The Rangers play the second game of their three-game California road trip tonight against the Sharks. Pavel Buchnevich will be scratched for the second time this season and all signs point to him sitting for more than one game this time. Vinni Lettieri will dress in Buch's place. Following tonight's game, New York will close out their three-game and four contest overall road trip in Anaheim against the Ducks.
Coach David Quinn has made it fairly clear to Buchnevich what he wants to see and what he has not seen consistently enough. His comments are not vastly different from what he have seen and remarked about Buch's performance. Despite scoring points the last two games, Buchnevich did float in the offensive zone and fails to go hard to the net. But his talent is superior to much of the team, which is what frustrates the coaching staff and the rest of us. Jimmy Vesey works hard and is going to the net but lacks the ability to score consistently, which frustrates the fan base but earns him ice time.
"He’s got to play better,’’ Quinn said of Buchnevich after the Rangers’ morning skate. “He’s a really talented player. He’s got some inconsistencies in his game, and, you know, we’ve got the bar high for him — as he should for himself. And he’s just got to play better.’’At the end of the day, it’s about effort and doing the things that are required to have success at this level — or any level — in hockey,’’ he said. “This is a contact sport. You’ve got to take a hit to make a play; you’ve got to get in the way, and being physical means something different for every player, depending on your size. I’m not asking guys to run around and kill people, but, you know, you’ve got to take ice away from people; you’ve got to get in people’s way if there’s a size disadvantage. And you’ve got to make life hard for the other team.’’
We’re asking him to do things that he’s going to have to do to be a productive player in this league,’’ the coach said. “And nobody’s lost faith in him; I think he’s going to be a really good player. But sometimes it’s a process, and it takes a little time.’’
If Quinn wanted to scratch all those who don't work hard or who didn't pull in the right effort, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider each could be riding the pine or in the press box after their outing Sunday. The same for Cody McLeod, whose slashing penalty triggered the LA comeback with his roughing penalty later also pointless. McLeod has played better lately and will give effort, which is why he is in over Buch, but give me Matt Beleskey over McLeod every day of the week.
Buchnevich was scratched by coach Alain Vigneault, but the prevailing sentiment was that AV hated young players. Now, you have a young coach who arrived to New York after coaching college kids, so that AV excuse is gone. What will be the one used now? Maybe it's the player not the coach. But if you read the comments, Quinn is not at wit's end with Buch, nor is he burying him on the bench. But it will be up to Buchnevich to show that he deserves to be back on the ice. Comparisons to Nikolai Zherdev and Alexei Kovalev, first for the lack of effort and second for talent, have been made. But if he can put forth the necessary effort, then he will have a consistent spot in the lineup and in the top-six. If not, you can fill in the rest.
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Henrik Lundqvist will be between the pipes tonight while Alexandar Georgiev will play Thursday.