After a concerning stretch where the Rangers could not seem to find goals let alone a win, the Blueshirts finally snap the losing streak and get two big wins on the road against the Stars and Coyotes. The Rangers are now 5-3-2 through their first ten of the season and while that might not be the ideal start they were hoping for, you have to think at this point, they’ll take it. Now that they were able to snap out of that funk, the goal should ultimately be to stay out of it and look at these next ten games as a chance to prove they are the dominant team we all expected them to be this season.
A Look At The Next 10
The Rangers will have their work cut out for them through these next ten games as they’ll have some rival matchups, original six battles and their first big road trip of the season through the West Coast. As far as this week goes, the Rangers will take on the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins, two teams who are exceeding expectations through the early parts of this season. The Flyers especially, who were expected to be one of the worst teams around the league, are currently sitting pretty right behind the Rangers by one point in the Metro. This will be a huge game for both sides but we’ll get into that more tomorrow.
The rival match-ups continue after Philly as the Rangers will host the Bruins, Red Wings and Islanders in their next three as the Blueshirts come up on another home-stand. They’ll hit the road for Detroit and Nashville, come back home for another dance with the Coyotes then head to Seattle for a four game West Coast road that will take them through game twenty on the season. All ten of the next ten are pretty spread out with at least a day off in between. With half of them being on home ice, winning seven of the next ten should be a fairly reasonable goal and would put the Rangers in a great spot approaching the end of the season’s first quarter.
However, before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s recap all of this weekend's action:
Rangers Burst of Offense Lands Them 6-3 Win in Dallas
In the win that got this team out of their funk, the Rangers had quite the offensive showing against the Dallas Stars on Saturday. While the score may look impressive, it was much closer of a game than you might expect looking at the score. Additionally, it did not look like it was going to be a good night off the jump, as the Stars took a lead just 69 seconds into the game. Mason Marchment received a pass from Tyler Seguin across the slot and let a shot go that beat Shesterkin clean on the blocker side. Definitely not an ideal start for the game and a goal that Igor likely would like to have had back.
It took some doing, but the Rangers got themselves back in it as Chris Kreider broke his goal scoring drought, putting away a rebound that came from a Kaapo Kakko shot after starting at the point with Braden Schneider. That would do it for first period goals but man was the rest of that period action packed, primarily on the penalty front. Nils Lundkvist took an interference penalty that gave the Rangers their first power play opportunity about halfway through the first. The Rangers wouldn’t capitalize and for a majority of the period, it looked like the Rangers were going to stay out of the box. With about two and a half minutes left, Ryan Carpenter would go off for hooking, giving the Stars their first power play of the game.
The man advantage wouldn’t last as Jason Robertson would trip up Mika Zibanejad, making play 4-on-4. In the period's final minute, Ty Dellandrea would slewfoot Igor Shesterkin which led to a little scrum that sent Artemi Panarin to the box along with Dellandrea for coincidental minors. As a result of the initial play, the Rangers got the man advantage and Dellandrea would inevitably receive a fine for the trip on Shesterkin. While the Rangers only had a couple seconds on the power play before the period ended, they got right after it in the second as Vincent Trocheck scored as the man advantage was nearing its end. This gave the Rangers their first lead of the game but in what became a theme of sorts for the evening, it wouldn’t last long.
Roope Hintz found a loose puck on the right side of Igor after making the initial save off a Joe Pavelski redirect. Not much Igor could really do there, the goal just came at a less than ideal time just 29 seconds after the Rangers found the lead. 2-2 as play would continue and the Rangers would find themself on another power play. While they wouldn’t capitalize on that man advantage, they would on the next Stars penalty, also taken by Joel Hanley. Mika Zibanejad would tip a shot in, in front of the net to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead over halfway through the game. Sure enough, the lead would only hold for a couple minutes as Jason Robertson let a shot go right off the face-off that snuck in through Shesterkin’s pads to tie the game up at three a piece.
