Ryan Strome

The New York Rangers Should Make this Trade

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The 2021 NHL trade deadline for the New York Rangers and the rest of the league arrives on April 12 at 3 p.m. ET. While the expectations are that the Rangers will not do much, they could make a move or two by the deadline.

The Rangers are still a very young team, the youngest in the league, having used over 10 players age 23 and under. Any trade that they make might require giving up some of that talent. However, there is still a small move or two that the Rangers could make that would not require them to give up a lot, and still help their team.

The Blueshirts could trade for a shooter.

That’s right, trade for a player who can score some goals because they are not afraid to shoot the puck. Having the ability to win faceoffs would be an added bonus.

One of the issues that the Rangers have had over the past couple of years is the unwillingness to consistently shoot the puck. Something that has not been lost on head coach David Quinn.

After Thursday night’s loss to Pittsburgh, Quinn discussed this issue in his post-game Zoom conference. “Not shooting the puck has been a problem for us all year. It’s been a problem since I’ve been here. Sometimes when you win a game 8-4, or you score the number of goals you have, you change your mindset a little bit. You do that at this level, you’re going to get what you deserve. We’ve got to find that balance of being effective offensively and playing the right way. That’s just the balancing act we’re always battling. And it bit us in the ass tonight.”

Last season, the Rangers scored more than their share with 3.33 goals per game, despite an unwillingness to shoot. They averaged 31.1 shots on goal per game, 20th in the league. They have a little better this season, but still not quite at the level needed. It can even be heard almost nightly on the MSG telecast from Joe Micheletti and in the studio from analyst and former Ranger goaltender Steve Valiquette.

Is Jack Eichel still on the New York Ranger’s radar?

Eichel would fit the bill of a shooter. But is the price too high for the Buffalo Sabres superstar?

Recently, The Athletic’s Craig Custance asking anonymous league executives about trade proposals involving the Rangers and Eichel.

Custance reported that a likely trade could look like the Rangers giving up Nils Lundkvist, Pavel Buchnevich, Braden Schneider, Ryan Strome, and a 2021 first-round pick.

It is likely that the Sabres would want more and the Rangers may be unwillingly to give up as much as was just mentioned.

But they do not really need to give up a lot to get the player that they need.

They could go out and get a nice top 6 or even top 9 forward who will come in and show many of the young players that is just fine to take that good shot instead of making that extra pass or two that the Rangers sometimes engage in.

Having the ability to win faceoffs would be an extra welcome bonus. Going into Saturday night’s games, the Rangers face-off win percentage was 44.9%. Which is dead last in the NHL.

There are times when the Rangers have brought the only reliable faceoff man they have in Kevin Rooney, only to shuffle him off after the face-off. Something that happens more in lacrosse than in hockey.

The New York Rangers and their fans will be curious to see what happens in the next couple of days. On Sunday at 7 p.m., the Rangers will once again tangle with their rivals, the New York Islanders. Then on Monday, everyone waits to see what the Blueshirts Brass will or will not prior to the NHL trade deadline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New York Rangers use big First Period in Victory over Pittsburgh

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The New York Rangers jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first period and cruised to an 8-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Eight different Rangers scored goals, which happened for the first time since Jan. 19, 2010, vs. Tampa Bay.

Artemi Panarin had three assists and a goal to lead the Blueshirts in their scoring outburst. Panarin has certainly enjoyed the Broadway spotlight as he has recorded a three-point game in six different games this season. All of these have been at MSG Arena.

Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry allowed four goals in the first period before being replaced by Casey DeSmith to start the second period. The Rangers also scored four times off of DeSmith.

Colin Blackwell celebrated his promotion to the second line by scoring the first Rangers goal and providing one of the assists on Kappo Kakko’s goal.

Adam Fox continues his red-hot play as he added a goal and two assists on the night. Per NYR Stats&Info, Fox has registered 30 or more assists in each of his first two NHL seasons. He is the first Rangers defenseman who has tallied at least 30 assists in each of his first two NHL seasons since Reijo Ruotsalainen in 1981-82 and 1982-83. He also has an 11-game point streak, the longest by a Rangers defenseman since Brian Leetch had a 14-game streak in the 1996-97 season.

Ryan Strome, Alexis Lafreniere, Pavel Buchnevich and Mika Zibanejad also scored goals for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin had 41 saves on the night.

The New York Rangers discuss their offensive outburst.

In his post-game Zoom conference, Fox talked about the Ranger’s fast start. “I think when the power-play scores goals, it helps,” Fox said. “I think we just capitalized on our chances and got some goals around the crease.”

