The Rangers rallied for their first regulation win on the road, defeating the Predators 4-3 on Saturday. Nashville was 18-1 when leading after two periods while New York, for just the fourth time this season (see below) won a game when trailing after two periods.
Condensed Game:
David Quinn Post-Game:
"We played winning hockey when it mattered." - #NYR Coach Quinn pic.twitter.com/0t99N4llUX
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 30, 2018
Lines:
My mistake. Nieves is out, so assuming Strome centers fourth line with Vesey on one flank. #NYR
— Brett Cyrgalis (@BrettCyrgalis) December 29, 2018
Quinn says Fast and McLeod in, while Claesson comes out for DeAngelo. Hope is for Shattenkirk in St. Louis. #NYR should line up:
— Brett Cyrgalis (@BrettCyrgalis) December 29, 2018
Kreider-Zibanejad-Fast
Namestnikov-Hayes-Zuccarello
Chytil-Howden-Buchnevich
McLeod-Nieves-Strome.
A few thoughts:
1) Lineup changes - the tweet above evidences the changes that were made tonight. I admit that I questioned playing Fast on the first line, moving Chytil and Buchnevich to the third line and Vesey to the fourth line. Also, why ADA was in for Claesson.
But Fast balances out that first line, a trio of Chytil-Howden-Buchnevich is a pretty nice grouping, I still think Vesey should be higher and Zucc right now lower and Claesson did see the fewest minutes of any blueliner Thursday night, so swapping him out shouldn't have been a big surprise.
2) Kreider-Zibanejad-Fast - this tweet says it all:
The Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Jesper Fast line registered 10 points in tonight’s game (three goals, seven assists), and all three players posted a three-point game. #NYR pic.twitter.com/AI8pWghrrD
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 30, 2018
The trio were all over the ice. Zib making set up after set up. Kreider physical on and off the puck. Fast knowing where to go, always seeming in the right place. Fast is not a prototypical first liner, but he somehow produces wherever he is deployed.
For all those talking about how the Rangers should deal Kreider now to maximize his value. I get it. I also understand he will be 29 when this contract ends. But he is morphing into a leader, has picked up his game from his health scare of a year ago and appears to be the power forward we all want him to be. His value may very well be the highest now (see below) and if you get completely overwhelmed by an offer, turning that offer down will be tough. However, I think he can be part of the team when the rebuild shifts to the next stage.
Chris Kreider is the fifth #NYR player since 2005-06 who has reached the 20-goal plateau within the team's first 37 games of a season. The other four players are Jagr (2005-06), Shanahan (2006-07), Gaborik (2009-10 and 2011-12), and Nash (2014-15).
— NYR Stats & Info (@NYRStatsInfo) December 30, 2018
3) In many years past, under John Tortorella, New York was dangerous even when trailing after two periods. Recently, that has not been the case. The tweet below evidences that for this season:
For the fourth time this season, #NYR won a game when trailing entering the third period. NYR have earned at least one point in each of their last three games when trailing entering the third period (Dec. 16 vs. Vegas, Dec. 18 vs. Anaheim, tonight; 2-0-1 record in those games).
— NYR Stats & Info (@NYRStatsInfo) December 30, 2018
4) Marc Staal - burned pinching on Kevin Fiala's goal, as he was caught up ice, resulting in a 2-on1 and marker against. Later, read the play beautifully to come up ice and take Fast's feed to tally the third Rangers' goal, tying the game. Been much more aggressive this year joining the play, and while he has been caught up ice several times, believe that's been outweighed by the offensive changes generated. (We won't go into Brady Skjei...)
5) World Juniors - Jeff Gorton gave his view on the four Rangers in the tournament. Today, Nico Gross notched a primary assist in Switzerland's win while K'Andre Miller and Team USA rallied late from a 4-0 deficit to tie Sweden and Nils Lundkvist late Saturday night.
#NYR GM Jeff Gorton talks about the #WorldJuniors and the Blueshirts prospects participating including Kravtsov's "versatility," Miller's "raw" abilities, Lundkvist's "top-4 opportunity" and Gross's "blue-collar game." pic.twitter.com/iMNX1uDzq6
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 29, 2018
6) Artemi Panarin - the belief is that he will end up going to free agency and the Rangers are still the favorite to sign him. But lots can happen between December 30 and July 1:
Tonight's HNIC segment where Kypreos reiterates belief around NHL that #NYR remain favorite to land Artemi Panarin in free agency. pic.twitter.com/RscobSDBVM
— Tom Urtz Jr. (Waiting for Santa) (@TomUrtzJr) December 30, 2018