The Rangers, after a meh first period, found their game and eventually earned a 6-5 win over the Sharks. New York had a 6-3 lead in the third, but a lack of focus and loss of defensive structure, allowed San Jose to score twice, making the last four minutes a little nerve-wracking. Artemi Panarin’s hat trick plus assist help the Blueshirts become the fifth team to notch 3,000 regular-season wins.
A few thoughts
1) Panarin -with the four points, Panarin leads the team with 15 goals and 35 points, with both totals ranking fourth in the league. He's also on pace for 53 goals, which would shatter his previous career high of 32 from his first season with New York in 2019-20.
The three keys to his success to me are: a) clear of mind. Whatever demons Panarin fought down the stretch and the playoffs were dissipated this offseason. He came to camp less hirsute and lighter in terms of the weight on him after his playoff issues. We have seen the impact that has had in his game. B) willingness to shoot. While Panarin still is a sublime playmaker, defensemen can no longer just play the pass or curl inside the blue line, as he has shown a willingness to shoot the puck. He had 204 shots in 82 games last year. This year, he already has 89 shots in 23 games. C) Going to the dirty areas - two of the three markers yesterday came in the paint. Panarin used to play on the perimeter. This year, he has gone to the front of the net and been the beneficiary of that change in attitude.
2) Jonny Brodzinski was moved to the top line with Blake Wheeler dropped to the third line. Brodzinski brings speed and a willingness to shoot, which were two of the main reasons for the change. He didn’t look out of place alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, and his play along the wall, batting the puck, helped lead to Zib’s goal. Brodzinski had a pair of assists for the second straight game and coach Peter Laviolette provided a great answer as to why the move was made in his post-game conference, responding to Jonny Lazarus’ question.
3) Will Cuylle - after getting moved down to the fourth line during the win over Nashville, Cuylle was back on the third line yesterday. He entered Sunday mired in a 10-game goal-scoring drought, having not lit the lamp since Nov. 7, with no points at all in his last nine games. Cuylle ended both streaks by notching the Rangers' go-ahead goal with 3:57 to play in the second period.
As Vince Mercogliano described, the goal started with a savvy play from Nick Bonino, who caught a long pass from Jacob Trouba (who had another strong game) with his left hand and dished it to Cuylle as he flew down the middle of the ice. The 21-year-old did the rest, outracing three San Jose skaters and beating goalie Mackenzie Blackwood with a left-handed wrist shot before he had time to react.
4) Anthony Duclair - former and possibly future Ranger, Duclair, showed the speed and skill he can bring to a lineup. Dculair notched a goal and just missed a second later in the game on a screaming wrist shot that hit the crossbar as a power play expired. He was easily the Sharks' most threatening offensive player, slightly ahead of Mikael Granlund, and with a $3 million expiring contract, could enter the conversation as a Rangers' trade target in a few months. Of course that will depend on how much cap room the Rangers can accrue and/or if Kaapo Kakko is sidelined the rest of the regular season.
5) Defense - despite the win, two areas concerned me. First, defense through the neutral zone against speed. San Jose, especially Granlund and Duclair, used their speed to create space and room through the neutral zone to the offensive zone. Second, handoffs in their own zone. New York did a lousy job of picking up trailers and handing off players in the D-zone, creating way too many chances against. Part of that could be the back-to-back games, travel back to New York from Nashville and quality of the opponent, so I am cutting them a little break. But Laviolette has something on which he can focus after the Ottawa game tomorrow, since the Rangers are then off until Saturday, when they kick off back-to-back contests against Washington.
6) 5X5 production - K'Andre Miller's goal, which made it 6-3, gave the Rangers five 5v5 goals in a game for the first time this season. They scored only 13 of those in their first 10 contests but have now produced 35 in their last 13. Combine this with a potent power play and it’s clear why the team is 18-4-1 on the year.
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