“I thought we were very opportunistic, our power-play was very good,” said head coach David Quinn in his post-game Zoom conference. “It was a funny game. We found a way to win tonight but we are going to have to play better than that if we want to win consistently.”

The Rangers went three for three on their power-play, which tied their single-game season-high.

The two teams square off again on Thursday night at MSG.

 

Colin Blackwell: Player on the Rise for the New York Rangers?

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Nothing separates the New York Rangers fan base, as well as all of New York sports, like questioning the decisions Big Apple coaches make in their lineups. Today, the Rangers raised a few eyebrows when head coach David Quinn shuffled his lineups in practice, as posted by lohud.com’s Vince Mercogliano:

Of course one of the first things that everyone noticed was the “demotions” of Kappo Kakko to the third line and newcomer Vitali Kravtsov to the fourth line.

It was not like either player deserved to be demoted and Quinn explained after practice in his Zoom conference that neither player should look at the line shuffles in this manner. “We like Kakko, it is certainly nothing with the way he has played,” Quinn said. “I am anxious to see how they (Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere, and Filip Chytil) play together.”

As far as Kravtsov going to the fourth line, Quinn said “That doesn’t mean that Kravstov will be down there forever, or even during the whole game, you can move people around. Right now we feel that it is the best lineup we have at our disposal.”

The New York Rangers shift Blackwell to the second line.

The other move was to put Colin Blackwell to the second line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. Blackwell also received some time with the second power-play unit during Tuesday’s practice.

As for Blackwell skating on the second line, Quinn said: “One of the things that we thought were getting Blackwell on that line with Strome and Bread, it gives that line a little bit of a different look. This is the best lineup we feel we have for tomorrow night.”

With the move up from the fourth line to the second, Blackwell will bring a little more of a defensive presence to that line. He has also been a little more opportunistic than some other players and is not afraid to shoot the puck, something that Quinn has stressed with the team in recent games.

Blackwell discussed his new role in his post-practice Zoom conference. “I was just kind of waiting for my chance,” Blackwell said. “I have done it in the American Hockey League on many different occasions. That chance doesn’t always come, and a lot of good players do get their chance but then they don’t necessarily make the most out of it.”

The Rangers signed Blackwell as a free agent on a two-year contract worth $725,000 annually.

Blackwell had one of his best games in the NHL on March 28, which also happened to be his birthday. On that night, he scored a career-high 2 goals against the Washington Capitals.

The Rangers will start Igor Shesterkin in goal as they begin a two-game set at MSG against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

 

Mika Zibanejad Helps the New York Rangers from Looking Foolish in Buffalo

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Mika Zibanejad saved the New York Rangers from a really bad April Fools prank. Zibanejad scored off an Artemi Panarin pass to lead the Blueshirts to a 3-2 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres. The Rangers appeared to be destined for a regulation win until Buffalo scored late in the third period to send the game to overtime.

The goal and the win spared the Rangers from a loss against the team with the worst record in the NHL. On Wednesday, the Sabres ended a shootout-era record of 18 games without a win by beating the Flyers 6-1.

In his post-game interview, Zibanejad talked about his overtime goal. “It’s a little bit of different game 3 on 3. We got a 2-on-1 and we took advantage of it. We took the two points and we move on.”

Zibanejad tallied his sixth overtime goal with the Rangers, which is the fourth-most in franchise history.

After giving up a first-period goal to Sabres Rasmus Asplund, Colin Blackwell tied the game with a goal in the second period. Blackwell has registered three goals/points in the last three games, according to NYR Stats&Info. He currently ranks fourth on the Rangers in even-strength goals and is tied for fifth on the team in goals his season with nine.

Ryan Strome assisted on Blackwell’s goal. Strome now has an 11-game point streak, which is the longest active point streak in the NHL. It is also tied for the third-longest point streak in the league this season.

The New York Rangers controlled the action in the last two periods

Filip Chytil scored at the 6:14 mark of the third period. His goal gave the Rangers the lead which held up until Buffalo’s Tage Thompson scored with 3.6 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

The Rangers controlled most of the action in the last two periods. The Blueshirts outshot the Sabres by a margin of 47-23, including a 37-11 margin in the final two periods and overtime.

Even though the Rangers had 47 shots on goal, head coach David Quinn still feels that the Rangers still need to shoot more often. After describing how the Sabres overtime goal gave them a kick in the butt, Quinn said in his post-game Zoom conference that “we still have to have more of a shooting mentality.”

Igor Shesterkin stopped 21 of the 23 Sabres shots on goal. He appeared to have been hurt when form Ranger Steven Fogarty was called for interference after sliding into Shesterkin. Shesterkin told the media after the game that he feels fine.

