Game 12: OTT 6 NYR 2, Rangers allow Senators to dictate style of play (rangers)

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Game 12: OTT 6 NYR 2, Rangers allow Senators to dictate style of play

By Jan Levine

Nov 5, 2019 • 8:33 am

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The Rangers looked great the first 11 minutes of the game, then allowed the Senators to dictate the style of play and fell apart thereafter. Ottawa dominated action the last 49 minutes of the game, winning 6-2. New York stupidly fell prey to Ottawa upping the physical activity, as the Senators, especially Brady Tkachuk, was more than willing to fight and goad the Rangers into responding. As a result, New York spent a good part of the rest of the game in the penalty box and lost all the momentum they gained from their excellent first sixth or so of the contest. the Blueshirts take on the Red Wings on Wednesday.

Game recap:

David Quinn Post-Game:

A few thoughts: 1) Quinn remarked that he was concerned even when the score was 1-0 after 10 minutes. Unsure what he saw because New York looked to dominating action. Maybe he though the team should have been up by more than one, but beyond that, it clear to me what stood out. Sounds more like hindsight than foresight at that moment.

I do agree with what Quinn said on how the Rangers reacted to Ottawa's pushback after the first half of the first period: “They were competing and battling and it looked like as the game went on we were getting upset that they were actually doing that." New York took their foot off the gas pedal, figuring the win was in their hip pocket. I can understand the kids maybe feeling that way, but the veterans needed to do a better job of making the team strayed focused, which they and the coaching staff failed to do.

2) Kaapo Kakko was one of the few players who showed up last night. He showed power and hands on his goal and his presence was evident on the ice throughout the game. If Mika Zibanejad (Neck) does return to action Wednesday, Kaako could be moved up to the top line.

“You can just see him playing with a different level of confidence now,… Quinn said. “He might have been the only guy who had a good night for us.…

3) Jesper Fast summed up what I said in the first paragraph:

“The first 10 minutes we were playing the way we played the last two games,… Fast said. “Suddenly they scored a goal and we get back to the way we were playing when we were on the losing side. And that’s not the way we want to play. It’s frustrating when we think we have something good going on, and playing good hockey, and then for 50 minutes we played … I don’t know, we were two different teams — one team playing the right way, and one team where we think hockey’s an easy game and you think you don’t have to battle. That’s what we showed for almost 50 minutes today.…

Stay out of the box, pretty clear. Tkachuk did what we wished Brendan Lemieux would, be an agitative presence but also contribute offensively. Lemieux we know is a mere shadow on Tkachuk on the offensive end. But Lemieux got goaded into responding and obliged, which started the downward trend of the game. The Tony DeAngelo fight was fine, Lemieux didn’t need to engage when he did. Later when the game was out of reach, fine, but his fight and then the subsequent short a handed periods for New York changed the whose tenor of the contest. I could see Lemieux or Pavel Buchnevich, who did nothing yesterday, or Michael Haley sitting for Zibanejad.

“He’s an agitating player and we played right into his hands,… said Quinn, who coached Tkachuk at Boston U. “That’s all you can say. We played right into his hands. And on top of being an agitating player, he’s a really good player. This game’s about managing emotions and not getting distracted and we had a few too many guys get distracted.…

4) Alexandar Georgiev didn’t face his first shot until 8:36 remained in the first, at which point it was 10-1 in shots. Then Ottawa had 15 of the next 19 to take control of the contest. Georgiev wasn’t bad, he just wasn’t as good as he was the prior two games and his defense didn’t help. The below charts show just how dominant Ottawa was and how bad New York played.

Time on Ice was skewed a bit by the penalties. But the fourth line is utilized rarely, even Andersson, who should have been on the PK a lot more, barely hit 10 minutes. When Zib gets back and the lines are shuffled, we will see how this all plays out. Same with Marc Staal when he returns.

5. Shayna Goldman proposed the below lineups if Zib is back and if he sits.

With Zibanejad, I'd probably go: 10-93-24 20-72-89 16-28-17 48-21-42 76-8 23-55 25/18-77 W/o Zibanejad: 10-16-24 20-72-89 48-28-17 14-21-42

I could see Kakko on the top line. Keep the second line together unless Buchnevich is scratched, though Chris Kreider also was invisible. Howden has shown me little and I have been saying for a while to play Andersson on the their line. If want to reward Strome and have him on the first line and Kaapo on the third, fine, but I could also see Strome on the second line and either Buchnevich or Kreider moved down. Quinn has lots of options in terms of combinations and who sits for Zib, if he plays. Several passengers last night, take your pick on who to scratch.

On D, Staal is likely to be back in. Brady Skjei seems the probable scratch candidate, though I could see Libor Hajek getting one of the back-to-backs off. Many options on the blue line as well to reinsert Staal.

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