Rangers end losing streak, Strome/Kreider score, Schneider hit, standings (rangers)

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Rangers end losing streak, Strome/Kreider score, Schneider hit, standings

By Jan Levine

Apr 6, 2022 • 5:21 am

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The Rangers ended their losing streak at two with a solid 3-1 win over the Devils. New York didn’t generate a ton of offense but a major positive was the two power play goals, reversing a troubling trend, at least for one game. The win was highlighted by the return of Ryan Strome and clean hit by Braden Schneider. That hit resulted in a retaliation by New Jersey, fight Schneider dominated and power play opportunity on which New York tied the game.

Game recap

A few thoughts: 1) Strome made a heck of a nice return to game action after missing four contests. On the power play following the Schneider hit and fight, a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing sequence resulted in a top-shelf goal by Strome. Artemi Panarin passed it from the top right point to Chris Kreider who dished it in the slot to Strome for the one-timer.

First, he hit the net, so that was a positive. A second, the shot was basically unstoppable. Having his right handed shot in the slot made the difference on the play. While Strome is not elite, his return to reunite the combination he has with Panarin coupled with Andrew Copp on the wing lengthened the lineup.

2) Schneider - the hit on Jesper Boqvist was completely clean. Point of contract was the chest. Elbows and shoulders were both tucked in. Skates stayed on the ice. I understand the response by Yegor Sharangovich, as he was coming to the aid of his teammate and likely viewed the hit as potentially dirty, especially when he saw Boqvist on the ice.

We would have expected the same if the situation was reversed. The argument that every clean hit does not warrant a fighting response is 1000% accurate, but unfortunately, this is now where the league has landed. In this case, the end result was the extra two minutes as an instigator for Boqvist, leading to the power play, and 10-minute misconduct. New York took advantage of that power play to tie the game on Strome’s goal.

Schneider- other known as Baby Trouba amongst his teammates - is growing by leaps and bounds almost every game. Ironic that his season's signature moment to date came against the team that JD and Jeff Gorton traded above to be able to take Schneider in the draft. Paired yesterday with Justin Braun, who played on his off-side, to the left or Schneider, that duo was pretty solid.

The goal by Braun was nice but the defensive play by the two was even better. Give Gord Murphy credit for finally using this alignment. Patrik Nemeth landed on the bench and Murphy and coach Gerard Gallant should run that duo out nearly every game to the end of the regular season to allow chemistry to be built.

3) Kreider - goal #47 came as so many came this year, a sublime deflection down low, changing the angle on the prior pass or shot past the netminder. ck2- now needs three goals to hit the magic 50 mark. His place in the single-season history books keeps rising as evidenced in the tweets below.

4) Standings - all the focus has been on staying ahead of Pittsburgh. The Rangers win coupled with the Penguins loss leaves New York four points clear of the Steel City dwellers with 11 games remaining. It also means that the Blueshirts will stay ahead of the Penguins regardless of the outcome.

But a closer look at the below shows that the Rangers are now just two points shy of Carolina, who have a game in hand, for the Metro Division. Winning the division would guarantee home ice in round one, and if the Rangers advance that far, the second round as well. On the flip side, as opposed to meeting Pittsburgh in round one, New York would be looking at facing one of Toronto, Tampa or Boston in round one. Personally, I would rather two of those teams meet and beat the tar out of each other and the third takes on the 'Canes, forcing that team to work hard, rather than the Rangers. But, New York will need likely to run through at least one of these teams moving forward, so not a major deal to me.

5) Alexander Georgiev was solid. Not overly challenged in the win, but played well in the second and third period when needed. He still struggles on breakaways, as we saw on Sharangovich's goal, which was set up by Jacob Trouba's egregious turnover on a cross-ice pass attempt. But good enough to help New York end the losing streak. Now we need Igor Sheshterkin to regain his form and show it Thursday.

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