The Rangers return to action Tuesday against the defending champion Penguins. If the team can’t get up for a contest against a divisional rival, who is 3-1 since losing 10-1 to Chicago and is off back-to-back Cup wins, they never will. New York likely could have used a cupcake-type game in their schedule, but we get an early look at seeing if this squad can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and look adversity right between the eyes. After this game, the Islanders and Predators are next up, which means the task doesn’t get any easier. But finding a way tonight certainly would be a good start to reversing the early season poor start.
Dealing with adversity was the theme at Monday’s practice. Every player and teams deals with it at some point over a season or career. Your either run from it or embrace the challenge and the opportunity it presents. That’s where New York is now. The season isn’t yet on the brink, but a few more losses, especially ones driven by the mistakes we have seen, and it will get there quicker. Find a way to put together a full 60 minute effort and it could be the springboard the team needs to carry the year forward.
“I believe this is when you build character,” Rick Nash reiterated again after Monday’s practice. “It’s not an easy time right now. But we have to get through this, and usually when you get through things like this, you come out stronger.” “You come in with high hopes, and especially for us with our homestand here (11 of first 13 games, 13 of first 18, 15 of first 20), we wanted to get off to a good start,” Nash said. “We put ourselves in a bit of a hole here, so it’s definitely a shock. But at the same time, it’s reality, and we have to deal with it and try to get out of it.”
“It’s going to help with our identity, it’s going to help with our character, and it’s definitely going to permit our leadership group to establish themselves,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “Right now, everyone in that room knows they’re part of the solution and we’re working extremely hard here to put it together.”
“I see this as we’re being challenged,” Vigneault said. “We’re facing some adversity as a group. The solution lies in that room right now. As a player, you have to control what you can control — your hard work, your preparation, making sure every day you’re analyzing your game properly so that you can focus on the areas you need to improve. That’s where coaches come in, giving them the right feedback.”
At Rangers practice on Monday, the team used the following lines:
Rick Nash, Mika Zibanejad, Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider, David Desharnais, JT Miller
Jimmy Vesey, Kevin Hayes, Jesper Fast
Michael Grabner, Paul Carey, Adam Cracknell/Pavel Buchnevich.
The blender was spinning full blast. Right now, AV and the team is searching for answers. Now, maybe the bumps and bruises AV referred to by the New Jersey game is why the lines were as above. Because if not, I don’t get it. Desharnais on the second line? Vesey and Fast flanking Hayes, who has struggled and is ill-suited for a shutdown center role. Buchnevich dropped to the fourth line? AV’s rationale was:
“I’m going to get the continuity once I get the results,” Vigneault said about his constant juggling. “I everybody has a different approach. I think I’ve been very patient with trying certain guys with certain people. At some point, two 5-on-5 goals in five games is not doing it. So then it becomes my obligation to look for answers, and that’s what I’m doing right now.”
I expected changes the first 10-20 games. Maybe not to the expect we have seen, but players are getting used to one another, though I expected it to be more so in the blue line than up front. The mixing-and-matching is an attempt to find combinations that work. If this fails, it could result in one or two things or maybe both: a trade or AV is fired. One other possibility is a call up and with Filip Chytil, Vinny Lettieri and Boo Nieves in Hartford, that option exists, each of whom would bring a different look. On the trade front, GM Jeff Gorton could be looking at Detroit (Sheehan or AA) or maybe Colorado (Soderberg or possibly Duchene, as unlikely as that would be). I don’t foresee the line combinations lasting long, possibly not even behind the second period tonight.
On defense, the Rangers had:
Ryan McDonagh with Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei with Brendan Smith
Marc Staal with Kevin Shattenkirk
Nick Holden with Steven Kampfer.
Skjei is at least back with Smith, which was a pairing that was so successful last season. McDonagh is paired with ADA, a combination suggested by many after they Derek Stepan trade but before the Kirk sighing. Now if ADA is puck rusher and McD the solid, all-around blueliner who cleans up if ADA makes a mistake, I might get it. But that leaves your big ticket free agent signing on the third line with Staal, who has played better than expected but not who we expected to play alongside ‘Kirk. In order to build chemistry, skaters must skate together. Maybe Kirk and McD are not the right fit, but the minimal deployment to date doesn’t provide enough evidence one way or the other. The only way to determine if that is the case is to restore the pairing and give it time to work or be proven that it won’t.
Adversity will either make you or break you. Early on, New York is getting a heavy dose of it. The response will go a long to determining the course of the season and personnel on this team. That process starts tonight.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»