The New York Rangers fielded a lineup of wannabes and they played the NHL version of the Islanders. Some of David Quinn’s roster questions might have been answered in an entertaining game that ended in a 4-2 loss.
If anyone thinks the final preseason game is to supposed to be a tuneup for the opening night lineup, tell David Quinn. The New York Rangers used the game to challenge a bevy of young players to prove that they deserve to play in the NHL to start the season. They played their hearts out, but came out on the short end of the score.
You could argue that every single player who was in the Rangers’ lineup was playing for a job. Here were the lines:
Vitali Kravtsov – Brett Howden – Filip Chytil
Brendan Lemieux –Boo Nieves – Vinni Lettieri
Vlad Namestnikov – Lias Andersson – Jesper Fast
Brendan Smith – Greg McKegg – Micheal Haley
That included the defense pairings:
Tony DeAngelo – Libor Hajek
Adam Fox – Ryan Lindgren
Tarmo Reunanen – Joe Morrow
It was a feisty game featuring a lot of chippy play. Alexandar Georgiev played the entire game and was outstanding. Although the Rangers outplayed the Islanders for most of the game, it was special teams that cost the Blueshirts. The Islanders were 2-6 on the power play while the Rangers were 0-7.
Considering that there wasn’t a single Ranger in the lineup who would be on the regular season first power play unit (except maybe Tony DeAngelo), the Blueshirts shouldn’t worry about their futility with the man advantage
The fact is that the Rangers were tied with just over two minutes left in the game when Matthew Barzal scored after a spectacular passing sequence in the Rangers’ zone. They added an empty net goal that was irrelevant considering that there were bodies scattered all over the ice.
To add to the weirdness of the game, it was played in Bridgeport, Connecticut, home of the Islanders AHL affiliate, but there seemed to be more Ranger fans in the arena than home team fans.
David Quinn was looking for his young players to play hard and fight for a role and to answer some important roster questions. For the most part, he got the answers.