After allowing Toronto to tie the game up with about four minutes left in the third, the Rangers lost the face-off in overtime and inevitably the game as Mitch Marner sealed the deal 19 seconds into 3-on-3. Interestingly enough, Rangers Head Coach Gerard Gallant was rather satisfied with the team’s effort and essentially seemed content with the fact that they got one point. Kind of a completely different attitude from Monday where the team won decisively 6-2 but wasn’t overly thrilled with their play. One thing that was definitely clear from the team’s play last night is that the Kid Line needs to stay and at the very least, needs to be the permanent second line.
Obviously just from looking at the game sheet last night you could tell the Kid Line was majorly involved as Filip Chytil had both Rangers goals within a five minutes span. His first goal came right off the face-off as he threw the freshly dropped puck on net to surprise Samsonov to tie the game up early in the first. The one after that came off passes from Kakko and Lafreniere that found him right on the doorstep where he put the puck away to give the Rangers the lead that stuck through a majority of the game. What helped that line stick out was the fact that the Rangers top players were not having great games. As much as Gallant tries to stockpile that top line of Zibanejad, Kreider and Panarin, it just doesn’t seem to work and last night continued to prove it. So much so that Gallant split them up, putting Vesey on the wing with Zibanejad and Panarin, moving Kreider to the line with Goodrow and Trocheck.
It’s become quite clear that the Rangers trade deadline objective should be focused around solidifying their top nine with Lafreniere-Chytil-Kakko being locked in as one of the top two lines. For now, Gallant should try and force Kravtsov into that right wing spot on the line with Panarin and Zibanejad and then run a third line of Kreider-Trocheck-Vesey. If Kravtsov can find his game in that role, that’s one less addition you need to make at the trade deadline as right now, Kravtsov isn’t that guy. More than halfway through the season, you have to think the obvious best look for this Rangers team is:
Panarin - Zibanejad - _______
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
Kreider - Trocheck - _______
Vesey - Goodrow - Gauthier
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
_____ - Schneider
I’ll go into more specifics about what the Rangers trade deadline goals should be and run through some potential candidates during the All-Star break but for now, it should be pretty clear what the Rangers need and what has worked best for them thus far. Ideally, Kravtsov can click into that top line but even if he can’t, he should be fine on the third with Trocheck and Kravtsov. It all depends on how much spending Chris Drury wants to do as well as how much they are actually able to. The fact of the matter is, Goodrow and Vesey need to be locked in on the fourth line if this team wants to compete, no matter how good they’ve been throughout the season.
Anyway, back to the game. Prior to Chytil finding the back of the net it was Pontus Holmberg getting things started for Toronto with a quick backhander that snuck past Shesterkin. A complete defensive lapse for the Rangers as Schneider got caught pinching which resulted in everyone else getting caught flat footed while Holmberg used his speed to come in all alone on Igor. Not a great shift but luckily the Rangers got back into things thanks to Chytil and the Kid Line. Special teams would again, become a non-factor for the Rangers but thankfully, the Leafs wouldn’t convert on their chances either. I mentioned earlier how the Rangers top players couldn’t get much done and a large part of that was a result of the power play units inability to convert. Chris Kreider, who had a bit of a rough night, had a perfect chance at the doorstep to deflect a puck in but by some miracle, it would not find the net.
With a score of 2-1 going into the third, the Rangers had an early power play chance to get the go ahead but again, couldn’t execute. Slowly but surely, as the period went on, the Leafs gained momentum and with under five minutes to go, Timothy Liljegren found the back of the net to tie it up. As we know, the Rangers would head to overtime where Mitch Marner very quickly put an end to the evening, taking the extra point from the Rangers. As I said earlier, it’s interesting how Gallant seemed to be satisfied with the Rangers efforts tonight more so than when they beat the Panthers Monday Night. Regardless, the Rangers have one more game before the long break so it will be pivotal for them to get the win Friday Night.
A quick note on Will Cuylle who made his NHL debut last night. He only saw a little over five minutes of ice time and unfortunately one of those shifts came to an end with Toronto’s first goal in the first period. Aside from that, he didn’t look terribly out of place and seemed to keep up fine but again, it’s in this teams best interest to solidify a fourth line around Goodrow and Vesey so hopefully the closer we get to the trade deadline, the deeper Cuylle will be in the depth charts which is by no means a bad thing. He’s young and has plenty of time to develop, no need to rush things as he isn’t going to be a piece that helps the Rangers contend at this point in time. On the flip-side, Sammy Blais found the back of the net in his first game with Hartford so hopefully that’s the start of him turning things around with his assignment.
At the end of the day, one point is better than none as far as the regular season goes so as long as the Rangers turn things around for Vegas Friday Night, there shouldn’t be any reason to worry. However, last night’s game should be taken as a prime example of how the Rangers need to address the deadline which I’ll talk about more in the coming weeks. It’ll be interesting to see how Gallant handles the line combos leading up to Friday Night as I wouldn’t be surprised if we see them mixed around once again. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Cuylle rejoin the Pack in Hartford as I wouldn’t imagine they want Kravtsov going a longer stretch than necessary without playing.
Chris Feldman
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