Back in my days of playing hockey, we used to have a saying in the locker room when we were down in an important game. "It's gut check time boys." Well, it's gut check time, boys. The Rangers are at a critical part of the season where they need to start playing with some urgency and tenacity or else management better start seriously scouting out the top 5 prospects of the 2021 entry draft. Last nights efforts were abysmal. In what should've been a high energy, well spirited match up, the Rangers seemed like they had no interest in competing. Even when it came to guys pushing and shoving each other no one on the Rangers seemed to have any interest in dropping the gloves to get some sort of spark going.
This is exactly what was missing from this game for New York, the spark. Ryan Lindgren had the opportunity when he found himself on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box but through no fault of his own, couldn't pull off a move to beat Halak. The Bruins very quickly took control of this game when they scored their second goal at the end of the first. Then when they scored early in the second, that's when Georgiev should've been pulled and a timeout should've been taken. David Quinn opted to wait for the Bruins to score a fourth goal before deciding it was time to hit the panic button. Keith Kinkaid would relief Georgiev once again and DQ would call a timeout to attempt to get something going. As you can tell by the final score of this game, it didn't work.
The Rangers had three shots on goal in the second period, three. That is a major problem. The power play again, could not generate anything, the Bruins were clearing the zone with ease, there was no urgency. You have to hope if you're the New York Rangers that with Artemi Panarin returning the power play will start showing some life again but either way it needs a shake up.
Alexandar Georgiev is clearly struggling, it has to be a matter of confidence or something but either way, expect Keith Kinkaid to get the starts until Sheshterkin is ready to go. I'm not saying it's time to give up on Georgiev but he definitely needs some time to get his head back before given a start again. Another issue at hand that continues to surface in games like this is David Quinn. I've said in the past, I am very on the fence about whether Quinn is the guy for this team going forward and last night was definitely one of those nights I question him. I don't care what his reasoning is, there is no excuse to be putting Lafreniere on the fourth line. I understand the KZB line is good to have together against the Bruins. Hell, I even understand keeping that third line together as they've been solid. However, there is just no excuse whatsoever for having your first overall draft pick playing the fourth line.
Unless there is physical risk to playing Artemi Panarin on Saturday, he should be back in the line up. The fact that he didn't play last night because he hasn't skated with the team enough is a little questionable. I'll take a slightly rusty super star in my line up over guys on the fourth, even third line to a certain extent. It's also time to completely shake up the lines. Quinn has given Zibanejad the benefit of the doubt, keeping his line mates together for the most part but it's time for a revamp:
Panarin - Zibanejad - Gauthier
Lafreniere - Strome - Buchnevich
Kreider - Chytil - Kakko
Lemieux - Rooney - Blackwell
Switch in Howden and Di Giuseppe every couple of games. Once Kravtsov joins the team in a week or two, he needs to take over that RW spot on the fourth line. Sending Howden to Hartford is long overdue and could benefit him in the long run. Morgan Barron is another option that deserves a look in the NHL before Kravtsov comes over. There are certainly a lot of things to consider with this group all while keeping in mind the long term plan, but the time for decision making is now.
Regardless, Saturday afternoon is going to be a huge test for this team and one they need to pass. I'd go as far as going back to 2012 and starting the fourth line with the purpose of starting the game with a line brawl to get this team going. Boston however would never play into that so the Rangers are going to have focus on winning that first face off, gaining puck possession and throwing everything on net. Urgency is the name of the game going forward and something they desperately need to play with.
Chris Feldman
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