The Rangers in their final, pre-trade deadline game, losing to Philly 3-2. New York was not particularly good throughout, failing to match the Flyers' effort level much of the contest. The Rangers picked up their play after falling behind 79 seconds into the final stanza, but Steve Mason stoned them, stopping 16 shots to preserve the lead.
It seemed to start fairly well, but that too proved to be fools' gold. Just seven seconds into the game, Derek Stepan's long bouncing shot from the red line got past Mason and into the net. But the goal was waved off because Chris Kreider was offside, which was the right call. i think we all hoped that faux pas, which proved to be a non-faux pas, might impact Mason's game, but it proved not to be the case.
Matt Read opened the scoring at 9:41. Dan Boyle turned it over at the blue line, then lost his stick defending a rush. He hustled back, but Philly still came in on a delayed 3-on-2. the coverage wasn't bad, but Read was open at the left post and he squeezed the puck between Talbot and the post. Talbot likely should have closed that down, but he left just enough room for the puck to get through.
It didn't take long for the Rangers to even it up. Just 25 seconds later, a good forecheck created an opportunity and Carl Hagelin got the puck to Miller, who fired on net. Mason stopped it, but Miller was able to get to the rebound and score, evening the game. It was Miller's sixth of the season and first in 22 games, and if you saw his post-goal "celebration," that monkey came off his back. New York got lucky late, as Philly almost made it 2-1, but Sean Couturier's shot stayed on the goal, which should have a portend of things to come.
The Rangers and Flyers didn't play a free-flowing game in the second with lots of stops and starts. John Moore scored his first of the season on a slap shot that went off Braydon Coburn's leg and past Mason at 11:55 of the second period to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. New York killed off a penalty, but failed to clear the zone, with Dan Girardi the main culprit twice. Philly kept possession and Michael Raffl's tip-in tied the score at 2 at 14:37. Late in the period, the Rangers almost gave up the lead again, but were able to stone Philly and drew a penalty.
That penalty carried forward into the third, but Philly scored shorthanded. A neutral zone turnover and Couturier carried the puck in the zone. Stepan overcommitted and Michael del Zotto had all kinds of room in the offensive zone. Talbot was too far to his left first, then too far to his right and MDZ beat him up high easily. Mason, as mentioned above, stood on his head in the third period, including at least five during one rapid-fire sequence with seven minutes left. He stoned Mats Zuccarello, Rick Nash, Derick Brassard and John Moore before Mason finally was able to control the puck. Mason's best stop was when he robbed Nash on the doorstep with a unreal pad save after Brassard passed it across to Mason's left.
It was not a pretty game and we could see something like this happening given how they had tempted fate lately. Talbot allowed at least three goals for the ninth time in 13 starts but he actually didn't play that badly. He made several very good to excellent saves, as the defense was not even close to up to snuff in the game. That poor own zone and neutral zone coverage has ben an issue for a while. I thought John Moore played well, but the rest of the D was average at best. Up front, the fourth line was the best line, while the first one had that sequence i described above but was invisible beyond that.
One bit of good news from yesterday. Right wing Jesper Fast (sprained right knee) took part in Saturday’s morning skate, but remained sidelined. Coach Alain Vigneault had said he wanted Fast him to get a full practice before returning to the lineup, so with that occurring, maybe we see Fast on Monday night. Getting Fast, who had been out since Feb. 7, back in the lineup is like making a good trade. Exponentially so will be when Henrik Lundqvist is hopefully cleared and returns to the lineup
Obviously, the main focus is the trade deadline. Another possible target was dealt elsewhere last night with Antoine Vermette landing in Chicago for a first rounder and Klas Dahlberg. Give the Blackhawks credit as they obtained Vermette and Kimmo Timonen with Patrick Kane and Johnny Oduya injured. In addition, Jay McClement re-signed today with Carolina, taking him off the table. With around a day left, the rumors are fast and furious, picking up steam even though lots of deals have been made already.
For the Rangers, we have discussed lots of possible names already. Curtis Glencross and Torrey Mitchell are two possible names to keep an eye. Maybe add Erik Cole to that list as well as Mark Letestu and Jan Hejda, who is clearly on the Rangers radar but unsure how great of an acquisition he would be. Recently, Cam Atkinson's name has come up again. I think for Columbus to move him, the return would need to be very high. He is making just $1.25 mil this year and will be an RFA, meaning that a bridge deal is likely for him next season. You could sign him at two years for a bit over $3 mil per and have a nice top-six or nine forward. To get Atkinson, it may depend on if the team will move Zuccarello. I am unsure if it would be Zucc for Atkinson, or Zucc elsewhere with the return the Rangers get going for Atkinson, but he would be decent acquisition, though he is not a player I view as equal to Zucc.