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Rangers rookies fall 6-3 to the Flyers on Saturday, face-off again Sunday
September 18, 2021, 11:48 PM ET [12 Comments]
Jan Levine
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The Rangers fell 6-3 in their rookie team scrimmage against the Flyers on Saturday. Both teams will meet again Sunday at 5pm, this time in Voorhees. Vince Mercogliano had a great summary of the scrimmage, his points below are what drove the column.




Defense pairs. Each had a skilled puck mover and a bigger, defensive-minded guy. Nils Lundkvist was paired with Matthew Robertson, which was probably the best pairing of the afternoon. Then Zac Jones played with Braden Schneider and Hunter Skinner with Tarmo Reunanen. Skinner has quietly been pretty good throughout this came and was solid again on Saturday.


The combinations are in line with what we somewhat expected. New York gave up two even-strength goals in the contest with the defense playing fairly well. None of the six hurt their chances and you know that Skinner is someone I have been talking up a bit lately, so it was nice to see him play well.

Most of the Rangers' offense came from their top line of Morgan Barron, Lauri Pajuniemi (a fifth round pick in 2018, who played the last four years at Lilga) and Will Cuylle. Those have been the three standout forwards at development camp and achieved a nice balance of size and skill when playing together. Barron and Pajuniemi (wrist shot from the slot off a Barron feed) each scored with Pajuniemi having a goal scored off a deflection in front taken off the board as well. Patrick Khodorenko notched the other tally.

Barron on Pajuniemi: "He’s got a great shot. I think that's the first thing you realize. Even in practice, when he shoots there's a lot of pop off his stick. He’s fun to play with. He talks a lot out there. I think he makes some really good reads. You can tell he's got a high hockey IQ. For someone who's just come over and was playing on the big sheet over in Europe, he's made the adjustment pretty quickly."








These three forwards have been the three best in camp. Barron, based on his short stint in the NHL, was expected to be ready for the next level and he has been. He should get a major look in camp to fill a bottom-six role, starting at center. Cuylle's shot is the most impressive, but he has the physical presence as well. Pajuniemi has gotten better and better all week, capped with today's performance. If looking for a sleeper down the road, Pajuniemi appears to fit that bill.

Matt Rempe blasted teammate Justin Richards and Flyers prospect Cooper Zech, leaving Richards' face down in his own blood. While unclear if the hit was clean or dirty, a few minutes later, Wade Allison — who's four years older than Rempe — went after the Rangers' 2020 sixth-round pick and dropped the gloves. They exchanged several blows in what Barron called "a big tilt." For the rest of the game, Philly was clearly going after Rempe, who didn't back down and stood his ground while overall having a solid contest.



Richards never returned to the game after that collision with Rempe. The Rangers said it's an upper-body injury and you have to hope it's nothing with the head. He had to miss NHL camp last season after testing positive for COVID and you'd hate to see him derailed again. The Rangers like him as a defensive forward/4C/PK option. With both him and Austin Rueschhoff (lower body) out for most of the game, the Rangers had to make due with 10 forwards.


First and foremost, you have to hope Richards is okay. As Vince wrote, after missing last year due to COVID and expected to compete for a job this season, to have another injury cost him a chance at a roster spot would be brutal. New York was aggressive this game, apparently a tad too much, resulting in a parade to the sin bin, leading to three power-play goals against.

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