A bad 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils

Notes on the game

The same issues exposed in the loss to the Oilers were present in this game.  The simple fact is that the Rangers will live and die by the power play and the performance of the first line. They had the opportunities, but couldn’t convert and the Rangers lost. It will happen a lot this year if the team doesn’t develop some offensive depth.

The DeAngelo goal was scored with two thirds of the top line on the ice.  Lias Andersson was still on after killing the penalty along with Panarin and Buchnevich.  The third line scored the Rangers’ other goal, but the simple fact is the second line is not delivering.

Brett Howden replace Ryan Strome on the second line, but it was for naught.  Chris Kreider had a better game and was more visible, but had no production. Kaapo Kakko had his moments, but the line is just not working.

One has to wonder how long it will take before Quinn really shakes up his forward lines.  While Zibanejad and Panarin make magic together, splitting them up may actually make more sense.  Reuniting Kreider with Zibanejad and Buchnevich may work and Panarin has proven he can play with anyone.  Teaming Panarin with Kakko and either Howden or Strome may  be an answer to get two lines scoring.

The power play was strong in its passing and puck control in the offensive zone, but if they cannot get Chris Kreider in front of the net and Panarin firing from the left wing, it is just not going to be as effective.

The Rangers played 10:36 minutes with the man advantage. Buchnevich, Kreider, Zibanejad and Panarin were all on for over eight minutes each.  Kaapo Kakko had less than four minutes of power play time.  Just saying.

Jacob Trouba is a workhorse, playing 27:14, the most of any Ranger.  The last time a Ranger played that many minutes in a regulation game was Neal Pionk who logged 28:12 in an October 2018 game against Chicago.

The Rangers won 56% of the draws and had more blocked shots (9-6).  The Devils outshot the Rangers 38-31 and out hit the Blueshirts 17-11.  The Rangers had 17 scoring chances to 10 for the Devils at 5v5. High danger scoring changes were even (4-4) at even strength.  The Rangers could have won this game.

The Rangers opened with a defense tandem of Jacob Trouba and Marc Staal, but reverted to the normal defense pairings right after the opening sequence.

Mark Staal had a pretty bad game. He was on the ice for only one goal against, but he seemed to be struggling throughout the game. His Corsi For percentage was a team worse 20%.  Brendan Smith, Lias Andersson and Jesper Fast also had pretty lousy possession stats.

Alexandar Georgiev had a good, but not a great game.  He seemed to be battling the puck at times, deflecting it when he could have frozen it.  The Blake Coleman goal was stoppable and he was hampered by Miles Wood on his second period goal.  Georgiev needs to take a lesson from Billy Smith and learn that a solid whack to the shins with his goalie stick will keep players out of his crease. He did stop 33 of 37 shots and many of them were tough.The bottom line is he was outplayed by Mackenzie Blackwood.

Brendan Lemieux was scratched with the flu so Michael Haley got his first start.  He immediately mixed it up in the first period, getting a roughing penalty in a scrum with Miles Wood who was also penalized.  He saw 5:39 of ice time and finished the game -1.   He actually took one faceoff and won it so he leads the league in faceoff winning percentage.