The two teams meet again in Buffalo on Saturday night with a 7 p.m. puck drop.

 

 

 

 

 

Late Third Period Goal Dooms the New York Rangers

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New York Rangers, Mika Zibanejad

After two straight blowouts, the New York Rangers were finally held in check by the Philadelphia Flyers. The Blueshirts were defeated by the Flyers when Samuel Morin put the Flyers ahead 2-1 for good with 4:27 remaining in the game.

After scoring 17 goals in the last two games against the Flyers, the Rangers were held to one goal in Saturday’s contest. Mika Zibanedjad scored the goal and was assisted by Ryan Strome and Adam Fox. Strome extended his point streak to eight games (two goals, 11 assists) and his assist streak to seven games.

Zibanejad registered his 50th career power-play goal with the Rangers, and he has tallied four power-play goals in the last two games. He is tied for fifth in the NHL in power-play goals since the start of the 2018-19 season according to NYRStats&Info.

Coming into the game, Fox had led the Rangers with 23 total assists and has 26 points. According to the NHL Public relations, That was his 15th assist in the month of March. His 15 helpers lead all players in the NHL over that span.

Shesterkin is playing well in his return for the New York Rangers

Igor Shesterkin stopped 35 shots on Saturday afternoon after stopping 41 in Thursday night’s win.

Jacob Trouba had a few very positive things to say about the play of Shesterkin in his post-game Zoom conference. “He’s looked great, definitely made a lot of big saves and made the saves you need a goalie to make to win the game,” Trouba said.  “He did his job tonight.”

Acting head coach Kris Knoblauch could not confirm if Shesterkin will start in goal tomorrow at Washington. He also added that is not sure if he will be behind the bench in that game.

Head coach David Quinn is coming to the end of his NHL COVID protocol leave but will have to go through some testing and procedures before being allowed to return.

The New York Rangers will travel to play the Capitals on Sunday at noon that will be televised nationally, starting at noon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New York Rangers blank Boston in Artemi Panarin’s return

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New York Rangers, Artemi Panarin

The New York Rangers finally got the total 60 minutes of complete play that head coach David Quinn wanted. The Rangers scored in each of the three periods in defeating the Bruins 4-0. The game also saw the return of Artemi Panarin, who had missed the past nine games for personal reasons.

The Rangers got goals from K’Andre Miller, Chris Kreider, Pavel Buchnevich, and Ryan Strome. Mika Zibanejad had two assists. Panarin got an assist on Strome’s goal, but it was obvious that his presence gave the Rangers a huge emotional boost after losing three straight games.

Kreider continues to be one of the main contributors to the Blueshirts. Per NYR Stats&Info, Kreider’s nine goals since Feb. 24 are the most in the NHL over the span. His 13 points over the span are the third-most in the NHL.

Keith Kinkaid made 18 saves for the shutout victory. He earned his first win since Oct. 31, 2019, and his first shutout since Nov. 15, 2018. Kinkaid was bolstered by a solid defense, led by Adam Fox and Miller. With over 23 minutes of ice time, Miller has logged 20 or more minutes of ice time in more games than any other NHL rookie thus far in the season.

While the veterans stepped up for the Rangers, so did many of their younger players. Over the last 10 games, at least one Ranger who is 23 years old or younger has tallied a point on 23 of the team’s 29 goals. In addition, at least one Ranger who is 23 years old or younger has tallied a point on nine of the team’s last 10 goals.

The New York Rangers got a huge boost from the return of Panarin

“It was definitely a huge boost getting him (Panarin) back,” Zibanejad said in his post-game interview. “Not only just for the game but for having him around all the guys again. I thought the whole team really came together today. A real team win, as we played really solid over the 60 minutes and I think he had something to do with that.”

Head coach David Quinn echoed those sentiments in his post-game Zoom conference. “Having back meant so many things. Not just on the ice but mentally.” Quinn said. Our guys certainly hold him in high esteem. He is a well-liked teammate. Our guys were dying for him to come back for a lot of reasons. We put him back in our lineup and all of a sudden we got a little more swagger. Having him in our lineup certainly gave us a jolt.”

Strome talked about the importance of this win during his post-game interview. “I thought we all came to play today,” Strome said. “Up and down the lineup, everyone contributed whether it was on the score sheet or not. Everyone was a part of the game and everyone was part of the win. We need to string them together and we need to be a little more consistent.”