Again, not a goal that Igor Shesterkin would characteristically let in but for as good as he is, you shouldn’t have the expectation that he is going to carry the team through 60+ games year in and year out. That being said, goals like Robertson’s as well as Marchment’s in the first are saves you need your goalie to make and are definitely ones that Igor knows he should have. Thankfully, the Rangers overcame adversity and would put up three in a rather fun period to ensure they came out of Dallas with the two points they desperately needed.
Almost halfway through the final period, Zac Jones would net his first NHL Goal on a clean wrist shot that beat Scott Wedgewood who came in to relieve an injured Jake Oettinger early that afternoon. Not even twenty seconds after the goal, Julien Gauthier, who remained in the lineup leaving Ryan Reaves a healthy scratch, dazzled through the Stars defenders, poking the puck around Wedgewood who came way out to challenge the play, sending the puck into a wide open net on a weird angle. You have to love to see Gauthier finally find the back of the net, especially after not making the team to start the year. He definitely went to Hartford with the right attitude, got to work and earned his call-up when the opportunity presented itself. He’s played great since rejoining the team and if he can just consistently find his scoring touch, he can really be an effective player on this roster.
Nevertheless, Gauthier’s goal sparked the energy that Jones’ goal started and the Rangers maintained their lead. Vincent Trocheck, who would have three points on the night, found the back of the net almost two minutes after Gauthier did, solidifying the Rangers lead of 6-3 as the final score. All in all, not a picture perfect game but like they always say, a win is a win is a win. The Rangers unfortunately lost Vitaly Kravtsov yet again who took a brutal hit where his head definitely went hard into the boards. Again, you can’t blame Kravtsov for getting hurt, especially if it’s the same injury that’s becoming a recurring one. However, it remains a concern that he can’t seem to stay healthy through more than a game or two.
If it is a recurring injury, put the kid on LTIR and let him recover fully. Especially with our cap situation, if there is any chance of putting him on LTIR, might as well at this point. However, if this isn’t the same injury and if it’s just little things that keep coming up, it’s growing hard to justify him staying in the NHL. That’s not to say he’s soft, it’s not implying that he doesn’t have what it takes to play in the NHL, it’s just very hard to justify that he’s truly ready to play in this league if he can’t stay healthy.
Rangers Keep Coyotes Winless On Home Ice
The Rangers were the second team in the league to experience Mullet Arena, half home to the Arizona Coyotes as well as the Arizona State University Hockey Team. If you didn’t know any better, you could have thought the Rangers were the home team with the amount of Blueshirts and Let’s Go Rangers chants coming from the stands that hold a capacity of 5,000. All jokes about the Coyotes playing in a college arena aside, the ice is apparently some of the best according to certain NHL players along with Ryan Reaves who rejoined the Rangers lineup Sunday night, slotting in for the injured Vitaly Kravtsov.
Right from the jump, the Rangers were outplaying the Coyotes and it wasn’t very close. They dominated play, outshooting Arizona 15-7 throughout the first. Not much action from the start until Liam O’Brien took a cross-checking penalty that sent the Rangers on a man advantage. The power play units continued to dominate as they created several strong chances but recently claimed through waivers, goaltender Connor Ingram was standing tall, making all 15 saves throughout the period. There was no question that the Rangers looked like the better team out there, they just needed to find a way to once again, beat the goalie.
Just a minute and a half into the second, Artemi Panarin let a shot go that Alexis Lafreniere tipped into the Coyotes net. About five minutes later, the Coyotes would strike on the power play from a Lawson Crouse snap shot that would be followed up with Nick Bjugstad’s first of the season five minutes after that to give Arizona their first lead of the night. The lead would hold until there were about two minutes left when Artemi Panarin scored himself a birthday goal to add on what would become a three point night. Panarin, who later collected assist number eleven on the season, is certainly off to a hot start averaging well over a point a game.
His assist would help Mika Zibanejad score to give the Rangers the win with about seven minutes left in the third. The goal came on the Rangers second of three power play chances throughout the night as they would ride out that 3-2 lead till the final buzzer. All in all, a huge weekend for the Blueshirts as they should have some of their mojo back heading home to host the Flyers on Tuesday. Not only is it huge that the team found a way to win both of those games, but they were able to get goals from almost all of their top six forwards which was something they needed almost as much as the wins.
Chris Feldman
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