Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Game 30: TB 6 NYR 3, Outclassed by the Lightning..Shattenkirk injured

December 11, 2018, 8:37 AM ET [88 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers were beaten 6-3 by Tampa in game that really wasn’t as close as the score would indicate. Despite a 2-1 lead after the first frame, Henrik Lundqvist would have needed to be all the super heroes combined to hold off a Lightning team that came in waves. At times, the game looked like men against boys and the talent disparity level between the two squads was all too apparent. This is not overly surprising, and even with that gap, the Rangers almost made it a one-goal late with a charge. The Blueshirts got a clear view yesterday what’s lacking, including that elite, top-tier talent, which will be needed to push this team to that next level in the future. New York is off until Friday when they face Arizona.

Game recap:


David Quinn Post-Game:



A few thoughts:
1) Kevin Hayes continues his strong play scoring twice in the first period. The first was a lucky goal off Ryan McDonagh’s skate. His second resulted from a strong forecheck and then positioning in front to put the rebound past Louis Domingue. Hayes almost asses a third shorthanded. In addition, when New York was trying to make it 5-4 late, Hayes was at the top of the point on the 6-on-5 directing the attack, making several fine passes and blasting shots at Domingue.

2) Filip Chytil - his play late that led to Jesper Fast’s goal was to me the highlight of the night. Steven Stamkos, more on his later, was pressured into a turnover at the blue line by Chytil, who turned the rush with Fast. Chytil just showed tremendous patience to wait out the snow angel on defense and thread a perfect pass to Fast, who put the puck past Domingue to make it 5-3 at 17:34 of the third period. That patience, ability with the puck and the pass showed the talent level that has us hopeful for the future.

3) Stamkos - pretty, pretty good. Hat trick last night, five goals in two games and eight in his last seven contests. As the NHL.com recap noted: “Stamkos has 701 points (363 goals, 338 assists) in 696 NHL games. He scored his ninth NHL hat trick, the most in Lightning history, passing Martin St. Louis. His last hat trick was Oct. 13, 2014, against the Montreal Canadiens.”

His first goal was howitzer, top shelf, wide side to beat Lundqvist on the power play. Stamkos tallied his second, twisting his body to get tremendous torque on the shot with the puck near his skates to beat Lundqvist up high. He notched the hat trick at 10:41 of the third period with a one-timer from the high slot following a pass from Ondrej Palat that Lundqvist got a piece of it but couldn’t prevent the puck from trickling past him to make it 5-2.

The play to start that sequence was made by Braydon Coburn, who was able to fight off the forecheck and one hand the puck past the forwards. Marc Staal, who was in punching, was caught deep and then lost his footing when trying to catch Stamkos, creating a 3on-2 with Brett Howden back defending. Palat easily dished the puck to Stamkoa, whose tally made it lights out.

4) Lundqvist would like have back Ryan McDonagh’s goal, which made it 3-2 in the second. But besides that weak goal, he was very good again. Many of Tampa’s shots were high danger and came off of rushes and long stretches of puck possession. Hank could do very little to stem the tide.

5) Defense - in name only. New York was outplayed in the neutral and own zone last night. Unfortunately, this has been the case a lot lately with the Rangers (14-13-3) now 2-5-1 in their past eight games. The growth we saw during the 9-1-1 stretch and even the beginning of the season has reversed to a large extent with the blue line not playing particularly well. To me, the one key is to see if any or how many of the current eight should be part of the near or long term future. It’s hard to gauge an answer right. Neal Pionk was very bad last night, but he had lots of help in that regard from his blue line mates.

6) Officiating - you make your own breaks, resulting in drawing penalties by hard work and a strong forecheck. Tampa did that last night. But six penalties against and a handful of embellishments and potentials calls against the home team missed, made it a rough night for the road team.

New York has just four power plays versus 14 against the past three games. I don’t care how good your PK is, sooner or later you will get burned. Versus an elite squad, torched, as they were last night.

7) Kevin Shattenkirk left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury after taking a check from J.T. Miller. He had his left arm in a sling after the game and Quinn did not provide an update. I would presume that ‘Kirk will have an X-Ray and MRI today and could be sidelined long term for the second straight year.

Adam McQuaid might be ready Friday. If not, New York could elect to dress Brendan Smith, scratched the last two games with an injury, if he is healthy. Two other options and the one I would love to see New York utilize, is to promote Libor Hajek or Ryan Lindgren from Hartford. Why not see what one of the kids can do.

Join the Discussion: » 88 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Jan Levine
» Rangers face Avalanche as Ryan Lindgren returns to the lineup
» Rangers clinch playoff berth with barn burner 6-5 OT win over the Flyers
» Rangers face Flyers with chance to clinch playoff berth
» Rangers rally twice to defeat Panthers 4-3 in a shootout
» Rangers ride hat trick from Panarin and play of Quick to 5-2 win over B’s