The final score may not reflect it but it was a dominating performance by the Rangers, even with the mild lag in the third period, in their 2-0 win over the Sabres. In the game, there were several positive signs, building off of ones from previous contests. Several people will make the argument that they beat a bad, and per Dave Maloney, listless squad, but you play who is on your schedule and let everyone else worry about the level of competition.
Chris Kreider. Blossoming before our eyes. The prior struggles, demotion to the minors and questions as to whether he is Hugh Jessiman 2.0 seem to fading. Skating. Using his size. Transition from offense to defense. The confidence in his eyes. All of that has been on display lately. Add in the burgeoning confidence while playing with Derek Stepan and Mats Zuccarello and you have a top-line winger and heck of trio that should remain together.
Benoit Pouliot. It's amazing what a few goals will do as he also looks more engaged playing with Brad Richards and Carl Hagelin. He may lose that spot when Ryan Callahan returns in about a week, but if he ends up with Derick Brassard and JT Miller, all of a sudden the Rangers could have three solid lines.
Brassard. His PP goal was pretty similar to the one he scored in Game 6 against the Capitals. He scored against Red Wings on the breakaway and again yesterday. If he can build on that, as noted above, the Rangers could be in line to make a strong run. In addition, the PP grouping with him on it was excellent on the first goal, bolstered by solid work on MDZ, who helped create space for the shot by Brassard with his puck control. Carp noted today and it's something we have discussed a lot as to the player movement, with one in front of the net, another rotating in the slot, the point man going to the half-boards with replacement, creating open space.
MDZ. Up-and-down, consistency is a major issue along with his struggles defensively. He has to be better, and right now, there is no one ready to step in for him, so the team is stuck.
Congrats to Dan Girardi on his 500th game, same with Marc Staal on his 400th. John Moore is getting better slowly and Ryan McDonagh looks almost back to where he was the past few years. There is still lots of room for growth and areas of deficiency, as seen in the third period, but it's slowly getting there.
Henrik Lundqvist. Not much work early on, and it looked as if the Rangers didn't want him to feel left out, so they gave him some work in the third. He was up to the task, notching his 47th shutout, and also looks to have put his early-season struggles behind him.
There are still areas of work, including the ability to finish and generate quality scoring chances, as many of the shots against Ryan Miller were not prime ones. That said, hard to argue with the dominance they showed and it should get even better when Ryan Callahan and Dominic Moore return to action. In addition, the own-zone coverage needs to improve, but that too is slowly improving.