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Five reasons why the New York Rangers were first team eliminated

August 5, 2020, 10:59 AM ET [3 Comments]
Kevin Allen
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The New York Rangers turned the corner this season in their rebuilding plan. The Artemi Panarin signing, the arrival of young goalie Igor Shesterkin Igor and the contributions of prize forward Kaapo Kakko younger defensemen, such as Adam Fox, Tony DeAngelo and Ryan Lindgren, made it clear that the franchise is headed in the right direction.

The team has plenty going right even beyond the aforementioned players, including the fact that they now have a 12.5% chance of landing Alexis Lafreniere

They have the Lafreniere lottery ticket because they were the first team eliminated from the NHL’s 24-team playoff field. Here are five reasons why the Rangers were swept:

The Carolina Hurricanes outplayed the Rangers everywhere: This sweep was more about the ‘Canes’ excellence than the Rangers’ flaws. The Carolina group was relentless in their puck pursuit. They 'Canes were physically dominant. Their goaltending was superb. Their defense was stout. One replay showed five Canes’ players perfectly positioned to hem in a Rangers’ puck carrier. The New York player had no options. Coach Rod Brind’Amour’s tactics are modern and effective.

No Panarin production:
The Most Valuable Player finalist had no even-strength points. He had 10 shots on goal, but couldn’t finish. He just wasn’t the same player he was during the regular-season when he was a brilliant performer on a daily basis.. The March-to-July layoff clearly robbed him of his momentum. With Panarin underperforming, the Rangers only netted four goals in three games. That looks particularly anemic when you consider that Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov had three goals each for Carolina.

Inexperience matters: DeAngelo and Fox were both playing their first NHL playoff games and it showed. They were not the same confident players they were in the second half of the regular-season. DeAngelo was -6 in his three playoff games and Fox seemed tentative at times. He’s a take-charge defenseman and we saw less of that in these playoffs. Maybe if the Rangers had finished the regular-season and started the playoffs three days later DeAngelo and Fox would have played with more confidence.

Shesterkin’s absence:
It isn’t Henrik Lundqvist’s fault that the Rangers are eliminated. He played well in Game 1, but Carolina's goalie Petr Mrazek was memorable in Game 2 and Lundqvist was not. This Rangers' team was 18-10-1 after Shesterkin arrived in the Big Apple in early January. This team now has a comfort level with him in net that was gone when he couldn’t play the first two games because of injury. This team played much better in the second half of the NHL season than it played against Carolina. Shesterkin's absence may have disarmed their confidence. Given how sharp the ‘Canes were, maybe his absence would not have made a difference. But we will never know. What we do know is that it is Shesterkin’s net now in New York.

Still work to do: This is far from a perfect team. But Filip Chytl is still only 20 and Julien Gauthier is 22. The arrival of prospect Vitali Kravtsov will make this team better. Defenseman Nils Lundqvist and K’Andre Miller will also help. You can bet the Rangers are looking for another center. In terms of polished players, the Rangers aren’t as deep as the ‘Canes.
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