The Rangers kept the faint playoff heartbeat alive Friday, defeating the Flyers 4-1. With eight games remaining - two each against the Sabres, Islanders, Capitals and Bruins - the Blueshirts may need to run the table and get some help. New York sits six points behind Boston, who has two games in hand and faces the Penguins at 3pm on Sunday. A Bruins' win in the contest that takes place before the Rangers face the Sabres, who are 4-3-1 in their eight and beat the Bruins on Friday after two straight losses to them, at 6pm could likely signal the death knell. A Boston loss and New York and those two games to end the season could still be critical.
Friday, Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich each notched their 20th goal of the season. Buch added an assist and now has 42 points in 47 games, putting his career-high of 46 points, set last year in 68 games, firmly in sight. Kreider has a Cy Young like mark, as he has just nine assists and he has done most of his damage on the man-advantage, notching 11 of his goals on the power play. CK20 deserves to be on the third line with Alexis Lafreniere, who had a goal and assist, looking more comfortable on the top line with Buchnevich and Mika Zibanejad.
Larry Brooks noted the below after Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Flyers. There are lies, damned lies and stats. But in this case, the inability to win the one-goal game, consistently protect leads in the third, surrendering goals early and late in periods, and failure to rally when down are all unfortunate hallmarks of this squad. Unsure if that's a lack of maturity and confidence, but these are major areas of focus and upgrade next year that hopefully will come as the youth matures.
Because when games are on the line, the Rangers just haven’t been able to cut it. Their record in one-goal games (including overtime and shootouts) is an astonishingly bad 4-15. They have yielded third-period leads in six games they have lost. The positive goal differential has been created through four victories by a margin of four goals, three by a margin of five goals and one by a margin of nine.They’re a great front-running team, all right, but when it is tight, not so much. Or at least not yet.
Once/if the death bell is tolled, lineup changes will occur. The focus should rightly be on giving the youth additional ice time and even more prominent roles. Vitali Kravtsov should be moved up to the second line, replacing Colin Blackwell. If not him, then maybe Flip Chytil slides to the right of Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. In addition, as Mollie Walker wrote, we likely will see a handful of additional players. One of which, Morgan Barron, might slide in the third line center, especially if Chytil is moved up, which then would have Kravtsov to the right of Kreider and Barron.
The Rangers also have four recalls remaining. At least one more, if not all, will probably be used within the remaining eight games. The first in line likely will be Morgan Barron, the 6-foot-4 center out of Cornell, who has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in 19 games with AHL Hartford this season.There’s a possibility defenseman Tarmo Reunanen could get another look following his one-game cameo on March 15 when Adam Fox was in COVID-19 protocol after registering a false positive. Right winger Ty Ronning could get a call-up as well, after scoring nine goals in 13 games with the Wolf Pack.
With so many young blueliners, both on the current team and in the pipeline, the need for additional veteran presence is imperative. Jacob Trouba has done an excellent job of mentoring K'Andre Miller and some of the other neophyte defensemen. Brendan Smith, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, should be brought back as a seventh d-man/back up forward, though his recent play likely means he won't come as cheap as first hoped. With Trouba out, New York dressed five blueliners under the age of 23, which is a crazy stat.
In the veteran blueliner vein, we spoke last offseason about bringing in Zdeno Chara when negotiations dragged on with Boston and the signs were he would not re-up there. Part of the concern was the dollar figure Chara might want. We all shook our heads a bit when Chara inked a one-year, $795K contract with Washington, but resigned ourselves to the fact that he went there to try and win a Cup and figured New York was never in the mix. Larry Brooks points out how wrong we were on that point, lending some credence to the notion that if Chara decides to play another year, the Rangers could be a prime destination.
Pair Chara on the third unit with Zac Jones, giving the rookie an even stronger veteran presence. In addition, Chara would provide a physical quotient somewhat lacking this year while opponents may be a little more reluctant to take liberties with New York with the big blueliner around. Rest Chara liberally so he is fresh late in what should be an 82-game campaign and it's possibly a win-win for both sides.
There had been chatter at the time that the Blueshirts had checked in on the free agent as a matter of course when it became apparent he would not return to Boston. Due diligence and all that.But The Post has recently learned the Rangers’ effort went way beyond token interest. Indeed, a well-placed source reports that the club was a finalist in the derby, in the hunt until the last minute, when Chara decided he simply could not pass up the opportunity to go for another Cup in Washington.
The Rangers knew then what importing a championship presence like Chara would have meant to the team’s development.