The Rangers split another pair of games this weekend heading into the All-Star break, Vegas waxed New York for the second time in a little over a week, defeating the Blueshirts 5-2 on Friday. As has been their pattern during the season, the Rangers won the tail end of the back-to-back, improving to 9-0-0 in those situations, rallying from 2-0 down to defeat the Senators on the road Saturday.
Trust me, at 2-0, I was figuring out how much I was going to rip this team, calling them soft and gutless. That still may be the case but at least they showed a pule and heartbeat yesterday. The third and fourth lines had a solid night while some signs of life came from Zib, Kreids and Wheels. Come back and beat Colorado when the season resumes, then I will be really impressed.
Game recaps:
Knights:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Wheeler Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière Cuylle-Brodzinski-Kakko Vesey-Goodrow-Pitlick
Miller-Schneider Jones-Gustafsson Mackey-Fox
Quick Shesterkin
Scratches: Leschyshyn, Trouba (suspended), Lindgren (injury) LTIR: Chytil
A few thoughts: 1) Lineup: The forwards both nights were the same. Calls to change up the forwards again after the debacle Friday went unheeded. Same with those who wanted modifications after the first period Saturday. But coach Peter Laviolette stuck with the new trios, save for the true top line, and finally got rewarded. Granted, it was one game, really two periods, but the mood in the locker room sure was a lot better after the game than it looked 20 minutes into the contest.
On defense, there were material changes. Ryan Lindgren missed the contest due to the upper body injury he suffered Friday that cost him part of the game. The good news is that he was on ice for the pre-game warm ups, meaning he should hopefully be good to go when the season resumes February 5 against Colorado. Lindgren's injury cost the team the ability to get an initial look if he and Braden Schneider could be a viable blueline pair.
In addition, New York was without Jacob Trouba, who received a two-game suspension Saturday for elbowing Vegas' Pavel Dorofeyev on Friday. Yesterday was the first game of that suspension with Trouba also slated to miss the Avalanche contest. Trouba has always skated on the edge and benefitted at times from the league not suspending him for borderline hits. Friday's "incident" was unnecessary and now he will have even greater scrutiny after being a suspension offender.
NY Rangers’ Jacob Trouba has been suspended for two games for elbowing Vegas’ Pavel Dorofeyev. https://t.co/IB2OwULxk1
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) January 27, 2024
In Lindgren's and Trouba's stead, Zac Jones and Connor Mackey dressed. Jones stepped up offensively, scoring a goal off a beautiful Artemi Panarin assist while adding a helper of his own. Jones, who has been riding the pine, may have had his best game as a Ranger in his 14:12 of action.
Mackey was in the mix all night. Barclay Goodrow kickstarted the comeback with his fight in the first period. But Mackey, who fought and handled his own with Brady Tkachuk after a completely clean shoulder hit on Tim Stutzle, was the major difference maker. He deserved the Broadway Hat. Mackey played the night before with Hartford in Cleveland. Was up at 5:45 am, flew to New Jersey and then to Ottawa, arriving early-afternoon. As he said, a quick meal, nap and then to the game. His presence was certainly felt on the ice. His reward for his performance and receiving the Hat was to be sent back down to Hartford this morning.
Miller looked to have taken a major step forward in the 2022 playoffs. Post that performance, his game has really leveled off and declined. Miller is aware of his poor play, which may be partially due to the mental illness with which he has been dealing that caused him to take a small leave of absence in December. If you are not right mentally, then it's almost impossible to be right physically. Hopefully the week-plus breal will be a positive for him to get back in the right mindset.
Shesterkin is harder to figure. Jonathan Quick has vastly outplayed him. After the break, Quick should see more action. That could start against Colorado as Laviolette can use the excuse that Igor played in the All-Star Game and he is giving him more rest. Looking at Shesterkin's stats, it still boggles the mind that he was selected in general and over Vincent Trocheck initially even with the lack of goalie options.
Here is the key: Quick has made the key save at the key spot, Igor has not. We saw it again yesterday and Friday. Up 5-2 and on the power play, New York gave up a shorthanded breakaway late in the second. If Ottawa scores, the lead is now 5-3 and they go into the locker room with all the momentum. Quick makes the save. Friday, tied at 1, Vegas gets a breakaway, Igor's glove hand high gets exposed again, the Knights score to take the lead. Less than a minute later, for the ninth time this season against New York, the opponent scored again and it's all she wrote.
The hope has to be Shesterkin stands on his head at the All-Star Game and rides that performance forward. My concern is he struggles again and remains in the rut he has been in. The more he struggles, the more Laviolette and goaltending coach Benoit Allaire have to go with Quick.