The Peter Laviolette era began with a convincing 5-1 win over the Sabres. New York played their system to a T, blocking 23 shots and using defense to trigger offense. Alexis Lafreniere tallied the team’s first goal of the season, Chris Kreider scored on the man-advantage and short handed, the less hirsute Artemi Panarin added a goal and an assist while Mike Zibanejad had a helper in all three phases of the game.
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Gustafsson - Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
A few thoughts:
1) A complete victory - the Rangers dominated offensively, defensively and on special teams. If you drew up what would have been a perfect start, this likely would have been if. New York shut Buffalo down offensively, then counter attacked to create scoring chances of their own. Pretty much nothing to nitpick on in the victory
2) Second line - Panarin - Chytil - Lafrenière each contributed to the win. For Laf, given all the rightful swirl heading into and during the preseason, this was mild redemption. The areas of criticism were flipped in the win, as Laf adapted well to the right side and was solid defensively while also jumping in to contribute offensively. His goal came shortly after a prior attempt was stopped.
Panarin has his own critics and regardless of what he does in the regular season, we all know the focus will be on the postseason. But tonight, he also somewhat changed the narrative and bad feelings from many. Chytil may not have been as noticeable as those two, as he had just an assist in the win. But if he plays as he did yesterday, that line will be dangerous.
3) Balanced lineup - Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko will create offensively, even if at times the dominance is on special teams. The tip master did what he normally does while Zib was quietly dominant. I spoke about the second line above.
The Cuylle - Trocheck - Wheeler third line brings an edge to their game but should contribute offensively, though they were not needed that way yesterday. Physical play should be the hallmark of that line. New York now has a “trandituonal” fourth line. Goodrow - Bonino - Pitlick gives the team a trio that we have been clamoring for a while to have.
4) Block Ness Monster - Jacob Trouba blocked eight shots. No that number is not a misprint. He was all over the place as was most of the team. When you block 23 shots, it’s everyone buying in. The team played the system, aggressive in the neutral zone, blocked shots in the D zone. Unlike when John Tortorella was in New York, the team has the ability and mandate to counter attack, which we saw on CK20’s short handed goal.
5) Igor Shesterkin wasn’t called on to be brilliant. He was just solid in stopping 23 shots in becoming the seventh fastest goalie to reach 100 wins (154 starts). The goal against came on a fluky bounce after a Trouba block, meaning Igor was this close to a shutout:
6) From the post-game notes: Adam Fox’s assist was the 200th in 286 NHL games, making him the sixth-fastest defenseman in League history to reach the feat and second-fastest for New York (Brian Leetch, 264 games). Pretty heady company.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»