The Rangers almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but were able to pull out a 4-3 shootout win last night in San Jose. Kevin Shattenkirk tallied the only goal in the skills session to give New York the win. The Blueshirts surrendered a Tomas Hertl goal with just over a second in the third that tied the game and Henrik Lundqvist’s glove save with a second to go in overtime enabled New York to make it to the shootout. New Tork closes out their three-game California and four-game toad trip overall Thursday at Anaheim.
Game recap:
A few thoughts : 1) The one-timer - coach David Quinn has been harping and working in practice on getting New York to shoot faster. We saw how yesterday the importance of this. Kevin Hayes failed twice to shoot the puck quickly and was stoned each time. Chris Kreider’s first of two tallies in the second came on a one-timer, which prevented Martin Jones from having enough time to get over and make the save.
2) KZZ - not great in the first, even with Mats Zuccarello’s goal, which came on a quick release to the net. Mildly better in the second but excellent in the third. The trio, which has been broken up with Vladislav Namestnikov joining Zib and Zucc and Kreider on a line with Hayes and Ryan Spooner, did combine for the third goal with Nam off after blocking a shot. Zucc likely should have shot the puck and got a bit lucky with Kreider getting enough of the puck to score.
3) Filip Chytil - I would say there is a decent chance that when the Rangers return home, Chytil is sent down. As Larry Brooks notes and what was evident from watching the game, Chytil was nailed to the bench following his second shift of the third period that ended with 14:05 to go. Chytil played a season-low 8:53 centering fourth-line wingers Cody McLeod and Vinni Lettieri.
Quinn and GM Jeff Gorton have to make a decision what is best for Chytil’s development. Playing him at center or wing is one question. Second is what maximizes his development. To me, skating him on the fourth line with pluggers does little to accelerate his growth. If Chytil isn’t going to skate in the top-six or at least top-nine, which may be tough due to the current roster construction, then send him down to Hartford. Allow Chytil to play in all situations, like the plan New York is following with Lias Andersson.
If Chytil is sent down, doesn’t call up Andersson if he will get the same treatment. Give Steven Fogarty a shot, since he projects to be a bottom-six forward. Once Chytil finds his game, which will include playmaking and driving to the net, and roster tweaks are made, then and only then should he be called back up.
4) Lundqvist - brilliant again. Made several spectacular saves in the second period and the glove save on Burns was pure robbery. Not at fault on the game-tying tally, which was caused by solid forechecking by San Jose and poor position defense. Gave us all a major scare when McLeod fell back onto him during a scramble with 4:52 remaining in the second period, jamming Lundqvist’s left shoulder. Stayed in the game and was solid. Lundqvist might have needed a few minutes in a private room to get out all of his anger If that Burns shot had gone in after Hertl scored with a second to go to tie.
5) Shattenkirk- besides the shootout goal, I thought he played very well. Overall, the defense was better, especially on the first period. New York outshot San Jose 17-6 in the opening stanza but the Sharks rebounded in the second after finding their legs in their first home game following the long road trip. The Blueshirts didn’t allow many odd man rushes but still need to do a better job in clearing the front and limiting the number of double deflection shots on net.
6) Vesey-Howden-Fast - a solid game by that trio. If only one o them had hands to score, especially Vesey or Fast.