It was the first game for the newly reconstituted New York Rangers and it was against the best team in the NHL. They took Tampa to overtime, but lost their second straight in the extra period.
When David Quinn took over as coach of the New York Rangers, one of his goals was to make sure that his team was “tough to play against.” He wanted anyone going into a match with New York to be apprehensive and prepared for a hard game. Well, it appears to be working.
After blowing out the lottery bound New Jersey Devils on Saturday, the Rangers took the defending Stanley Cup champions to overtime before losing on the road. This night, against a team head and shoulders above any other in the league, they did the exact same thing.
Being tough to play against means battling along the boards, trying to win every puck, to be physical and protect your crease and to not give up. That is slowly becoming the identity of this New York Rangers team.
Perhaps that was one reason that 19-year old Filip Chytil was benched. Quinn said he was disturbed by what he saw as a lack of effort by the young Czech, especially during coverage in third period of the Washington game. For the second time in two weeks, Chytil sat out and Quinn hinted it might be for a while.
The newest Ranger, Brendan Lemieux displayed assets that could make him a favorite at the Garden very soon. He had a game leading seven hits and blocked two shots in 15:24 of ice time. He fenced with Yanni Gourde before a center ice faceoff and precipitated a brawl when he dropped Dan Girardi with a borderline slewfoot. It was an impressive debut for Lemieux, though it is worth noting that that he was a minus one on the night.
Jeff Gorton seems to have a formula he is following and in Lemieux and Connor Brickley he is acquiring players with a degree of difficulty to play against. Throw in a little Tony DeAngelo attitude and this team is becoming fun to watch.
DeAngelo extended his scoring streak to eight games (all assists) and Jimmy Vesey has three straight two-point games since replacing Mats Zuccarello on the top line.
Things are going well for the Rangers, though they are falling just short. That’s good news in the battle for ping pong ball positioning. The quality of their play is good news for the future.