The Rangers faced a tall task taking on the Panthers on Tuesday night. New York passed, at rules with flying colors, with a 5-2 victory. Down 2-1 in the second, the Blueshirts notched the next four goals, sealing the win with an Artemi Panarin empty net marker. The team is now off until facing the Bruins on February 15 at MSG.
Game recap:
A few thoughts: 1) Lineup. Coach Gerard Gallant actually started the game with Ryan Reaves on the top line to give the Panthers something to think about seeing him across from the Barkov trio. I originally thought it was just because they were celebrating Black History Month at the Garden. Shortly, Alexis Lafreniere took his place on that grouping and didn’t look back.
Filip Chytil practiced Tuesday but did not dress, replaced by Morgan Barron.
Kreider-Zibanejad-Lafreniere Panarin-Strome-Hunt Barron-Goodrow-Gauthier McKegg-Rooney-Reaves
Miller-Trouba Lindgren-Schneider Hajek-Jones
Shesterkin
2) Lafreniere has shown the last few games he deserves a chance to remain on the top line. The stat below is an indication that for all the talk of his being a bust or a disappointment - the latter from me at times as well - we need to realize he is learning on the fly with no minor-league experience and during two pandemic filled years. In addition, most of his time has come 5x5, limiting his chances for "easier" points.
5v5 goals through first 101 NHL games:
— HockeyStatMiner (@HockeyStatMiner) February 2, 2022
38 - Matthews
27 - Crosby
24 - McDavid
21 - Lafreniere
20 - Hischier
18 - Stamkos
17 - Kane, MacKinnon
16 - Hall, Yakupov
15 - NugentHopkins
13 - Tavares
10 - Hughes
All of Lafreniere’s goals have come at five-on-five. Only 30 players have scored as many as 10 goals at five-on-five. Beyond that, Lafreniere left the ice ranked 31st in the NHL with 1.13 five-on-five goals per 60:00 among players with at least 500 minutes. There are 32 teams in the league. Mathematically, he fits into top-six category.
Either Chris Kreider of Laf has to play their off-side when Laf is moved up. Given the way Kreider, who scored twice Tuesday to give him a league-leading 33 goals, has played, Laf has to be the one to adjust. He spoke about that adjustment recently, noting that the biggest challenge of skating on his off-side is positioning when coming back into the defensive zone and on breakouts. Both he and Kreider spoke of Laf's recent play. Kreider, as is his want, was more effusive in his praise on Laf while Laf spoke about the benefit of playing on a line with Kreider.
“The more games you play, the better you become,… Lafreniere said. “With Kreids, it’s nice. He’s so good. He can play right, he can play left, so it was easier for me to have a guy like that who can cover my mistakes a little bit.…“I see him learning and coming to understand the kind of player he needs to be in order to be effective at the NHL level,… said Kreider, who leads the league with 33 goals. “He’s got unbelievable vision, great hands, hockey IQ, I don’t think he’s confident enough in his shot — he’s got a great shot. He’s a very strong skater in terms of his edges and I think he’s only going to get faster.
“I think the sky's the limit for him. He’s a young kid learning who he is as a hockey player. It’s so cool seeing him improve week-by-week and day-by-day.…
2) The other big boys also contributed. Mika continues his stellar play in the win, notching a lucky goal and sublime, cross-ice assist to Kreider for the easy tap-in goal on the PP. The look on Kreider's face after the score was almost sheepish, realizing he had little to do with the score itself, save for the easy tap-in. The two points gave Zib 13 goals and 15 assists in 19 games since December 15. Almost as important has been the 200-foot game and substantive improvement between the dots on draws.
Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists for his sixth game with at least three points this season. The goal was an empty net, which displayed the unselfishness of the team. Panarin and Kreider came down ice 2-on-1 for the empty net. Kreider peeled off to give Panarin the goal while Panarin was looking for CK20 to get him the hat trick.
3) Miller - Some good quotes and info from Larry Brooks today on Zib and Miller. We, including me, sometimes forget the challenge of going from college or the SHL or khl directly to the NHL. Laf has experienced this, as has others, and we can debate the wisdom of the team making that move. But when you are still in a "rebuild," getting that experience at the top level makes some sense, but if in playoff hunt mode, the growing pains get exacerbated and focused on even greater.
This is the case with Miller, who is a neophyte when it comes to playing the blueliner, having started out as a forward in high school. GM Jeff Gorton moved up to 22 in 2018 to grab him and he went straight from college to the pros with no minor league experience. The growth is starting to grow with plenty more room available. Once he starts to become even more physical, the combination of his strength, speed, offensive acumen and experience at this level should yield tremendous fruit.
“I know what I’m going to get from Trouba every night but ‘Key’ is growing up to be a man,… head coach Gerard Gallant, who notched career win #300 said Tuesday of Miller. “He’s growing, the kid’s still not filled out the way he’s going to be, but I like his game.“He’s going to make mistakes, we all make mistakes, but he’s playing a little more physical, he’s bumping more people, he’s clearing the front of the net and he’s confident with the puck now. So his game is growing for sure.…
4) The win - most impressive was the transformation from the first 20-30 minutes to the last 30-40. Florida was coming through the neutral zone with speed and a lack of impunity from the Blueshirts. Odd-man rushes were evident throughout the beginning part of the game. New York tightened their own zone play as well as limited time and space throughout the neutral zone, resulting in only nine shots on goal in the third period and zero high-danger scoring chances. In addition, they matched grit with grit and added in a little snarl, seen in Ryan Strome's fight with Mason Marchment, which was a welcomed sight.
5) The 14 days off between games will be beneficial, First, when games resume Feb. 15, Filip Chytil, Kaako Kappo and Adam Fox should be back in the lineup. Second, New York is coming off a stretch from Dec. 31 to Feb 2 they played 16 games in 33 days, so rest will clearly be beneficial. Only Chris Kreider, who is in the All-Star Game, gets a shortened vacation, but he too will get at least a week off before practice resumes.
The Blueshirts sit pretty firmly in a playoff spot. Tied for first in the division with 62 points, though Carolina has five games in hand. Two points above Pittm who have one game in hand. Three points clear of Washington with New York having a game in hand. Then, it's a drop of 13 points to the ninth team in the conference, which is Detroit, who have 46 points on the year.
A very solid place to be in at this time. While the chemistry on the team is undeniable, for the group to take that next step, I think we all agree additional moves are needed. During this time, Glen Sather, Chris Drury and Gallant should be mapping out the clear needs, if not done already, and various paths forward to acquire, another top-six winger or third line center, Names of which have been discussed here, Stastny, Copp, Pavelski, Rakell, D. Strome, JT Miller, etc. A left-handed blueliner like Chiarot or Chychrun would be ideal. With the trade deadline on March 21, we may not see moves for another month, when positions in the standings will be more crystallized, but the team needs to have all the various permutations figured, especially factoring in the future cap hits.