rangers that they are not a Broadway play because based on last night’s performance, they would be closed down. In falling to the New York Islanders by the score of 4-0, the Rangers disappointed many by the way they were outplayed and outcoached in this contest.

Much of the Ranger’s difficulty did seem to come from a bundle of nerves as they fell behind the Islanders 3-0 after one period. The Islanders jumped on the Rangers early with a Brock Nelson power-play goal and an Anders Lee tally within the first four minutes of the first period. Matthew Barzal scored the third goal to cap the scoring, a goal that goalie Igor Shesterkin would normally have stopped.

Shesterkin became the first goaltender other than Henrik Lundqvist to start a season opener for the Rangers since Kevin Weekes in October 2005.

After the game, Rangers forward Chris Kreider described the game as “a good lesson for our young group tonight in the patient hockey needed to win at this level.” While praising the Islanders play, Kreider also mentioned that they relied too much on their “east-west game”, and to use the things they have been working on during the past week.

While praising the Islanders, a frustrated head coach David Quinn stated the Rangers “did not play fast enough, did not use their speed, and every time we got the puck we stood around to see who we could get the puck to and that approach does work well against anybody, let alone the Islanders.”

Quinn also knows that things need to get better quickly as the Rangers turn around and face the Islanders again on Saturday night at the garden. “We need to be quick learners,” Quinn said. “It might be a good lesson and a reminder for a bunch of guys who don’t have it in their hockey DNA to play the way we need them to tonight.”

Concerning the long-awaited debut of first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere, and rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller, Quinn felt that they got to see what hockey was like at the professional level and that both players did get better as the game went on.

“Tonight was a great lesson for all of our players.”

The Rangers did have a chance to draw the game closer when they had a goal waved off at 9:15 of the second period when defenseman Jacob Trouba looked like he scored. The no-goal call stood after an official review, as the NHL stated that the “intended whistle” negated the goal.

While it was not exactly the start they wanted, it is important to remember that the average age of a player on the Rangers’ active roster entering the season is 25.5 years old, which is the youngest in the NHL. It was the first time in franchise history that seven players 22 or younger played in a season-opening game according to NHL Stats and Information.

Rangers fans are hoping that this young group has a short memory and are quick learners.

 

 

 

 

The New York Rangers could use more toughness in their lineup for 2020-21

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Whether you use the word toughness or the ever-popular hockey term grit, there is without a doubt that the 2020-21 version of the New York Rangers needs a team to display some physicality and do it in an intelligent matter.

This was very evident when the Rangers were swept out of last year’s playoffs by the Hurricanes, as the Blueshirts were easily manhandled by the Canes. It was not like they did not try, they just were not sure how to play physically in the proper manner. This was evidenced by Chris Kreider‘s comments after the Rangers were eliminated.

“We thought the playoffs were a blood sport, and we were going to go out there and run around and hit, instead of playing the puck possession style that we play,” he said. “A big part of that is on me. Obviously, we needed to snap out of that sooner. I need to acknowledge that. I should have done whatever I could to get us back on the right track.”

During training camp 2021, head coach David Quinn knows that his team will have to play physically smarter in order to improve upon the gains they made last season.

“We need more of an in-your-face, staying-on-top-of-people, defensive-conscious approach to having success,” Quinn told the media following Tuesday’s practice. “It just can’t be one guy on a line.”

This means not only the defense but the forwards must be better on defense, starting with forechecking. Something that is easier said than done with a group of skilled players, but who think offense first.

Part of this will be done with the new pairing of Jacob Trouba and Tony DeAngelo, who should provide more physicality to the team when they are on the ice.

For the forwards, it might be a bit tougher as the Rangers saw one of their more grittier players last season leave to take up a new residence in Carolina.

Quinn also added about the physicality, “we don’t need just one or two guys to do it, we need everybody to do  it”

Possibly inspired by the NFL who are now in their playoffs, Quinn has asked that his team have a mentality that is more similar to a football player.

“In football, every yard, every inch matters,” Quinn said. “And I think in hockey, sometimes people say, ‘I’m close to this guy, I’ll let someone else do.’ And to me, we have to get out of that mentality. We have to get out of that mentality to make the next step as an organization.”

 

 

 

 

 

Gauging Interest in the New York Rangers Trading their First Pick

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Alexis Lafrenière

The New York Rangers may be curious to see which teams channel its Don Vito Corleone and tempt the Rangers by “making them an offer they can’t refuse”, and what that offer might look like in order for the Rangers to trade what is expected to be one of the future stars of the NHL, Alexis Lafreniere.

It is not like the Ranges should not listen to offers. If someone comes in with a really great offer, then the Rangers should at least consider it. Also, GM Jeff Gorton did make a cryptic quote about the pick when he said “If I just went on this call and told you all the things we’re going to do, it probably doesn’t help me on the market when I make calls. We have to have more meetings and I like to play a little closer to the vest than announcing we’re going to go get centers or do something else.”

Then there was President John Davidson’s quote when he said “You know, we just got the pick. The dust hasn’t even settled. I know people are excited here in New York. They’ve got a lot of calls downtown about getting season tickets. It’s been very good, that part of the business.”

Soon after the ping-pong ball popped out in favor of the Blueshirts, speculation began as who would have the necessary capital to make this trade.