The Rangers return home from this six-game road trip on Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York Rangers third period rally falls short in loss to Penguins

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The New York Rangers played one of their better third periods of the season. However, it was not enough to overcome a two-goal deficit and the Blueshirts fall to the Pittsburgh Penguins by the score of 4-2.

The Rangers pulled goaltender Keith Kinkaid with just about two minutes left in the game. They had multiple chances to score the tying goal but were thwarted by Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry.

Ryan Strome scored early in the third period. The Rangers held the Penguins to no shots on goal until Sidney Crosby put a shot in the empty net with 32 seconds left in the game.

Former Penguin Jack Johnson opened the scoring for the Rangers with a deflected slap shot in the first period, his first goal as a Ranger. Chris Kreider and Julien Gauthier assisted on Johnson’s goal. Gauthier has now recorded three assists/points in the last three games and four assists/points in the last seven games. Following his assist on Jack Johnson’s goal, Kreider has now tallied 12 points in the last nine games. Since Feb. 24, Kreider’s eight goals are the most in the NHL and his 11 points are the third-most in the NHL, per NYR Stats&Info.

The Rangers also continue their trend of close games. Entering tonight’s action, 14 of the Rangers’ 23 games this season have been decided by two or fewer goals. Eleven of those games have been decided by one goal.

The New York Rangers are agitated by a close loss to the Penguins

Kreider was obviously not feeling too good about the loss in his post-game Zoom interview. “We put ourselves in that hole because of the two late goals. For 56 or 57 minutes we were doing a good job playing through and establishing a forecheck which we weren’t able to do the other night. We were playing good structured hockey then we start chasing our tails a little bit at the end of the second period.”

“There are lessons to be learned win or lose,” Kreider stated about whether there was anything good that came from this loss. We played this team four or five times, they have come from behind to beat us, they have beat us in close games. They punched us in the mouth the other night so in the end, we have to find a way to get those two points.”

Head coach David Quinn echoed many of those sentiments in his post-game Zoom conference. “I thought it was a tale of two games. I thought that for the first thirty minutes they completely took it to us and then I thought we started doing the things we needed to do.” Quinn said later in his conference that “We need to get back to playing sixty minutes of good hockey, and not sporadic good hockey.”

The road trip for the Rangers does not get any easier as they travel to Boston for back-to-back games with the Bruins. Thursday night’s contest is scheduled for 7 p.m.

 

 

 

 

The New York Rangers have another strong offensive game in defeating the Devils

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New York Rangers, Ryan Strome

The New York Rangers scored six goals in a game for the second time in two games against the New Jersey Devils. On Saturday, this resulted in a 6-3 victory over the Devils. The Rangers have tallied at least six goals in two consecutive road games against the Devils for the first time since they moved to New Jersey prior to the start of the 1982-83 season.

Ryan Strome scored twice while Adam Fox, Kevin Rooney Libor Hajek, and Filip Chytil also scored for the Blueshirts.

Alexandar Georgiev stopped 24 shots and also picked up an assist on Fox‘s coast-to-coast power-play goal. It was his fourth career NHL assist.

Julien Gauthier had two assists, posting a multi-assist game, and a multi-point game for the first time in his NHL career.

Not only was it the second straight game with six goals, but the Rangers have also had many players contribute to the effort. Five different Blueshirts have tallied a goal and 11 different NYR have recorded at least one point. The Rangers have tallied 9 goals over the last 4 periods, and 9 different players have tallied a goal over the span (Kreider, Buchnevich, Smith, Lafrenière, Fox, Strome, Rooney, Hajek, Chytil), per NYR Stats&Info.

Many of the young Rangers contributed to the effort in the win. Per NYR Stats&Info, six Ranger players 23 years old or younger have tallied a point in the win (Fox, Kakko, Chytil, Gauthier, Hajek, Miller). At least one player 23 years old or younger has recorded a point on each of the team’s four goals thus far in the game.

Head coach David Quinn praised his young players during his post-game Zoom conference. “Look how quickly they have adapted,” Quinn said. “I give these kids a lot of credit, it is not easy to develop in the National Hockey League. This isn’t a league where you develop. It’s a dramatic change in their hockey life.”

Filip Chytil makes a welcome return for the New York Rangers

Chytil had a goal and an assist, playing in only his ninth game this season after suffering an injury. After the game, he talked about returning to play after not playing in five weeks in his post-game Zoom conference. “Today it felt like a good game from my side, but it could have been better. Of course, I am playing wing now instead of center, but I am happy for the two points for the team.”

Quinn also talked about the return of Chytil to the team. “There was certainly more flashes of his speed, the things he can do for us offensively, pushing people back and generate offense. He is still finding his way with the injury he had.”

