The Rangers have been playing short-handed hockey for almost a week now and with several back to backs in the process, it’s certainly catching up to them. MSG was an absolute electric factory last night as the Garden Faithful welcomed Patrick Kane to Broadway with a standing ovation and a packed house. The vibes right from puck drop were strong as all eyes were on 88, awaiting the magic between he and Artemi Panarin to rekindle. They would get plenty of time to do so, specifically on the power play but prior to that, the Rangers would go to the penalty kill as Jimmy Vesey was wrongfully accused of high-sticking Derick Brassard who was struck in the face by the stick of one of his teammates.
Ottawa would have the man advantage however a great defensive play from Mika Zibanejad led to Chrisopher James Kreider finding himself on a breakaway where he pulled off his simple forehand - backhand move to beat Cam Talbot and make it 1-0 game six minutes in. Great start for the Rangers who not long after the goal would get extended chances on their own man advantages, however it would come with a price. Sens forward Austin Watson, who is notorious for fighting, playing the game hard and the occasional cheap shot, charged Tyler Motte making direct contact to his head with his elbow. A surely regrettable scene as Motte stayed down from the hit and required attention from medical trainer Jim Ramsey, who took him right off the ice to get evaluated.
The play went under review and the officials made the correct decision to not only assess Watson a five minute major, but to kick him out of the game as well. This gave the Rangers an extended amount of time on the power play in which we got a taste of the new units:
PP1: Zibanejad - Kreider - Kane - Panarin - Fox
PP2: Trocheck - Chytil - Kakko - Tarasenko - Trouba
Understandably, the chemistry wasn’t perfect out the gate so nothing would really get accomplished from that first chance. Brady Tkatchuk would later get sent off for too-many men on the ice and by the time that was done, Jakob Chychrun was called for slashing. Nine minutes of power play time for the Rangers and nothing to show for it. While at the time, it wasn’t a big deal, by the time that final buzzer sounded, failure to capitalize on the power play certainly played a role in the Rangers dropping this one. By the time the teams were finally beginning to skate at 5v5, Shane Pinto, who is becoming a bit notorious himself for scoring against the Rangers, got Ottawa on the board to tie the game up at one.
Not even 25 seconds after Pinto tied the game, Derrick Brassard tipped an Alex DeBrincat shot passed Halak to all of a sudden, turn things around. Now it’s worth noting Derick Brassard was celebrating his 1000th NHL game tonight which is without question a tremendous feat. Brassard’s bounced around the league a lot, primarily in the back half of his career, but nevertheless, he’s a guy that players all over the league have nothing but great things to say about. He’s beloved by teammates, plays an honest game and as Rangers fans know, a huge part of our pre-rebuild cup runs in the mid 2010’s. It was nice to hear that MSG gave him a little shout out as he deserves all the praise for an outstanding, respectable career.
Of course he ended up playing a huge part in the Senators taking this game from us but hey, he got us Mika Zibanejad so how mad can we really get about it? It’s also worth noting how exhausted this group probably is, especially Fox/Trouba/Mikkola/Harpur. They’re still without Lindgren, Miller and now might have lost Tyler Motte who would not return last night due to an “upper body injury”... Unfortunately we probably have a good idea of what that really means. Anyway, despite a tired defensive core, Jacob Trouba tied the game up with the Rangers as he cut to the backhand and deflected a shot off a Senators defender. Not long after that, Vladimir Tarasenko scored on a beautiful partial breakaway, where he pulled off “The Forsberg” to regain the Blueshirt’s lead.
New York took a one goal lead into the third but again, as the night went on, energy levels were depleting and it became Ottawa’s game more and more. Brassard picked up his second of the night and before we knew it, Claude Giroux found the back of the net on a tip-in to make it 4-3. The Rangers pushed and pushed but the momentum just wasn’t there. Head coach Gerard Gallant arguably pulled Jaro Halak a little too early and with just under three minutes to go in the game, Tim Stuzle picked up his 29th of the season on an empty netter. The Rangers dropped this one 5-3 and will head on over to Boston from here.
Overall, you can’t get too critical of this one. There were certainly times where the Rangers forwards could’ve and probably should’ve looked to shoot the puck a little more but aside from that, you got guys who are used to either seeing at most, twelve minutes of ice time a night, or not even playing at all seeing top-four minutes. We all know how much Ryan Lindgren’s absence hurts the Rangers but with Miller out of the equation too, they’re in a tough spot. Hopefully Lindgren is close to returning but at the same time, you can’t risk rushing him back if he’s not fully healthy as you don’t want it turning into a longer recovery. As for K’Andre Miller, I’m not 100% sure if he will return for the Boston game on Saturday or if that is the final day of his suspension. I’ve heard conflicting cases that the game the incident occurred is considered game one of the suspension, but my brain is also convinced that he still has a game left to serve.
In the meantime, the Rangers did file for emergency recall circumstance but the league had actually denied them on the premise that because they had the cap space prior to trading for Kane and prior to Miller’s suspension, then they are ineligible to make an emergency call up. Basically the logic of their reasoning comes down to the fact that the Rangers purposely played shorthanded to create just enough cap space for Patrick Kane, therefore, they are not allowed to utilize an emergency call up since they put themselves in that position. Which frankly, is a load of crap. I understand the Rangers are stretching money as much as they can but do you really think they’re the only team in the league abusing the salary cap limitations? Look at how many teams are abusing LTIR. Hell, Gary Bettman’s child in Arizona has five guys on their payroll that are never going to play hockey again yet the Rangers aren’t allowed to dress a full lineup because they're pushing the envelope on their cap hit?? Absolutely ridiculous.
I’m also not really sure why the Rangers didn’t try to appeal the league’s decision to suspend Miller for three games when they had some solid ground to stand on. Key has no history, apologized for the incident, confirmed it was accidental and was on good terms with Drew Doughty afterwards. At the very least, the league could have shaved a game off the suspension because let's face it, one of the league's most valuable franchises being forced to play short handed because of egregious player safety decisions and salary cap juggling is not great for the sport by any means.
Nevertheless, the Rangers are back at it Saturday afternoon for a huge matinee in Boston. Expect a big game from Igor and a very significant test for the Rangers who will want to have a good game against the current top team in the league.
Chris Feldman
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