One of the more credible reports came from Lisa Dillman of the Athletic and Brian Burke from Sportsnet, who have reported that the Ottawa Senators will propose a trade that will see the Senators send their third and fifth pick in the upcoming draft for the Rangers first pick.

This does give the Rangers something to think about. They could end up with the third, fifth, and no worst than 24th pick (from Carolina) in this year’s draft.

It also gives the Rangers the option of saying “Does anybody have any offers that can top this?”

One of the factors that play into this is whether a potential third pick could at least come close to what Lafreniere is expected to bring to his new team. The next two ranked players in most scouting services after Lafreniere are Quinten Byfield, a 6’4″ Center from Sudbury of the OHL, and German-born LW/Center Tim Stützle. In their corner, they have Bob McKenzie of TSN who stated that “Byfield and Stützle both have a chance to impact the NHL at the same level as Lafreniére, if not go by him at some point.”

If this is to be believed, why would the Senators, who are in need of a lot of talent, be willing to trade two of the top five picks for the number one? It does not seem likely.

One of the biggest reasons why is that Byfield is a year younger than Lafreniere, who is generally considered NHL ready, while Byfield may need another year in Juniors to aid his progression. Stutzle is a little bit of an unknown as it is difficult to compare his numbers from his German League (DEL), although scouts rave about his talent.

However, the possibility could exist because teams, as does the Rangers, know that Lafreniere is a left-winger, and the Rangers already have two decent LW’s in Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider. Playing on the third line is an option, which may not be a bad thing for an 18-year-old rookie.

Another possibility is that Gorton and Davidson may want to add to that package, so they can alleviate some of the cap issues that face them this year. In the “killing two birds with one stone chapter”, that package could include restricted free-agent Alexandar Georgiev, which would also rid the Blueshirts of that pesky three goaltender issue they have dealt with for a while, and allow Henrik Lundqvist to finish out his career as a New York Ranger without buying out his contract.

In the end, a Rangers future with Lafrenière, Panarin, Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Kaapo Kakko, Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, and Jacob Trouba will make it very hard for any team to make the Rangers an offer that they can absolutely refuse.

 

 

 

The New York Rangers Might Be Wise to Keep All Three Goalies Next Season

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When the New York Rangers were eliminated in the Stanley Cup playoffs, many thought that this was the last time we would see Henrik Lundqvist in a Rangers uniform. Conventional wisdom dictates that the Rangers would not keep three goaltenders on the active roster when the 2020-21 season commences.

However, we all know that we live in a time where conventional wisdom does not always apply.

That was evident when Igor Shesterkin was deemed “unfit to play” for the first two games of the playoffs, which allowed Henrik Lundqvist to start and play fairly well. While it was not the Lundqvist we had seen in the past or had hoped to see, either he or Shesterkin were the major factors in the Blueshirts exit in three games.

You will be hearing the words “unfit to play” quite a bit in the coming months, thanks to COVID-19. The NHL already allows teams to be cryptic about what that term means. Nowadays, it could mean an injury or a positive test for coronavirus, something that many were wondering what it meant for Shesterkin until it was later revealed he had a groin injury.

If you think the pesky coronavirus is going to go away soon, you are mistaken. While hopes of a vaccine reaching people in the next couple of months are possible, it is unlikely that it will make everything go away by the time the NHL hopes to start their next season around Dec. 1. That season may or may not be or start in a bubble.

This is why there are whispers that the NHL might rework their roster rules next year, allowing for more flexibility to help teams deal with the added concern of COVID-19. It seems to be working for the MLB and allowing players to back-and-forth to Hartford might be enough to give Alexandar Georgiev enough work to keep him sharp in case he is needed, or if Lundqvist decides to retire at the end of next season, join the expected Shesterkin-Georgiev tandem for 2021-22.

The Rangers would be wise to keep the King around. His leadership for such a talented young team would be of immense value. His teammates know it as well. “Consummate professional,” Chris Kreider said of Lundqvist after the Rangers were eliminated. “Unbelievable human being. Unbelievable competitor. The kind guy you want to be in the trenches with. Wants to win more than anyone I’ve ever met. I mean, it’s been an absolute honor and a pleasure to get to know him as a person and as a teammate. To play with him as long as I have and to see how he goes about his business on a daily basis, I have the utmost respect for Hank as a person and as a player.

The monkey wrench in all of this is the King’s contract, which will carry an $8.5 million salary-cap hit.

The second issue is, does Lundqvist really want to stay in New York and be a back-up?

Being the classy individual he is, Lundqvist does not generally air his laundry out in public, so we have no way of knowing what his feelings on this subject are. There had been some speculation that he may want to go back to Sweden and play with his brother Joel, on the Frolunda team where he started his wonderful career.

But we have a post-COVID wrinkle in the NHL timetable for buyouts. Under normal circumstances, an NHL player would be bought out and then have time to decide whether to sign in Europe. Not anymore. The NHL buyout period will be held after the Swedish Hockey League season begins.

Lundqvist could retire, but he would give up over $5 million dollars owed to him.

There are many things that could happen between now, the buyout period, and the targeted start of the season, as well as possible tweaks in roster rules. That is why the New York Rangers would be wise to at least give consideration to keeping three goaltenders, and allow one of New York’s marquee sports figures the exit he deserves.