New York Rangers: Five games that suggest a rebuild won’t take long
Though last season wasn’t successful for New York, the Rangers aren’t as far away from contending again as it may seem. Here are five games that should give Rangers fans hope for this season.
There wasn’t much to cheer about for New York in the 2017-2018 season. In fact, the Rangers had their worst season in nearly a decade. It resulted in a full blown fire sale at the trade deadline, and a commitment to rebuilding the team that led to the firing of Alain Vigneault. The team was closer to the bottom of Eastern Conference then the playoffs. Still, the Rangers have a lot of young players on the team. They have a lot of young prospects as well.
All this suggests that a rebuild could be quicker than some expect. Yes it is unpredictable, but the Rangers have the pieces to contend soon. Now it’s about developing them in to what New York needs them to be. Even in a season like last year where not much went right for New York, there were still games that suggested the team is closer to contending then sniffing the basement of the league. Here are five games that should give Rangers fans hope.
Young Stars
The first game on the list actually ended up in the loss column for the New York Rangers. But in a season where actual victories were sometimes hard to find, the Rangers scored a moral victory against the Capitals. Despite a 4-2 loss, New York showcased the brightest of their young stars on Broadway.
Lias Andersson scored his first NHL goal in his first game with the Rangers and Filip Chytil added a primary assist on a Mats Zuccarello goal later in the game. Collectively it was probably the best and most fruitful game for the two players. They are the future for the New York Rangers. If the development of both continues as expected, games like March 26th will become commonplace for New York fans.
Despite the loss the Rangers got to see what could be with both Andersson and Chytil. Only time will tell if they actually become cornerstones to a rebuild. However, if they live up to potential the rebuild will be expedited considerably.
Four Goal Third
The Rangers were down and looked out against the Blue Jackets in early November. Then the Jackets made some mistakes and put the Rangers on the power play. That happened three times and the Rangers scored all three times. Kevin Shattenkirk, Pavel Buchnevich and Chris Kreider all scored in the third period to give the Rangers the comeback win. Mika Zibanejad assisted on all three goals as well.
This game stands out for multiple reasons despite being contested before the Rangers committed to a rebuild. First and foremost, the leading contributors in the comeback were all Rangers who figure to be big parts of the rebuild. The fight in the third period was admirable as well, but that wasn’t a constant during the season for New York.
The power play success is the other element that is promising for New York as well. The Rangers finished at 21.2%, which was 14th best in the league. That mark came without their best power play contributor in Shattenkirk for almost half the season. In an area that has constantly plagued the Rangers for the last 10 years or so, this game offered hope for a much better power play in the future.
Future between the pipes
This was one of the best performances for Alexander Georgiev. He made 43 saves and carried the out played Rangers to a dominant victory over Buffalo. Despite the final score of 5-1, based on the shots and chances it very well could have been the same score the other way.
This game cemented Georgiev as a solid back up option for the future. With the lack of success from Ondrej Pavelec, the Rangers looked like they would have to go hunting for a backup this offseason. However, Georgiev showed poise and skill in numerous appearances during the season and this might have been his finest performance.
The youngster impressed for most of the time he was between the pipes and games like the one against Buffalo show exactly why the Rangers, once again, don’t have to worry about who they have between the pipes behind Henrik Lundqvist.
Vesey Explodes
From Georgiev’s best game of the season to one of the Rangers’ best offensive games of the season. That includes the best offensive output for Jimmy Vesey as well. The Rangers’ youngster recorded his first career hat trick and New York ran away with the game against the Hurricanes.
Mats Zuccarello also had two goals. Once again, Rangers who figure in to the future were big contributors in the win. Also, once again, Georgiev played extremely well in between the pipes.
This game, late in the season showed who may be taking the next steps in their game for New York during year one of the rebuild. Vesey played his best hockey by far during the last month of the season. This game was the beginning of that.
Aside from Zuccarello, Vesey and Georgiev, Zibanejad and Buchnevich had tremendous games as well. Both finished with three assists. It was a perfect indication of how young the Rangers are, but how much talent the team still has to look forward too, despite the fire sale at the trade deadline.
Kreider and the Comeback
The Rangers overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 and won one of the their more memorable games of the season in overtime against the Penguins. Mika Zibanejad had the late tying goal and the game winner, but Kreider stole the show. He totaled a season high four points with a goal and two assists and was a force all night.
Kreider is increasingly key for the New York Rangers are they head forward. He has the experience level on a young team to now be considered one of the leaders. He has the skill and potential to be a dominant force every single time he is on the ice. The issue has always been consistency with the winger.
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A game like this one gives you hope that Kreider can dominate in the future and help the Rangers. He was dangerous every shift for New York in this game and his line with Zibanejad was the reason the team ending up beating one of the NHL’s best in Pittsburgh.
In a season of disappointment, this was the game that should have given Rangers fans the most hope heading in to next year.