The Rangers overcame playing without Chris Kreider (upper body, likely neck) and Pavel Buchnevich (back) as well as the tail end of a back-to-back to defeat Edmonton 3-1 on Sunday. Michael Grabner scored twice and Dan Girardi once to make up the Rangers' offense. Antti Raanta was phenomenal again, making 38 saves to earn the victory on a night the team was okay not great.
Without Kreider and Buchnevich, Grabner was moved up to the top line, a move that paid immediate dividends. Grabner scored on a rebound just 1:20 into the contest, giving New York a lead they never relinquished. More would be heard from him later. Girardi was in the right place at the right time, deflecting Kevin Hayes' shot with his skate, though it wasn't a kicking motion, as New York took advantage of a delayed penalty to play 6-on-5. Edmonton started to carry play a bit and cut the deficit in half with 1:15 left in the period. A partial change resulted in the lack of a forecheck giving the Oilers a clean break out. New York failed to cut down the passing angles or cover the front of the net, resulting in Connor McDavid finding a pinching Andrej Sekera, who deflected the puck past Raanta.
The second and third periods were totally Edmonton. But despite the Oilers coming in waves, New York bent but didn't break. The Blueshirts blocked 12 shots in the second and almost as many in the third while Edmonton got 26 shots on Raanta. The Rangers back up goalie was up the task, making several pad saves while also playing extremely well positionally. In addition, Raanta slowed the game when he could, grabbing the puck to force faceoffs and restarts for Edmonton to try and quell their charge.
The only goal scored in the last two frames was by Grabner in the second. He read Ryan Nugent-Hopkins brilliantly, cutting off his cross ice passing angle, deflecting the puck to create a breakaway. Grabner slowed and ended up sideways as he came in on Cam Talbot, who stoped his first shot. But Grabner stuck with it, getting just enough of the puck to put it over the line before the net was moved off its moorings. Grabner now has 10 goals in 16 games, as he continues to be the team's best free agent signing by leaps and bounds. We hoped for 10 goals on the year and even though I believe he will score many more, his pace will obviously slow. But even when that happens, Grabner's speed and presence on the PK makes him extremely valuable.
The Rangers' post-game notes had some great nuggets. Each of these numbers are impressive. When you combine them together, you see just how impressive 11-4 to date is:
BACK-TO-BACK – In their last 85 back-to-back sets (since the start of the 2010-11 season), the Rangers have posted a 56-23-6 record in the second game of the set. New York has posted a 3-0-0 record in the second game of a back-to-back set in 2016-17.
MAKING THE DIFFERENCE – The Rangers lead the NHL in goal differential this season (plus-29; 65 goals for, 36 goals against). The Rangers’ plus-29 goal differential through 16 games this season is the second-best goal differential the team has posted through the first 16 games of any season in franchise history (1971-72; plus-34).
WINNING WAYS – The Rangers have won seven of their last eight games (7-1-0; dating back to Oct. 30 vs. Tampa Bay. In addition, the Rangers have won 10 of their last 12 games (10-2-0; dating back to Oct. 22 at Washington) and 11 of their last 14 contests (11-3-0; dating back to Oct. 17 vs. San Jose).
ROAD WARRIORS – The Rangers are tied for the NHL lead – and lead Eastern Conference teams – in road wins since the start of the 2013-14 season (76).
TWO GOOD – The Rangers have allowed two goals or fewer in 10 of the last 13 games, dating back to Oct. 19 vs. Detroit. The Blueshirts have won 36 of the last 37 games in which they allowed two goals or fewer, dating back to Dec. 15, 2015 (36-1-0).
FINISHING THE JOB – The Blueshirts have posted a 10-0-0 record in games which they have held a lead entering the third period this season. Since the start of the 2010-11 season, the Rangers have posted a 177-3-8 record in 188 regular season games in which they have held a lead entering the third period.
SECOND HELPING – New York outscored Edmonton, 1-0, in the second period of tonight’s contest. Thus far this season, the Rangers have posted a plus-21 goal differential in the second period (29-8).
Despite the 11-4 mark, there are some troubling signs:
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injuries to CK20 and Buchnevich. The Kreider one will keep him for Tuesday's game against Vancouver and Friday in Columbus. Because he was sent home for further examination, legitimate concerns exists that this is more that an day-to-day injury. If that is the case, it leaves a big hole in the lineup. The Buchnevich one seems to be the lesser concerning one of the two. However, the injury is one that is lingering, as it cost him four games recently before he returned to action. Now, after playing and scoring in four straight games, he was sidelined again yesterday.
If Buchnevich is out again Tuesday, New York will need to make a call up, rather than going with 11F and 7D, which yesterday was really just six defenseman. Boo Nieves should be the call up, though his play at Hartford hasn't matched how he looked at the end of training camp. The other possible promotions are Tanner Glass, everyone's favorite whipping boy, but he has played extremely well in the minors and also lost weight this offseason to be quicker, Marek Hrivik or Nicolas Jensen.
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Puck possession. The first month of the season, the Rangers reversed prior trends and were much better possessing the puck. In November, that positive, upward movement in that category has reversed. While I am not a slave to advanced metrics, you also can't ignore it. In this case, sooner or later the team's recent inability to possess the puck will come back to haunt them. Now some of it could be explained away, as New York has had several second and third period leads, forcing teams to catch up and ramp up their intensity and style of play. But that also gets into New York's tendency to go into a shell with the lead rather than continuing to play the way that got them the lead.
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Player usage. Going into yesterday's game, I had written that I thought Adam Clendening should have dressed and played instead of Girardi or Kevin Klein. AV opted not to go that route, which became a moot point due to the injuries. It's above. But even though Clendening was forced to dress, he never saw the ice. AV explained that the decision was driven by Clendening not playing in warmups but if there was a PP during the game, he would have been used there. Playing on back to back nights with another game Tuesday should have meant that everyone available was used. At least spot Clendening in the lineup to rest and-man a shift or two. Also interesting was that while 11 forwards dressed, only nine saw real action, as Oscar Lindberg, in his first game back after serving as a healthy scratch for a while, and Brandon Pirri, each saw under 10 minutes of ice time. AV loves rolling four lines, last night, it was mainly three with the four seeing occasional action. Hard to argue after a win but better player deployment will prove beneficial down the road.
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