The Rangers (43-19-5) moved into second place in the Metro with a 3-2 win against the Penguins on Tuesday. New York, by virtue of facing Pittsburgh, still have a game in hand on their divisional rivals. With the victory, the Blueshirts moved seven points ahead of the Capitals, who have played 68 contests.
New York is in Detroit tonight to face the Red Wings, who were blown out 11-2 by the Penguins last week. This to a certain extent is a trap game, as looming on the docket Friday are the Islanders. The Blueshirts’ Midtown Tunnel rivals are trying to make a late-season playoff push and need every win they can garner. In addition, the Isles defeated the Rangers 2-1 on March 17, so a little revenge may be in the players’ minds, but they need to take care of business tonight first.
Game recap:
A few thoughts: 1) Defense - a really strong performance, especially the first two periods. New York limited Pittsburgh to just nine shots in the first two frames. While they were down 1-0 after the first due to a Brian Boyle deflection, you left the period feeling really good about how they played.
The Rangers continued that strong play into and through the second and part of the third. Pittsburgh made a late charge, aided by a Sidney Crosby power-play goal, but the team didn’t lose their defensive structure. When the Penguins got a high-danger chance, Igor Shesterkin, who likely sits for Alexandar Geroegiev tonight, came up with big saves, especially with the net empty.
A few good thoughts by Chris Kreider and coach Gerard Gallant. Kreider talked about taking away time and space allowing the defense to shift into offense. Gallant added, in line with what Kreider said, that the key was puck movement from the team’s own zone, generating the attack. Plus puck possession, as the Blueshirts were only charged with two giveaways, was a major key in limiting chances and opportunities.
"The easiest way to defend is by playing offense, making their defensemen turn and trying to force them into turnovers and playing in their end," Kreider said. "That's a team that can generate a lot from a little if you give them the opportunities. ... So, for us, it's about taking away the time and space. It’s something we did really well in New York when we played them and something that we did well in pretty big stretches tonight.""I thought tonight was the best we moved the puck out of the defensive zone all year," Gallant said. "Our D made quick plays up the ice. Our transition was really good, and there were not a whole lot of mistakes tonight."
1) Frank Vatrano potted another goal, his fifth in four games. What you like seeing is the willingness and desire to shoot, rather than create. With Mika Zibanejad, whose touch pass helped create the tally after a good forecheck by Kreider, who notched goal #45 on the PP, his 23rd on the man-advantage, willing to find his wingers, all Vatrano has to do is use his speed to create or find space and Zib will get him the puck.
Right now, the net looks huge to Frankie V. His pace will slow, but as long as he keeps playing the way he has, he still should remain on the top line. When you have wingers like CK20 and Vatrano, who can fly, the opportunity exists to create on the rush, which has been lacking a good part of the season.
2) Braden Schneider - the fist pump. The first memory all of us have about Schneider is John Davidson’s fist pump after the team moved up to select him in the first round. That gave you a sense of just how badly he was wanted by the organization and how valuable they believed he would be.
While it’s only been part of a season, pretty clear so far that JD was correct. Yesterday was another example of that. Defensively, he made a brilliant/ desperate play to break up a 2-on-1, sliding and deflecting the puck to take away a scoring chance. Offensively, he found the open space to take another sublime Artemi Panarin pass and blast a howitzer past Tristan Jarry. The blend of D and O sure looks to be special.
3) Andrew Copp - with Ryan Strome out with the minor injury he suffered Sunday, Copp moved to the middle in between Panarin and Dryden Hunt. They were arguably the Rangers' best trio, generating seven scoring chances while only allowing one, according to Natural Stat Trick.
As Vince Mercogliano reported, Copp had an assist to extend his point streak to five games, four of which have come with New York. He attempted five shots, laid out three hits and blocked a shot in 18:20 time on ice, with the only downside being a 36% win rate on faceoffs (5-for-14). To me, the one other negative was the really bad penalty he took in the offensive zone leading to Crosby’s PPG. Strome traveled with the team and might play tonight against Detroit.
4) Jacob Trouba was active as usual. As Mercogliano noted, the 28-year-old defenseman led the team with 25:05 TOI while racking up six shot attempts (one of which clanged off the crossbar for a near goal), four hits, two blocks and one takeaways. The Rangers generated 11 shots on goal while he was on the ice at five-on-five and allowed only four. The numbers look great but only tell part of the story, as Trouba was seemingly everywhere all night, filling the role as the Blueshirts’ #1 blueliner. After a pair of rough campaigns to open his tenure in New York, Trouba has taken a major step forward this year.