The Rangers look to extend their win streak to five tonight at home against Calgary. Fresh off four contests on the road, New York is home tonight and Friday versus Columbus. Following that game, it's four straight on the road, including their first in Seattle and then the annual - save for last year - Western Canada three-game swing.
After missing a week due to COVID-19 protocols, Ryan Strome returned to practice Sunday, He was joined by Kaapo Kakko, who had been skating by himself the last couple days as he recovered from an undisclosed upper-body injury that put him on injured reserve following the’ win at Montreal. The Finnish winger was in a blue non-contact jersey Sunday and took line rushes with players who are expected to be scratched, Morgan Barron and Greg McKegg. As somewhat expected, with Strome back, Barron was sent today to Hartford, where he will top-line action.
With the return of Strome,
the forward lines were reconfigured once again. The top trio of Alexis Lafreniere, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider was reunited, shifting Artemi Panarin back to his usual space, away from Zib. Joining Panarin and Strome on the second line was Barclay Goodrow with Kakko out. With Strome back, Filip Chytil slides to the third line joined again by Sammy Blais and also Julien Gauthier. Friday, look for Kakko on the second line and Goodrow on the third. The fourth line is again Kevin Rooney flanked by Dryden Hunt and Ryan Reaves.
The blueline is the same. Lots of twitter if the pairs should be swapped. Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren have played like a true first pair, so keeping that duo intact, even though some would like to see Fox and K'Andre Miller, would be wise, Miller and Jacob Trouba have been somewhat feast or famine, great games mixed with stinkers. Overall, though, very solid, as seen by this stat that Vince Mercogliano had in his column today.
They've (Trouba and Miller) allowed just 0.71 goals per 60 minutes, according to Evolving Hockey, which is the best total of any Rangers' duo through six games. They've also limited opponents to 23.83 shots per 60.
The "issue" with that duo has been their lack of offense, as "while the Rangers have limited opponents' chances with Miller and Trouba on the ice together, they've only generated 1.52 goals and 20.97 shots for per 60." Trouba has become more defensive minded while Miller is still adjusting to playing defense and the NHL as a whole. Once Miller garners more confidence, look for an uptick in his offense with Trouba transitioning slightly back to that component of his game.
in terms of last year vs. this year, as Mercogliano wrotem Miller called Gallant's system "a little bit cleaner" than last year under David Quinn, with defensemen asked to clear traffic around the goal and keep it simple."It’s man-on-man, so you’ve just got to stick yourself in between the net and your guy and you should be good," he said. The hybrid system used under AV and Quinn has been scrapped for a mon-on-man, which makes covering a bit harder but assignments known and handoffs hopefully easier.
Nils Lundqvist and Patrik Nemeth have improved after a rough start. I get the calls to maybe send Lundkvist down and let him play major first-pair minutes in Hartford. But my view is, unless he is overmatched at this level - which he had not been - let him learn with the parent club. Lundkvist recognizes the speed of the game is vastly different and he has to make quicker decisions, which he has been doing. If he regresses and needs a shot in the arm by playing against slightly less competition, then swap him with Zac Jones, but until then, keep him in New York.
Igor Shesterkin, who received Saturday off, is back between the pipes. A fun and fairly equal matchup against the Flames, especially the Johnny Gaudreau-Elias Lindholm-Matthew Tkachuk line. Jacob Markstrom, off to a strong start, is between the pipes for Calgary,
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