Hockey Day in America takes place this Sunday, March 7 with a quadruple-header on NBC and NBCSN. The Rangers will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins in the finale of the four games, with a puck drop at 7:30 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York Rangers give fans a physical victory over the Boston Bruins

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The New York Rangers and their fans have waited for this since March 5th, 2020, the last time fans saw the Blueshirts play in person. The roughly 2,000 fans in attendance were treated to a 6-2 victory over the Boston Bruins.

A couple of weeks ago, the state of New York announced that fans would be allowed to attend games at 10% capacity. Friday night marked the first home game that the Rangers had the opportunity to welcome fans. The fans that attended were treated to a Blueshirt offensive outburst and well as an outstanding physical effort.

Having fans obviously energized the Rangers, as they outhit the Bruins 17-8 after the first period. They finished up the game outhitting Boston 32-28.

New York Rangers set a season-high in goals scored

Julian Gauthier started things off for the Rangers with his second goal of the season. He recorded his first career NHL goal against Boston on Feb. 10 at MSG.

Ryan Strome scored a goal off an excellent pass from Alexis Lafreniere, who picked up his first NHL assist. After a Patrice Bergeron goal, The Rangers scored twice within twelve seconds at the end of the second period. Colin Blackwell tipped in an Adam Fox shot for a power-play goal. Chris Kreider then scored the fourth Rangers goal just twelve seconds later.

Strome picked up three points in the second period with his goal and picked up assists in the other two goals. He is leading the Rangers in 5-on-5 goals (six) and even-strength goals (six) this season. He extended his point streak to four games.

For Blackwell, he has now recorded a point in four of the last five games (three goals, one assist).  He has also tallied a point in seven of 10 games with the Rangers (four goals, three assists).

Pavel Buchnevich and Jonny Brodskinski scored third-period goals for the Rangers.

Before tonight, the Ranger’s best offensive effort came when they scored five goals against the New York Islanders on January 16.

Alexandar Georgiev had 31 saves in the win.

The New York Rangers were very grateful for having fans in the stands

After the game, Ryan Strome talked about having fans back at MSG. “It was crazy, honestly. 2,000 people or whatever it was felt like it was very full. I had some goosebumps during the national anthem and it has been a while since I felt those. They definitely brought us energy.”

After the game, head coach David Quinn echoed Strome’s comments about having fans in attendance. “I don’t think that any of us expected the impact that they would make. They were incredibly loud and passionate. When you heard about how many people they were going to allow you would not think they would have an impact. But they did have an impact. We can’t thank our fans enough and we appreciate the support give us.”

The two teams will play again on Sunday at MSG with a noon puck drop.

 

 

 

Report: New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin may be able to file a libel suit

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New York Rangers, Artemi Panarin

It has been just longer than one day since we received the bombshell news concerning the New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin. At this point, there are not many people that believe the news out of Russia stating that Panarin assaulted an 18-year-old girl in 2011 while in the KHL.

Panarin has the full support of the entire Rangers organization. Yesterday after practice, Ryan Strome had this to say about the Panarin: “I think he is in good hands. The Rangers do an unbelievable job of having a support system for players for anything we need. He is in good hands and he is such a good person. Good teammate and he has been such a good role model for me and some of our younger teammates with his personality and the way he carries himself.”

Now it appears that Panarin may have some legal recourse back in Russia.

According to Michael Seawing of sports-express.ru, Panarin may be able to file a libel lawsuit against the coach who reported the accusation, former Vityaz coach Andrei Nazarov. The article quoted lawyer Angela Panova, who claimed that (translated) both law enforcement agencies and the court are involved in libel cases. Artemy Panarin should write a statement that Andrei Nazarov’s information is not true. Also, we need witnesses, audio and video materials confirming that Artemy did not commit illegal acts in the bar. Such cases are regulated by part 2 of Article 128.1 of the Russian Criminal Code.

According to the translated article, Part 2, Article 128.1 of the Russian Criminal Code states that defamation contained in a public statement, publicly displayed work, media or made in public using information and telecommunications networks, including the Internet, or against several persons, including individually not defined, is punishable by a fine of up to 1 million rubles or in the amount of wages or other income convicted for the period up to the year either mandatory work for up to 240 hours, or forced labor for up to two years, or arrest for up to two months, or imprisonment for up to two years.

It is not clear whether Panarin would want to go that route. The speculation is that this report surfaced because of critical social media postings that Panarin made concerning the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It has been widely reported that Nazarov is an ardent supporter of the Russian President, and this may have been done in retaliation for those postings.

However, what is known is that the Rangers will be without one of their best players for an extended period of time.