The Rangers rebounded from what might have been their worst performance of the year to win their fourth in fide games, defeating the Flyers 5-2. Kevin Hayes tallied his first goal in 13 games, scoring twice, which was matched by Michael Grabner, tallying his first in six games and just his second second since December 3. Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves to notch the victory. New York heads to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets on Saturday, their final game before their five day bye period.
A few thoughts on the win:
- With Marc Staal out with an upper-body injury suffered against Buffalo, robbing New York of one if their two most consistent d-men this year, the other being Nick Holden, Adam Clendening slid back into the lineup for his first game since December 23, his second since December 13 and third since December 1, rust much? with Staal out and Clendening in, AV moved Brady Skjei up to play on Ryan McDonagh's right side. Clendening was paired with Kevin Klein and Dan Girardi replaced Staal with Holden, who moved back to his left or strong side.
- Overall, I though the D was fairly solid. Girardi, for all the criticism, had one of his better games. Strong off the puck, decisive in his own zone, pinched when needed, including the nice play and pass he made leading to Grabner's first goal.
Grabner capitalizes off the Flyers' turnover. 3-0 Rangers. pic.twitter.com/C7tPLT7dj4
— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) January 5, 2017
Skjei has the wheels to make up for mistakes and was targeted physically by Philly but didn't quarter. He played 19:22 and finished a plus-three. I thought McDonagh struggled again, that's even while discounting his failed breakaway when it was 3-0 and the goal against off his skate to make it 3-1. He still make several good plays, but his level of performance wasn't up to his usual standards. The combination of the two appeared to work and will remain together at least for one more game with Staal out. In my opinion, stay with the duo and hope that Skjei grows into the role as McDonagh's right-side partner.
Clendening, despite not having played much lately, didn't look out of place. He took a silly holding penalty on Jakub Voracek and had a few questionable passes and decisions in his own end. But he also made several solid breakout passes, which is a key under AV's system. With Staal out again Saturday, Clendening will be in. The best thing you can say about Klein is that he was unnoticeable. No egregious mistakes and strong physically in his own zone.
- Up front, the lines were Grabner-Hayes-Miller, Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello, Vesey-Lindberg-Fast, Jensen-Hrivik-Pirri. Hard to argue with five goals scored overall and a myriad of chances throughout stopped by Steve Mason.
The Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello line scored once but it was a beauty. The two keys for the goal was the initial pass from Lundqvist to Zuccarello and then the backhand flip out of the zone by Zucc. Stepan made a great play to settle the puck and put it in open space. Kreider did the rest, despite overskating the puck, benefitting from the poor D by both Flyers' blueliners.
Hayes goal pic.twitter.com/869059sbCb
— Dave Shapiro (@BlueSeatBlogs) January 5, 2017
As noted above, Hayes and Grabner each had two.I highlighted Grabner's goal, which was made by G's pass to Miller and Miller's great read and pass to Grabner. Hayes' two each came on 2-on-1s. On the first, Fast made the play by coming up ice with Hayes despite it coming at the end of his shift. By doing so, he forced the D to mark him and Mason to worry about him, giving Hayes the shooting angle.
Hayes goal pic.twitter.com/869059sbCb
— Dave Shapiro (@BlueSeatBlogs) January 5, 2017
On his second, good patience and quick hands to beat Mason top shelf.
Hayes' second goal tonight. pic.twitter.com/FutHSryjaq
— Dave Shapiro (@BlueSeatBlogs) January 5, 2017
- Between the pipes, after failing to come up with the key save Tuesday, Lundqvist was right back out there Wednesday. The five days off next week may have influenced AV's decision or he wanted Hank to get right back on the horse after a subpar effort. Lundqvist was brilliant. His four saves on the penalty kill in the first followed by one right after the penalty ended set the tone for the win. Lundqvist was the main reason why New York won, as he kept it 0-0 under Hayes scored early in the second and then made several more key saves, including robbing Wayne Simmonds on a breakaway. One exhibit of just how good Lundqvist was can be seen below, as he stoned Brayden Schenn twice, first with the glove and then with a sprawling save.
Hank robs Schenn twice pic.twitter.com/EsCuTXfROw
— Dave Shapiro (@BlueSeatBlogs) January 5, 2017
- Darren Dreger reported the following last night: "The NYR are very serious and they’ve been in the market and they’ve been looking for a defenseman for quite some time. It’s not an urgent issue, but based on play last night and the injury to Marc Staal it’s timely that we’d be talking about the possibilities that might exist for Jeff Gorton and the Rangers. But they’re looking for a specific top 4 defenseman. And every year around this time, half the NHL starts scouring, looking for the market. What they’re looking for is separation. Right now there’s a considerable amount of parity that exists in the NHL. There isn’t a defined list of buyers vs. sellers. In a perfect world the NYR will add that top 4 defenseman between now and the trade deadline. They are certainly scouting and doing their due diligence."
Is this any sort of shock or surprise? This is something we have spoken about for weeks. So color me not in awe if this, because it's in line with what has previously been discussed. It's just that it's not been formally reported by an insider. I would be more surprised if it wasn't the case. Who that top-four is, none of us know, and the cost, probably higher than we want New York to pay.
- Resiliency. We complain and moan about this team, yet the Rangers are 7-0-0 on back end of back-to-backs. The team is 12-1-1 after a loss and leads NHL with 14 road wins. In addition, New York is now 26-13-1 at the midpoint of their season, which is 110 point pace.
On the injury front:
- Larry Brooks noted, the Rangers are expected to practice on Friday before traveling to Columbus to meet the Blue Jackets on Saturday. That practice likely will determine whether Rick Nash, who missed a seventh straight game with a groin issue on Wednesday, will be available to play. My view is that he should sit given the team has five days off after it and those extra days would almost guarantee Nash full recovery from the injury. But given the possible import of the game and the opponent's importance to Nash, I can understand why he might play.
- Pavel Buchnevich, who has missed the past 26 games and 31 of the Blueshirts’ first 41 while dealing with disk and core issues, will undergo an MRI exam within the next couple of days, the results of which will inform GM Jeff Gorton’s decision if Buch, who has not played since Nov. 12, can head to Hartford on a conditioning stint during the team's five-day break from January 8-12.
The Wolf Pack are in Providence on Sunday and in Rochester next Wednesday before playing a pair of games in St. John’s the next weekend.
Under the collective bargaining agreement, conditioning assignments may last up to 14 days. In addition, players on IR — and that would include Mika Zibanejad, sidelined since Nov. 20 with a broken fibula — are permitted to rehab and skate at their respective teams’ facilities during the bye week. The team is inching closer to getting healthy, though every time we think that, someone else goes down - see Matt Puempel and Staal - but hopefully each of those are short-term absences.