The Rangers salvaged a modicum of respectability in the final game of their three-game road trip by earning a 4-2 victory over the Jets on Friday. After a rough 2:11 second stretch, though it's hard to blame him for either goal, Henrik Lundqvist stoned Winnipeg, including a spectacular pad save about 6:45 into the third period against Michael Frolik. The Rangers defense wasn't great while the offense did just enough to earn the victory, with the changes made by coach Alain Vigneault paying immediate dividends.
I wrote on Friday the following: "Play St. Louis and Zuccarello together with Brassard or Richards. Restore Nash with Kreider along with Stepan. Shift Hagelin down to the third line and have him play with Pouliot and either Richards or Brassard, depending on who centers Zucc and St. Louis." AV decided to pair St. Louis and Zuccarello with Brassard and Pouliot/Hagelin with Richards. The first change up didn't directly impact the win, though I thought St. Louis and Zuccarello looked pretty good together. Hagelin got a lucky deflection for his first goal following a questionable icing call, as Blake Wheeler looked to be ahead of Marc Staal at the hash marks. His second was due to a tremendous pass by Martin St. Louis, who raced out of the box, corralled the puck behind the net, passed it under Al Montoya's stick to Hagelin, who opted not to change after killing the penalty and went straight to the net. The third was following a shift from D to O by Richards, who found Hagelin on his left and Hagelin beat Montoya short-side to complete his first career hat trick. The reconstituted first or second line, depending on your view, also contributed, as a beautiful bank pass from Derek Stepan found Kreider on the wing and he blasted one short-side. The best part of the play was Kreider just winding up and shooting and using that good shot rather than trying something fancy.
Defensively, I thought the Rangers were on their heels much of the night. Another so-so game by Anton Stralman and Staal while on the first goal, Dustin Byfuglien made a great play to hit the puck out of the air but Girardi and/or McDonagh have to take the body. That lack of physical play was evident a lot on Friday. The Rangers now lack size and also some grit, following the Callahan deal, and while they may be more skilled, as we have discussed before, skill with no grit will lose when that talent isn't evident nightly. Effort can beat talent when talent doesn't show up, and the lack of physical play at times makes is wonder if that taken is being matched with effort.
Congrats to Lundqvist on win #301, tying Mike Richter for the most wins by a Rangers' goalie. He gets the chance to have sole possession of first place tonight against San Jose. If not for Hank, the Rangers likely lose Friday, as he was stellar between the pipes, shutting off Winnipeg the last 56:24 of the game. A similar effort likely will be needed Sunday.
Tonight, the Rangers take a step up in class again, facing an excellent Sharks team that appears to have all the ingredients to make a long Stanley Cup playoffs run. Joe Pavelski has taken a major step forward, Logan Couture is back from his injury, while Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton are still getting it done. In addition, there are getting surprising production from Tommy Wingels and Matt Nieto, while on the blue line, Dan Boyle is the big name, but he has been surpassed this year by Jason Demers, having a career year, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who was very solid in the Olympics. Between the pipes, after a bobble, Antti Niemi is back on the beam ably backstopped by Alex Stalock. This is the first meeting of the teams since the Oct. 8, 9-2 win by San Jose, in which Tomas Hertl channeled his inner Marek Malik and Brad Stuart's hit hit resulted in a concussion to Nash; an injury that took months to fully dissipate and allow him to be confident going to the net. Payback should solely be focused on the scoreboard, the Rangers need the win and to go out of their way to exact revenge would be counterproductive.
Projected Lineup:
Kreider – Stepan – Nash St. Louis – Brassard – Zuccarello Hagelin – Richards – Pouliot Boyle – Moore – Carcillo
(an unsung reason for the win Friday was the play of the fourth line, who were solid again)
McDonagh – Girardi Staal – Stralman Moore – Klein
(I could see Klein moving up to play with Staal, Stralman getting scratched and Raphael Diaz seeing his first action as a Ranger)
Update: No lineup changes tonight
Henrik Lundqvist (starting) Cam Talbot
Following tonight's game, the Rangers head back on the road for three contests. Tuesday, they are at Ottawa and then have back-to-back contests first Friday at Columbus and Saturday, in what could be a very key game for playoff positioning, against New Jersey. A positive step was taken Friday, now the Rangers have to build on it and get two more points Sunday against San Jose.