The Rangers head north of the border to face the Senators tonight. These two teams met on November 4 with Ottawa, led by a hat trick by Jean-Gabriel Pageau, defeating New York 6-2, ending the Blueshirts' two-game win streak. Henrik Lundqvist, trying to move into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time wins list, is between the pipes while Alexandar Georgiev faces the Canadiens tomorrow.
A few interesting bits from Larry Brooks today:
Wednesday's win was the eighth regulation victory the club will take into Friday’s game at Ottawa, a total surpassed by just seven other teams through Wednesday’s competition.
The Rangers, 9-8-2, were within the games-in-hand margin of the final wild-card berth heading into Thursday, four points behind Philadelphia while having played two fewer games than Alain Vigneault’s squad. The Sabres, Maple Leafs, Senators and Lightning were between the Blueshirts and the Flyers.
For all the hand-wringing we have done, the team is likely in the position most of us would have signed up before the season started. We knew they were better in some regards and would still struggle in others. Add in incorporating lots of new faces - see more below - including some unexpected ones, and a .500 record is reasonable. Factor in the absence for 11 games of their #1 center and 9-8-2 is fairly solid, albeit with bumps on the road, as evidenced by the next paragraph.
The Rangers have won five games by three goals or more, but have lost six by at least three goals. They have played only six one-goal games, two of which were decided in the three-on-three overtime, with another settled by the shootout. Their record in one-goal games is 2-2-2. The Blueshirts have lost only one game in which they held the lead in the third period, Saturday at Florida, when they were up 3-2 at 5:47 before losing 4-3.
Many reasons exist for the above. Brendan Smith and David Quinn provides theirs below. what each wrote likely is a component. When a young team gets down, you hope that they will pick up their bootstraps and fight below, but it's not surprising that at times they will get down, resulting in a further barrage against. That's why what Smith said about it being a brotherhood in the room and each person picking up for their teammate is key.
What I found interesting in what he wrote is that this wasn't the case last year. Maybe the turnover and upheaval had that impact and effect. But the belief that this is the case and now, it's a true team hopefully bodes well.
“We’ve been preaching brotherhood in this room and I think that’s something we’ve had this year that was missing last year,” Brendan Smith told The Post before the Rangers embarked on a two-game tour north of the border that will conclude Saturday night at Montreal. “It’s a mentality that you’re doing it for the next guy, so you take that extra hit, you block that extra shot.
“And I think that’s been a factor in why we’ve been much better at being able to close out games than we were last year. You can feel it on the bench when we’re protecting a lead. There’s more confidence.
“When you stick to the system, the system will protect you,” No. 42 said. “We’ve been up and down, and a little inconsistent in that aspect. We’ve been a big momentum team with swings both ways within games. We still need to get better in maintaining from shift to shift and period to period.”
Quinn added on to what Smith said. The bold being key. It's one teammate picking up from another, showing enough confidence that his linemate or d-pair mate will do his job. Learning and growth and meshing as a unit takes time. The hope has to be that the growth we have seen lately continues and that it becomes part of the fabric and core of the organization and team, regardless of who is on the ice.
“I think when you play a structure and everyone is playing with the same mindset, you’ve got a real team concept and can rely on each other and trust each other,” said Quinn, whose team will play its 11th straight without Mika Zibanejad, who will continue his work at the MSG training facility. “Being a great teammate isn’t going out and buying a guy dinner or buying beers. Being a great teammate is understanding that ‘I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do and you’re going to do what you’re supposed to do.’"
“If I’m a great F1 on the forecheck, being a great teammate is being a good F2 so you can retrieve the puck. And I think when we have that mindset, we have success because I think we have enough talent to complement that type of hockey.”
“I think with our group and our youth, sometimes you have to suffer to really learn something,” Quinn said. “The thing I like — and I know we lost against Florida, but I like what we did against the Panthers — is that we followed it up with a strong game against Washington and now we have the opportunity to hopefully continue this trend."
Lines tonight from Vince Mercogliano's column:
Forwards
First line → Artemi Panarin (LW) – Ryan Strome (C) – Jesper Fast (RW)
Second line → Chris Kreider (LW) – Filip Chytil (C) – Pavel Buchnevich (RW)
Third line → Brendan Lemieux (LW) – Brett Howden (C) – Kaapo Kakko (RW)
Fourth line → Tim Gettinger (LW) – Greg McKegg (C) – Brendan Smith (RW)
Defense
First pair → Libor Hájek (L) and Jacob Trouba (R)
Second pair → Brady Skjei (L) and Tony DeAngelo (R)
Third pair → Ryan Lindgren (L) and Adam Fox (R)
Goalies
Starter → Henrik Lundqvist
Backup → Alexandar Georgiev
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