New York Rangers win a sloppy 2-1 game over the Flyers by shootout
The New York Rangers took on the Flyers in the penultimate preseason game that featured completely new forward and defense combinations as David Quinn looks for some chemistry on the team. They won, but it wasn’t pretty.
If anyone thought the New York Rangers would use the last two preseason games to tune up the lineup that will face the Winnipeg Jets in the season opener in a week, think again. Coach David Quinn completely shook up his lines in an effort to jump start his team. It really didn’t work that well.
The game itself was a sloppy, raggedy mess. Passes weren’t crisp, shots missed the net and defensive zone coverage was missing. Henrik Lundqvist had to stand on his head (again) to keep the Rangers in the game.He finished with 32 saves.
The Rangers finally showed some defensive responsibility in the third period, played the Flyers fairly even in the overtime and then won in the shootout when Mika Zibanejad scored and Lundqvist stopped all three Flyers.
The lone Ranger goal was scored by Lias Andersson in the last seconds of the first period. All the work was done by Andersson whose hard forecheck sprung the puck loose to Vladislav Namestnikov who got the puck to Anthony DeAngelo who took the shot.
Clean 👏it 👏up 👏 pic.twitter.com/JFsFcCAfmH
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 27, 2019
Travis Konecny scored six and a half minutes into the second period on good work by Kevin Hayes and that was it for the scoring until the shootout.
The overtime was evenly matched until Ryan Strome took a tripping penalty and the Blueshirts had to kill a four on three for the full two minutes.
In the shootout, Tony DeAngelo and Kaapo Kakko were unsuccessful, but Zibanejad put the game away on a nice backhand over Carter Hart.
Mika, how do you feel about preseason shootouts?
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 27, 2019
"I don't mind them if I score." 😏 pic.twitter.com/kB4lbq6vWi
Here were the forward lines that started the game for the Blueshirts:
Kravtsov – ZIbanejad – Chytil
Lemieux – Andersson – Namestnikov
Kreider – Strome – Kakko
McKegg – Nieves – Lettieri
Here were the defense pairs:
Hajek -Trouba
Skjei – Smith
Staal – DeAngelo
The Rangers came into the game with a lot of questions. Not many were answered.
What we learned from the game
The best player on the Rangers was Tony DeAngelo, playing his first game of the preseason. He led the team in ice time with 22:53 and shots on goal with five. He assisted on the only Ranger goal. Not having seen DeAngelo play in months, one forgets exactly how good he is. Not only was he a force on offense, he made some very good plays in his own end, paired with Marc Staal.
The ZIbanejad line with Filip Chytil and Vitali Kravtsov was just okay. It was only their first game together, but there didn’t appear to be much chemistry at all and Kakko replaced Chytil on the right wing in the third period.
Filip Chytil is not doing a lot to earn a top six role on this team. The 20 year old tries hard, but the results are just not there. He also took a dumb slashing penalty. You can tell that Chytil is feeling the pressure.
The Rangers need to do something to find a center for Kakko. It could be Zibanejad, but they need to play together. It could mean that a Zibanejad-Panarin marriage is not long for this world and that may be a good thing.
The bottom line is the lines as they are constituted right now, are not gelling. One game left.
Another strong game from Lias Andersson and he chipped in with a goal. He is killing penalties, playing a hard game and was very noticeable while centering the fourth line.
The best forward was arguably Boo Nieves. He is doing everything in his power to win a job. That’s two solid efforts in a row from Nieves.
Besides DeAngelo, Brendan Smith had another strong game. With his flexibility he is making a very strong case for sticking around.
Brady Skjei looks like he is setting himself up for a good year. He joined the rush several times and looked good in his pairing with Smith. Meanwhile, Jacob Trouba and Libor Hajek didn’t embarrass themselves.
Vinni Lettieri certainly got picked on. He accidentally barrelled into Flyers goalie Carter Hart and from that point on was on the Flyer hit list. He fought Scott Lawton and got hammered a few times in the corners.<
And Laughts makes sure they don't forget it. #FlyOrDie pic.twitter.com/rigAnIlCct
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 26, 2019
The Flyers top draft pick (#2 overall) from 2017, Nolan Patrick, has been placed on injured reserve due to migraine headaches. He won’t go to Europe with the team and is listed as week to week.
Brendan Lemieux mixed it up with Sean Couturier in the first period and generally tried to hit anything that moved.
The game didn’t have a lot of flow. There were 11 icings in the first two periods. The Flyers dominated on faceoffs, winning 52%.
You can chalk this one up to the preseason. What is concerning is the Rangers are going through the kind of experimentation you would expect to see in the first preseason game, but not the second to last one.
The next and final preseason game is Saturday night in Bridgeport, Connecticut versus the New York Islanders. Puck drop is 7pm and the game will be televised on the MSG Network. Look for more experimentation, just like tonight.
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