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Game 32: ANA 4 NYR 3, S/O, Disappointing loss to close out the road trip |
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The Rangers closed out their four-game West Coast trip with a 4-3 loss to Anaheim on Saturday. New York blew a 3-2 lead late in the game, falling in the shootout. Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant in the second period but allowed a very weak goal in that stanza and questionable goal in the third, aided by a horrific Brady Skjei tripping penalty, before falling in the shootout, New York is back at home Monday against the Predators.
Game recap:
David Quinn Post-Game:
A few thoughts:
1) Lundqvist's performance was the talk of twitter, at least on my end. This is the original tweet I sent, which led me down the rabbit hole of Rangers' twitter for several hours. Read the responses back and forth to get the full flavor of the discussion.
My comment was mainly on the third goal, which looked to be stoppable. The screen shot below shows that Hank was somewhat screened, so he may not have seen the release and was guessing where the shot was headed, as he noted in his post-game comments. I still think this one that should have been saved. But the second goal was worse, as he put himself out of position, leading to the easy tally. So despite his brilliant overall performance with 39 saves, he, the Rangers and we are left wanting more.
I am not ready to toss Hank to the wolves or state that Alexandar Georgiev is the #1 netminder. But as shifting of the playing time could result if Georgie continues to play as he has. Lundqvist is still in great shape, but were were spoiled for all those seasons as he carried a weak defense. The same early this year, seen when you look at his advanced metrics. But that gets lost when he allows a weak or perceived weak goal. Lundqvist is likely not going anywhere, so for all those expected him to just retire or waive his NMC, cease and desist, unless a radical change in mindset occurs for the future Hall of Fame goalie. That said, the time to give Georgiev more time between the pipes is likely here. At worst, that adds to Georgiev's trade value, and at best, moves the Rangers possibly closer to Wild Card contention.
2) Skjei - you can't take a penalty in that situation and need to be smarter. Doing so resulted in New York ending up shorthanded and another goal late in the power play against. As good as the Rangers have been short-handed was as bad as they were yesterday, allowing both goals on the man-advantage. Called up five years ago today, Skjei was brilliant his first full season but has regressed since. The jury is far out as to what he will become, with that sophomore campaign looking like his high-water mark and the six-year, $31.25 million contract extension he signed with the Rangers in July of 2018 another blueline albatross around the team's neck.
3) Mika Zibanejad - the tweet below says it all. When he gets on a roll, it lasts for a while. Right now though, almost all the production is coming from Zib and Artemi Panarin. If the other forwards don't start scoring, winning will start to become even more challenging. How good does the five year, $26.5 million deal he signed two-plus years ago look? If he remains healthy over the course of the rest of the contract, New York will need to lock him when eligible - the final year of his deal - for possibly five more seasons.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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