The Rangers came into their game with the Hurricanes on Monday looking to avoid their first four-game losing streak since February 2011. That goal was accomplished with a hard-fought 4-3 win. Once again, defensive breakdowns and poor puck possession were on display, but the team, similar to earlier in November, found a way to win.
With Derek Stepan out 4-6 weeks with his rib injury, coach Alain Vigneault mixed up the lines. The top line remained intact but the other three were shuffled a bit. The big tweaks were Kevin Hayes sliding back down to third line center with Oscar Lindberg moving up to the second line.
Rick Nash, Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello Chris Kreider, Oscar Lindberg, Jesper Fast JT Miller, Kevin Hayes, Viktor Stalberg Dominic Moore, Jarret Stoll, Emerson Etem
On D, rather than play Dylan McIlrath for a third straight game, AV elected to re-insert Dan Boyle. The explanation given was that Boyle was needed for the PP. that view did prove to be prescient as Boyle noticed a PP assist on the second goal and was a key reason why Mats Zuccarello tallied the first PPG New York scored.
McDonagh-Klein Yandle-Girardi Staal-Boyle
Klein left just 6:31 into the game with a strained muscle, likely an abdominal or groin muscle, so the Rangers played the last 53 minutes with just five d-men. Dan Girardi had a team-high 27:43, including 10+ minutes in the third, Ryan McDonagh played 23:58, Boyle played 23:17, Marc Staal logged 23:08 and Keith Yandle played 19:43. Most of the five did not play well, as Carolina put pressure on the Blueshirts throughout. With Klein likely out Wednesday against the Islanders, McIlrath should get back in. That game will be a big test for McIlrath, if he comes out of it well, it will be harder to justify sitting him moving forward.
Larry Brooks wrote something we have discussed previously. Mainly that AV should take a chapter from the Gregg Popovich book and sit his veterans periodically. In this case, that would mean at timesresting Girardi and Staal, as he is doing with Boyle, to try and keep them fresh for the playoffs. This would afford McIlrath more playing time and also might aid those d-men to try and prevent some of the mistakes we have seen the first quarter plus of the season.
The Rangers were outshot 36-22 and, including blocked shots and missed shots, were outchanced 75-37, far too much of an advantage for the Hurricanes. Other than the top line and sporadic bursts from Lindberg and Kreider and Hayes, the performance of the other three lines left a lot to be desired. Brassard, for one night, answered the call to raise his game with Stepan out. But if the other nine forwards keep making the same mistakes, turning the puck over in bad locations, leaving big swathes of the ice open and failing to mark men defensively, New York will be in big trouble.
Henrik Lundqvist would like to have back the Viktor Rask and Chris Terry goals. It's weird to see him get beat on a weak goal in general, especially after all the brilliant saves he made. Then when you see that they occurred five-hole, which used to be a strength, it looks even odder.
Thank god for the Hurricanes, Cam Ward and an effective power play. As Carp wrote, the Rangers have outscored the Hurricanes, 36-12, in the last 11 meetings between the two teams at the Garden. And in winning 18 of their last 19 from Carolina, the Rangers have outscored them 65-32 in that stretch. So while each game is its own entity, history has shown that the Rangers dominate Carolina. Ward allowed two horrific goals - I believe the term used was cream puffs - which enabled NY to maintain their stellar shooting percentage.
The power play has been a big advantage for NY lately, as the Rangers are at 30 percent the last six games (6-for-20), and 26.5 percent (13-for-49) the last 19 games. All the early concerns about the PP have so far been unfounded and yesterday, re-inserting Boyle worked. But it would be great if they drew more penalties, as that continues to be an area of weakness.
A win is a win is a win. But the problems that have been way too apparent lately showed few signs of abatement yesterday. NY needs to clean up those mistakes, with Wednesday at the Barclays Center a good place to start.