The Rangers are back in action on home ice after a disappointing weekend in Alberta, resulting in back to back losses. Despite how the Rangers may appear from their position in the standings, the time for concern may be upon us as many of the Rangers players are struggling and the team in general, hasn’t looked very good for more than a period or two at a time. Especially as the Rangers prepare to take on a 10-0-1 Florida Panthers team, led by of course a former Ranger averaging more than a point a game in Anthony Duclair.
Quite frankly, Anthony Duclair is the epitome of one of the Rangers largest concerns right now and that is their ability to draft, develop and retain talent. Fans started to stress about this when the Vitaly Kravtsov situation happened at the start of the season, however with the starts Lafreniere and Kakko have gotten off to, combined with the stakes we have in these players, it’s time to start thinking about hitting the panic button. Again, we’re all worried about Lafreniere but at the same time, he’s tied for third in goals on the team. We’re all worried about Kakko, however he’s still coming back from injury. Regardless, there comes a time where something has to give, these are top two draft picks that need to breakout and seemingly haven’t done so yet.
So how do you fix this problem? Well, there aren’t any easy answers, but putting Lafreniere on the fourth line certainly isn’t one of them. Chemistry wise, I liked him on the top line with Zibanejad and Kreider. Gallant should consider getting that line back together or perhaps try Kakko and Lafreniere on the top line with Zibanejad in the middle. On that note, it’s tough to imagine what the line up is really going to look like going into tonight’s game as of 9 am this morning. Filip Chytil got banged up in the game against Calgary and to the best of my knowledge, there hasn’t been any updates on his situation. If he’s not good to go for tonight, the Rangers will need to call up Barron or McKegg unless they want to try Goodrow at center.
Pretend Chytil’s out tonight and the team makes no call ups, Gallant should give these combinations a look:
Lafreniere - Zibanejad - Kakko
Panarin - Strome - Kreider
Blais - Goodrow - Gauthier
Hunt - Rooney - Reaves
With Barron or McKegg in the mix, lets go:
Lafreniere - Zibanejad - Kakko
Panarin - Strome - Kreider
Hunt - Goodrow - Blais
Barron/McKegg - Rooney - Reaves
I’m hard pressed to imagine a scenario where Lafreniere spends more than five games on the fourth line and if that ends up becoming a reality, you really have to question Gallant, and Gallant needs to answer instead of getting aggressively defensive about it.
As for tonight, the Rangers are right back at it against one of the league’s current top teams. The Panthers, who haven’t lost a game in regulation yet this season, will look to keep that streak alive, while the Rangers look to bounce back from their cold streak. The Rangers need to break it down and start with the basics, their biggest priority should be getting every puck they can on net. The Panthers don’t let in a lot of goals and the Rangers have clearly struggled with scoring them. Therefore, you can’t look to make the pretty plays all night long, you have to play buckle up the chin strap, get pucks on net and work in the dirty areas to get them to the back of the net.
The Rangers don’t play a game for four days after tonight’s battle with Florida, that alone should be reason enough for them to play with some urgency tonight. If that isn’t, you have to think this is probably the most hungry the team will be since dropping the first two games of the season. While they haven’t looked great throughout the course of this season, they have still found ways to win. This will be a big test to how the group overcomes adversity and which guys will be the ones to step up when it matters most.
Chris Feldman
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