The Rangers come out of this weekend with two very important wins as they beat Columbus 5-3, and New Jersey 4-3 in a thrilling seven round shootout. With these four points, the Rangers move to 9-3-3 on the season, leaving them third in the Metro and fifth in the league. While third may not sound all that impressive, they are just one point behind Washington and Carolina who sit in the one and two spots with 22 points each. It’s no secret the Metropolitan division is one of, if not the most competitive division in the league, making these points early in the season all that more imperative.
What else was huge for the Rangers this weekend was Artemi Panarin, Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko, all scoring goals and hopefully regaining their confidence to get going again. Panarin had two goals against his former team in Columbus as well as a shootout goal against the Devils. Lafreniere scored a big goal against New Jersey, as did Kaapo Kakko who also added a goal in last night's shootout. The lack of production from these two Rangers youngsters has been concerning to say the least but you have to remember, not only are these guys young, but they’ve yet to play a full season in the National Hockey League. It's all still a part of the learning process, they'll get there.
You have to hope these goals from Kakko and Lafreniere are just what they needed to take off, Kakko’s performance last night certainly looks like he’s ready to do so. Not only did he score two highlight real goals, one of which to give his team the lead in the third, but his overall play in the game made him standout, which included an assist on Lafreniere’s goal. On top of all the good coming from the aforementioned players, Chris Kreider continues to be an absolute force for the Rangers as he now leads the team with 11 goals. His entire career, he’s known to be very streaky but if he can finally be a consistent offensive presence for this team, I like their chances a lot more than I did at the beginning of the season. Similarly to Kreider, Adam Fox continues to impress, even when you think there's not much else he can do to surprise you. Night after night, he continues to prove he is one of, if not the best players in the league.
The weekend wasn’t all perfect however, as Sammy Blais left last night’s game with an injury that definitely looked like it won’t be a quick recovery. Lots of people on twitter were relating the play to when Aaron Ekblad fractured his leg and tore ligaments in his ankle, leaving him out for a very long while. Of course P.K. Subban was the player putting pressure on Blais when the injury occurred. It was very hard to tell whether Subban had any contact with Blais on the play but with his rap sheet, he doesn’t necessarily get the benefit of the doubt.
If Blais is out long term, Chris Drury and the New York Rangers will have lots to consider. Will they call someone up from Hartford or are we going to rely on McKegg being a part of our daily lineup? In theory, if Chytil is ready to come back, the Rangers don’t need to add a forward as Chytil can hop in for Blais and McKegg will still act as a healthy scratch option. Regardless, the team has options with it’s line combinations. For now, let’s say they don’t make any changes and Chytil is ready to return, my best guess of what they’ll roll with will look something like:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Goodrow
Panarin - Strome - Kakko
Lafreniere - Chytil - Gauthier
Hunt - Rooney - Reaves
Barclay Goodrow on the first line is not appealing, no matter how you slice it but the fact of the matter is, I don’t see Gallant rushing to get Lafreniere back on the top line for two reasons. One, Kreider is playing out of his mind, better than he has in his entire career for longer than he has in his entire career. Granted, he started the season on the right side and had some success there, I still think the focus will be keeping him comfortable as he’s currently leading this team in offensive production. The second reason being Lafreniere’s a young player, Gallant wants him to develop while still holding high expectations and with that in mind, it’s going to take more than one goal to get Lafreniere back in a top line position.
That being said, unless the Rangers want to give Gauthier a look on that top line, the answer is Goodrow for now. I’m not opposed to Gauthier there, especially the way he’s played lately, I just think he and Kreider play too similar a style to have on the same line. Down the road, once Chytil has proven to be 100% and has gotten readjusted to playing every night, the Rangers should consider moving Chytil to the right side with Zibanejad and Kreider and putting Goodrow back at that third line center spot, a position he is more effective in. The Rangers are convinced they want Chytil to be a center but at this point in time, if he can click with the top guys and be productive in a top six role, it’s going to have to be on the wing.
As for the team as a whole, they played very solid games both in Columbus and against New Jersey. There was more to like about their performance than to dislike and frankly, that’s all you can ask for, especially when they’re winning. The Rangers have a big week ahead of them as they take on Montreal at home tomorrow night and then head up to Eastern Canada to take on the Maple Leafs and the Senators, returning home Sunday to face Buffalo in the second half of another back to back. If I’m Gallant, I’d consider going with Shesterkin against Montreal, let Georgiev take on Toronto who he’s known to be good against and then see what Shesterkin can do in back to back games.
Chris Feldman
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