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Rangers ' playoffs hopes hanging by a thread, face Philly tonight |
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The Rangers completed their preliminaries last weekend, then the main event began. With all due respect to the Devils, the expectation was New York would win three of four and likely sweep. The Blueshirts took their foot off the gas pedal the last two games and were fortunate to win each contest. Coming into the Isles contest, we knew it was a step in class but was hopeful what we saw the prior four games would carry forward.
To a certain extent that happened. The issues we somewhat ignored due to the offense were evident with a vengeance. In addition, if this was a test, they failed, badly. But you could argue partially that the team was set up to fail based on the defense configuration, which was all on coach David Quinn.
It's not second guessing when you first guess. Even Larry Brooks questioned the move. Quinn decided to play Anthony Bitetto again Tuesday, despite him looking horrible Sunday against the Devils, as he was on ice for a pair of goals against in the third period. Bitetto made that call look even worse with his play Monday. With Jacob Trouba injured in the first period, New York was down to five defensemen and needed each one to step up their play. Collectively, that failed to happen, individually, Bitetto had a lousy game.
Trouba took a relatively clean hit for Matt Martin. Granted, there was extended distance that he went for the check and came mildly after the puck was passed, but the hit was not dirty. Just caught him in a bad spot and looked like Trouba hit his head on a stanchion, though originally, his reaction and fact his left leg bent back, the injury looked to be to the lower body. The belief, though not reported yet, is that Trouba suffered a concussion. When he went out, a struggling Rangers' team cratered. This occurrence doesn't speak well to their ability to overcome obstacles, hearkening back to losing Jesper Fast a minute into game one of their series vs. the Canes last year.
Brooks, in his column after the game, in essence called the team soft. More precisely, their stars. It's easier to go east to west and score against teams that don't play a grinding, make you work for everything you get, tight defensive style. In contests like that, you need to put on your big boy pants, go to the front of the net and score dirty goals. I don't believe for a minute this team is soft, especially players like Zib and Panarin. But, evidence is evidence and the Canes shut them down last year and the Isles did so on Tuesday. The only way to counter that argument and view is to show it's not true by scoring in games like this. New York will get chances down the stretch, can they capitalize on them and go more North-South and tally while taking punishment remains to be seen.
New York signed a few draft picks to ELCs. Henriksson, a second round pick in 2019, was first thought to be the team's future #2 center. That goal seems a ways off given his play to date, but clearly is worth signing. He is expected to remain in Sweden for one more year before coming to the US. Will Cuylle, taken in the 2020 draft with a second round pick acquired from LA for Lias Andersson, was playing for Hartford. He wants to pattern his game after Tom Wison, and while he clearly has the size and shown a willingness to be physical, the goal scoring is a work-in-progress. But there is clear upside there, maybe even more than first thought when he was selected. With Henriksson signed, now the focus turns on another Swedish player, Nils Lundkvist to get him under contract.
Karl Henriksson
Will Cuylle
Now what? The playoffs look to be a very long shot with Boston and Pittsburgh hot again. At some point, playing the kids more should be paramount. that includes on the power play and blueline. With Trouba likely out today, Libor Hajek should get back in. To really be crazy, play Tarmo Reunanen and also Zac Jones while sitting Bitetto as well. No rational reason can be given not to make those moves even with the playoffs still a faint hope.
Yesterday's practice had these as the PP combinations. Kaapo Kakko was reportedly in the mix on PP2. Play Laf, sit Blackwell, play Kakko, give them the experience there. Utilizing the second unit more often down the stretch should be a goal.
PP1: Kreider, Strome, Zibanejad, Panarin, Fox
PP2: Buchnevich, Kravtsov, Jones, Blackwell, Miller. Lafreniere switched with Jones at times.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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