The Rangers rallied from two goals down to defeat the Bruins 4-3 in a shootout Wednesday. New York allowed three goals in a 4:34 span in the middle frame, the 13th time the Rangers have allowed three goals or more in a single period this season, partially due to their myriad of turnovers. Brendan Smith and Kevin Shattenkirk were especially giving in that period. But the Blueshirts tallied twice in the third to tie the game. After a phenomenal overtime, during which both teams had golden chances, New York, 9-1-0 against Boston in the past 10 matchups between the teams, finally subdued the Bruins on Tony DeAngelo’s goal in the seventh round of the shootout. The Rangers take on the Hurricanes on Friday after the 25th anniversary ceremonies for the 1993-94 Cup winning team.
Game recap:
David Quinn Post-Game:
“He’s a talented player and it’s fun to watch him play and take advantage of his opportunity.…
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 7, 2019
Quinn on Tony D and the third-period #NYR comeback â¬‡ï¸ pic.twitter.com/w0R5eSQtE6
Lines for Rangers Vs. Bruins: Kreider-Zibanejad-Zuccarello Buchnevich-Hayes-Fast Chytil-Strome-Namestnikov Vesey-Nieves-Lettieri
Skjei-McQuaid Staal-DeAngelo Smith-Shattenkirk
Georgiev
A few thoughts: 1) The Kreider-Zibanejad-Zuccarello line remained hot again yesterday. Zibanejad drilled a 40-foot one-timer from the high slot to make it 11 of the last 13 goals at five-on-five that the trio was involved. Zucc made the play with a brilliant dish from behind the net. The tally was fifth goal (and ninth point) in four games for the Swedish center, who has 10 goals and 18 points over the past 10 games and leads the NHL in goals (10) and points (16) since Jan. 15.
As Larry Brooks noted, Zuccarello’s assist extended his point-scoring streak to nine games, through which the Norwegian had 10 helpers and 15 points. The KZZ line has been on the ice through 13 goals for the Rangers and four against with an approximate 60 percent shot share in 10 games since they were united Jan. 10 against the Islanders. It’s no surprise that New York is 5-3-1 during Zucc’a scoring streak, as his return from injury solidified the top line, which has carried the Rangers’ attack.
2) Tony DeAngelo - great goal on the shootout for the game-winner - along with a staredown of the Bruins’ bench after, likely due to the chatter between the two groups throughout the game - and solid play throughout the contest. Some great quotes below from Carp below. The balance between playing with a swagger but also showing maturity is what ADA still needs to work on but the talent and willingness/desire to play with an edge will keep giving him chances. If he can find a way to strike that balance and learn from his mistakes and lessons that Quinn is providing - the piece about how he teaches with having players up to the office and an open door is likely a refreshing change - along with his pairing with Marc Staal could result in a second or third pair d-man in New York.
Tony D with that game winner 👀 #NYR pic.twitter.com/s07aod28Kw
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 7, 2019
“Tony’s obviously got high-end skill and the areas that he’s going to continue to grow and develop in is his defense and faceoff coverage and understanding when to get involved offensively and when not to and maybe play a little bit faster at the offensive blue line in transition,… Quinn said after DeAngelo was awarded the team’s Broadway Hat for an assist on the tying goal, a non-assist that really started a play for a huge goal earlier, then scored the winner in the seventh round of a shootout for a 4-3 comeback win over Boston on Wednesday.“But he’s a talented player. It’s fun to watch him play and take advantage of his opportunity.…
Quinnie’s been great,… DeAngelo said. “Even when you disagree with him on something you’re able to talk to him at least, which is important for players. At least you’ve got (a chance) to get on the same page, which is important. If you disagree on something and you don’t talk about it, there’s nothing to it. So he just kind of has us in the office, everybody, even if it’s just to show one clip before a game, of a faceoff play or this or that. So that stuff helps because when you’re going into the game thinking about it — you know, ‘last game he showed me a faceoff’ and I went into the next period more alert on a draw. So little things like that help your game.…
Oh, yeah, then there’s the edge. The maturity thing is on the other side of the edge, but Quinn loves it when DeAngelo straddles it.
“Absolutely,… Quinn said. “I want him pushing that envelope as far as he can without letting it get in the way of his performance and being a detriment to our team or himself. I mean, (Boston’s Brad) Marchand’s as good as it as there is in the league. I’d take 100 Marchands, you know? You’ve got to have an edge. You’ve got to have a swagger. If that’s your personality I want you to have it.
“But you also can’t let it get in the way of you being the player you’re capable of being, or hurt the team. I think Marchand went through that early in his career, and Tony’s going through that a little bit. But those are the guys you want on your team. You want people with an attitude and a swagger.…
3) Quinn moved Jimmy Vesey up to the second line during the game in an attempt to generate more offense. Brooks noted that he was paired with Hayes and Fast, but Fast saw a decline in minutes compared to usual, skating just under 13 minutes in the contest, so I am pretty sure Buchnevich was the one who remained on that line. Buch had two assists, including one on Hayes’ goal when his breakaway attempt was stopped and a second on Filip Chytil’s power play goal. Vesey was much more engaged, playing with a more physical presence, and notched an assist on Hayes’ goal. But the second and third lines need to take pressure off the top line; a situation that will only get harder once/if Zucc and Hayes are dealt.
Brooks gave his view in his column and it’s hard to disagree with his points. The issues clearly look to be personnel related and the inability to generate shots. The latter could be due to the system, but I don’t think that’s the problem. As stated above, the difficulty in creating enough shots, an issue that has worsened during the year, is driven by a lack of puck possession, leading to more shots against and fewer opportunities for New York.
The fact is, according to Naturalstattrick.com, the Rangers were a quite reasonable ninth in the NHL at five-on-five shooting, connecting at 8.41 percent entering the game. Thus, burying chances doesn’t seem to be the problem. The issue, instead, is quantity of shots and attempts, with the Blueshirts coming in dead last in five-on-five shot attempts, 26th in shots and fourth from the bottom in scoring 2.75 goals per game.That is partly a function of the team’s inconsistent (to put it kindly) forechecking effectiveness. But the numbers also reflect an inability to come out of their own end and through the neutral zone without turning over the puck and either being put back on the defensive or trying again on the breakout.
4) Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves in picking up the win. Solid, not spectacular between the pipes. His best save of the game likely came in overtime on Sean Kuraly’s in air deflection. Georgiev was in perfect position, squared to Kuraly, anticipating and reacting to the pass. Henrik Lundqvist will start Friday, but as I said yesterday, I expect Georgiev to see a decent amount of action the final two months of the season.