Henrik Lundqvist and Carl Hagelin kicked off the action for the Rangers in Sochi on Wednesday with the other five Blueshirts dipping their proverbial toe in the ice Thursday. Following the action Thursday, four Rangers went home happy, though one never got in the game, and one went home disappointed, though the end result of both games were what was expected. What was mildly unexpected was the lack of import by the Blueshirts in either game.
In USA's 7-1 blowout win over Slovakia, Ryan Callahan and Ryan McDonagh saw regular shifts throughout while Derek Stepan awas a healthy scratch. Callahan was on a line with David Backes and Zach Parise, a trio that was paired in practice earlier in the week. Callahan, who helped killed the one penalty that Team USA received, finished the match with one shot on goal in 15:43 worth of ice time; 4:25 in the first, 5:34 in the second and 5:44 in the third.
Jim Cerny in his game recap provided a good sense of McDonagh's value, even when he doesn't score. "McDonagh spent most of the game paired on defense with New York-native Kevin Shattenkirk, logging a solid 18:38--which was fourth-highest on the team (5:51, 7:25 and 5:22 in each period). He recorded one shot on goal and finished with a +1 plus/minus rating, though he made his biggest mark in the defensive zone, where his usual solid effort was puncuated by a pair of memorable plays in his own end.
During a second-period scramble by the U.S. crease McDonagh deftly moved into the spot that was vacated by goaltender Jonathan Quick and denied a wide-open scoring chance for the Slovaks. Though not credited with a "save" McDonagh's alert play not ony saved a goal against, it set Team USA off the other way in transition where Backes eventually scored.
In third period, despite holding a six-goal lead, McDonagh dove on his stomach to disrupt a left wing attempt by the Slovaks, and then while still on his belly he poke-checked the puck off his opponent's stick and sent it harmlessly into the corner."
Nothing Cerny wrote surprises any of us, as those of us who are Rangers and hockey fans know McDonagh's value. I had said before the Olympics that I expected McDonagh to be paired with Shattenkirk and this to be a breakout party for Shattenkirk. Nothing I saw Thursday dissuaded me from that view.
Stepan may end up watching most of if not all the tournament. He is the fifth center behind Backes, Pavelski, Kesler and Stastny. With Stastny getting two goals and the US notching seven on Thursday, there is no reason to shake up the lineup. Though, it wouldn't surprise me if Ryan Miller gets the nod over Jonathan Quick, but it also wouldn't be suprised if Dan Bylsma decides to go with Quick straight through if he plays well, like he did Thursday.
Game 2 between Canada and Norway matched up the other two Rangers, Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello. While Nash is a "support" piece in that he is not expected to carry the load for Canada, Zuccarello has to be everything for Norway to have any chance at winning. Thursday, Nash was that supporting piece and really didn't have any sort of impact on the game, you can say the same about Zuccarello, which is not what any of us expected.
Nash skated 4:35 in the first, 4:09 in the second and 3:48 in the third while playing with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp. He had 19 shifts and two shots on net, one of which was a quality scoring chance but he was denied by Lars Haugen. Nash saw the least amount of ice time of his linemates and fifth least amongst Canadian forwards.
Zuccarello saw the most ice time - 23:57 - of the Norwegian forwards and third most overall for Team Norway, behind Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and Jonas Holos. MZA saw 8:47 of ice time in the first, 7:50 in the second and 7:20 in the third. While he received that much playing time, Zuccarello clearly was marked man, as Canada knew he was Norwegian man threat. In order to enable him to see so much ice time, coach Roy Johansen played Zucc in all game situations- even strength, at the point on the power play, and on the top penalty killing unit - but he was unable to generate any sustained offense.
Friday, Sweden with Lundqvist and Hagelin face Switzerland while Canada takes on Austria and Norway opposes Finland. Saturday, the US takes on Russia while Sweden opposes Latvia, Norway takes on Austria and Canada is matched against Finland.
Also, I have to agree with Travis Yost on how the goal-differential impacted the action. When Norway received a late power play, yet wouldn't pull the goalie because of what looked like the fear of an emty-net goal, it skews how the game should be played. Travis' suggestion on not counting empty net goals makes way too much sense, because at least then, you allow the game to be played the way it should be, rather than goal-differential driving action.