The Rangers pitched a 2-0 shutout of Montreal on Sunday, aided by a pair of overturned goals and a solid performance by Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 34 shots for his 62nd career shutout. Brady Skjei notched his first of the season, awarded the goal after a bounced off Shea Weber, who was engaged with Michael Grabner in front. Mika Zibanejad continued his hot start to the season with a short-side snipe off a brilliant feed by Pavel Buchnevich.
Coach Alain Vigneault's "contemplated changes" came to fruition, as he opted to play seven defensemen against the Canadiens, making Brendan Smith and Filip Chytil healthy scratches. In their stead, AV dressed Nick Holden and Steven Kampfer and mixed up both the offensive and defensive lines, The Chris Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich trio was rightly kept together but Jimmy Vesey was moved up to the second line to play with Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello, while Grabner went with J.T. Miller and Rick Nash. I thought David Desharnais and Paul Crey were fine as the two extra forwards, playing just under 13 minutes each. When Fast is back, that;'s the the fourth line, and if the Desh/Carey play as they have to date, I don't have a big issue with that trio.
The blue line saw Marc Staal paired again with Ryan McDonagh, as we saw the last two period Saturday, with McD on his off side. Skjei skated with Kevin Shattenkirk while Anthony DeAngelo was the seventh d-man. ADA saw 1:37 of his 3:45 of total ice time on the power play, which means in essence he too was a healthy scratch, but AV wanted his ability to play the point in the lineup. This alignment is unsustainable but unless Jesper Fast is ready to go Tuesday, we could see it again, though i do expect Smith to be in the lineup.
If you want a visual on just how much Holden and Kampfer were dominated when on the ice, here you go:
On ADA, this is what Vigneault said regarding his defensive play: “I think the competition has gotten better [than in the preseason]. As with any young players there’s a learning curve, and Anthony’s gonna be fine.” In terms of why he was dressed, “I wanted to keep Anthony for the power play,” Vigneault said. “That second unit was getting some rhythm. Even though he didn’t play a lot, felt seven ‘D’ and 11 forwards was the way to go, … and it worked out.” DeAngelo was in essence a PP specialist. Skjei could play on the PP as well, which is a role most of us want him to have. But maybe ADA builds off the PP time to improve defensively watching from the bench, but the flaws we knew he had have been on full display early.
If complaining about the D minutes, what Jimbo wrote perfectly summarizes it and shows why it's not an issue.
Shatty and Skjei are a pair for right now
Shatty plays the powerplay, Skjei doesn't
Shatty had 4:38 of powerplay icetime last night
Shatty played 21:41 for the night, Skjei 16:33
when you subtract the PP time from Shatty's minutes, they played virtually same amount of minutes.
Skjei and Shatty aren't taking the next shift after a powerplay.
The 11/7 format resulted from Filip Chytil serving a healthy scratch. After seeing just nine shifts in 4:59 on Saturday and 7:40 of ice time Opening Night, Chytil sat yesterday. If you read between the lines, AV's comments seem to indicate that Chytil could be headed back to the Czech League. It’s day by day, we need to do the right thing with him, I’m going to talk with [GM] Jeff (Gorton) tomorrow and we’ll see what happens,” Vigneault said.
Where was the right thing done? If anything, Chytil should have his ice time slightly increased game-by-game to determine if he should remain in NY. Build him up to see if he should play nine games and head back to his Czech team or if he should remain, burning a year on his entry-level contract. What AV and the team has done is not allow Chytil to develop. Going back isn't the worse thing, but the lack of true depth means that if someone else is hurt, who are they turning to as a replacement? Maybe Boo Nieves, possibly Adam Tambellini, but for now, Fast should not be rushed, making sure he is fully healthy from his hip surgery, which should allow Chytil to see a realistic amount of ice time the next few games.
Of the two disallowed goals, i thought the first was clear-cut, the second not so much. On the first, as Steve Zipay wrote: "A kneeling Lundqvist appeared to squeeze his pads and cover the puck, but it trickled to his left and ended up in the net. He immediately argued with the officials and a review showed that Andrew Shaw, at the right post, kicked the puck in with his skate." First, Hank has to corral that puck. Second, pretty clear Shaw put it with a distinct kicking motion.
On he second, as Zipay wrote: with 11:01 left, defenseman Shea Weber’s blast from the right point hit Lundqvist in the chest, and bounced off Max Pacioretty, who battled with McDonagh battling in front and past the goalie. Vigneault challenged the goal, citing goaltender interference, and won it." Questionable because I thought Pacioretty may have been above the blue paint and when engaged with McD, touched Lundqvist. After that goal was overturned, New York started to up and carry the play and was rewarded by Skjei's goal.
Great play by Buch to carry the puck up ice, chip and charge into the offensive zone. an excellent read by Kreider, which might go unnoticed, to help create the turnover. A brilliant feed from behind the net to the side of the net from Buch to Zib, who sniped it short-side. I love seeing Zib use his shot, which was an area of concern last season, as he didn't do so enough last season. That trio has regained the mojo if had early last year. Buch looks like a much different player, confident on-and-off the puck while playing bigger with a bit of an edge.
A win is a win is a win. But the lineup decisions seem to have dominated most of the conversation. Hard to argue with the criticism of it, though in the case, the end result was a win.
As a reminder, I am out of the box beginning Wednesday until Saturday night due to Jewish holiday and the Sabbath. I will get a new blog up late Saturday evening or Sunday AM. Please carry the blog in my stead during that period again this week.
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