Following Friday’s thrilling overtime win over the Red Wings, the Rangers play the second contest of their four-game homestand today against the Canucks. Former Rangers, Derek Dorsett and Michael Del Zotto, return to MSG to face their old squad. A little more than a quarter into the season, Vancouver has to be considered one of the surprises positively, as they sit just out of a playoff spot. Brock Boeser is an early Rookie of the Year, while Sven Baertschi and Thomas Vanek have also chipped in offensively, carrying the load as the Sedin Twins’ production continues to wane.
Friday's Game recap:
Friday's MSG Post-game:
Friday's game was a mano-a-mano matchup between the goalies. Jimmy Howard aways seems to raise his game against the Rangers, and Friday was no different. But he was matched save for save by Lundqvist, who really has found his game after a slow start. As I wrote the last few blogs, Lundqvist is anticipating plays and shots better, while his better center of gravity has him in position to not only make the first save, but the second and third one as well. A good graph , thanks to Hockey Stat Miner, showing just how good Lundqvist has been while also displaying the work the defense needs to do is below, highlighting the number of high-danger chances allowed by New York and the ridiculous numbers against those shots Hank has posted.
Lundqvist is the only starting goalie who's averaging 7+ HighDanger shots per hour. Classic Hank. pic.twitter.com/XLLvbDZ2Km
— HockeyStatMiner (@HockeyStatMiner) November 26, 2017
A Tomas Tatar power-play goal 4:05 into the third gave Detroit a 1-0 lead but a faceofff win, good work in the slot by Pavel Buchnevich and rebound, backhand shot tied by Chris Kreider, who has found his game lately, tied it going to overtime. In the extra session, New York had J.T. Miller, Mats Zuccarello and Brady Skjei lined up to start the three-on-three against Tomas Tatar, Dylan Larkin and Danny DeKeyser. After facing some Detroit pressure, Skjei came down the ice on a two-on-one down the right accompanied by Zuccarello on his left. Hs first pass was blocked by Detroit, who now had two players on Skjei, but he was able to recapture the puck and find the wide-open Zuccarello in front. Great patience by Zucc to wait for Howard to commit and go down, beating him top shelf to the wide side. A play like this is why many of us believe Skjei is just scratching the surface of how good he will become and why I have been so adamant that he should not be even considered in any trade talks for a center or scoring winger.
There was one minor casualty Friday, as Boo Nieves left the game against the Red Wings with a hip pointer and will not play today against Vancouver. The good news is that injury appears to be minor, but will an early turnaround - since the game starts at 2pm - sitting Nieves is the prudent course of action. Nieves has been centering Jimmy Vesey and Paul Carey, creating a fourth line that has been fairly strong on the puck and allowed coach Alain Vigneault to roll four lines. Vesey has been the main beneficiary of that newly-created trio, picking up him game tremendously the past week. David Desharnais, the healthy scratch for Carey during the past few games, replaces Nieves as the fourth line center. If the hip injury proves to be worse than expected, I wouldn't be shocked if Vinny Lettieri is called up, as he has a similar game to Nieves with maybe a tad better offense. Lettieri has five goals in his past eight matches, giving eight on the season to go along with five assists in 17 contests.
The blueline likely remains the same. That means Ryan McDonagh sits again due to his mild ab strain. It's possible Mac gets in, but why rush him back. Maybe he suits up against Florida on Tuesday or Carolina on Friday, but with the team playing better and having won seven in a row, better to let McDonagh fully heal than risk the chance of a setback or exacerbation of the injury. Lundqvist will be between the pipes for his 12th straight start.