The Rangers did what they had to do Saturday. Against a struggling opponent who was playing their back up to the back up goalie due to injuries to their top-two net minders, New York overcame a very slow start to post a 5-1 win. The Blueshirts now sit just one game below .500, which might not sound like much but is huge considering how they started the season. The squad has now won three in a row and four of their past five, defeating teams they should.
Game Highlights:
Heading into the game, the view was that New York needed to come out as they did against Buffalo. Dominate play early, score a goal to put Carolina on their heels and go from there. So much for the best laid plans of mice and men, as the Hurricanes came out strong, dominating action, with the Staal brothers and Semin outplaying the Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello line so badly that coach Alain Vigneault benched that trio for six minutes and two seconds in the first. Sports have always had redemptive qualities, many times in game, which was the case Saturday as that line came back to tally nine points, including a hat trick - for the formerly goalless - Derek Stepan. The chapeau tossing endeavor was Stepan's first since his debut game against the Sabres back on October 9, 2010.
I am glad that the recent comments on the blog touched on several of the things I have been speaking of late, but let me add a slight twist. The return of Carl Hagelin and promotion of Chris Kreider have been huge. Not only because of the end result that has transpired from their return and promotion, mainly goals and wins, but because of the speed element they add. If you look at Hagelin's first goal, it came as a result of defense transitioning to offense. Brad Richards got the puck to Benoit Pouliot, who showed his speed as well, who dished it to Hagelin. Hagelin was able to use his speed to get an angle on the defense, matched almost stride for stride by Pouliot, whose criss-cross gave Hagelin a screen and more room for the goal. Same on the second goal, as Hagelin came out of the box flying, which forced Justin Peters to have difficulty with the puck, leading to the goal. It's almost immeasurable how much faster the team looks with Hagelin and Kreider in the lineup.
The Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello trio have to remain together even when the Rangers get healthy. The third goal is evidence of that. They cycled to create the original chance. Kreider used his speed and size to forecheck and create a turnover. He got the puck to MZA behind the net who made a sublime no look, backhand pass to the front of the net, where Stepan, who read the play, was to score the goal. Three players in sync, knowing their roles and where to go during the play, leading to the marker.
Henrik Lundqvist was big when he needed to be. Hank was strong early on to keep the game scoreless before the Rangers broke through. When it was 1-0 in the second, he robbed Eric Staal twice on the Carolina PP, which ended with Hagelin scoring after he came out of the box. Then when it was 3-1 and the Hurricanes were pressing, he stopped Sekera and Jordan Staal at the side of the crease and a minute later, Stepan scored his second of the game to seal it. Lundqvist has that confidence and swagger back that he seemed to have lost early in the year. Cam Talbot coming up when he did helped stabilize things and gave Lundqvist time to get his game right. Now, he looks to be back to Vezina Trophy form, and if that continues, we may look back at the starts made by Talbot as the turning point of the Rangers' season.
The defense still has strides to make as seen by the struggles at time yesterday, especially in the first and third periods. That said, they are slowing rounding into form. What has been nice is that coach Alain Vigneault didn't publicly rip the team or panic, like we did, when they got off to a slow start. He lectured and taught them behind the scenes. Same with assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson for the defense. He points out their deficiencies in private and the team has embraced the use of advanced stats, for the coaches, as well as targeted video for each player to discusses positives and negatives of their play. There is still lots of work to be done, but you can see incremental progress occurring almost nightly. Yes, I know MDZ continues to struggle, though I do believe he sometimes takes more criticism than is deserved while John Moore is rounding into form and Marc Staal showed against last night just how good and valuable he is to this team. Bruce Garrioch wrote today that the Rangers are desperate to make a deal, with MDZ the likely trade bait. I am unsure if that was written before the team's recent hot streak, and that may well be the case, but unless you think Dylan McIlrath is ready to play top-six minutes, that's not a move I would advocate.
What to do when Ryan Callahan returns within the week? Midnight must have read my mind, as this is what I was thinking as well: "Callahan can fit with anyone but other players, in reduced roles, don't play nearly as effective. Callahan will and should get top power play minutes but I feel, on the five on five play, Callahan should slide in with Brassard and Miller." Never mess with a winning streak or with chemistry. The two lines are playing well together, leave them that way. Slide Callahan to the third line with Brassard and Miller, which should make that trio one that can check and score, which is something the Rangers desperately need from the bottom-six. Play Pyatt with Boyle and Dorsett or sit Pyatt and go with Mashinter. My one disagreement is that I would not touch the top PP. The Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello-Richards-McDonagh five are playing well, so why touch it? Zucc has vision and creativity, so he needs to be there. For now, play Callahan on the second PP, which should strengthen that one.
I know Midnight addressed the white elephant in the room asking: "This might sound crazy but Nash's injury could be a blessing in disguise for the organization, going forward. Would Kreider be getting this glorious shot, to play big offensive minutes, if Nash were here." It's almost an impossible question to answer. On the one hand it's almost fallacy to say the Rangers are a better team and don't miss the player that was to be their main sniper. On the other, his absence along with that of Callahan gave second chances to Zucc and Kreider, which in essence has the Rangers where they are now, on the verge of evening their mark after a horrific start.
The competition level rises this week with games at home Monday against Anaheim and Wednesday versus Pittsburgh followed a contest in Columbus on Thursday. The next three games will be a good test to see where this squad truly is and what may be lacking. Getting Callahan back during the streak would be a huge boost. The task this week is to keep the good times rolling.