Blue Line Station
Fansided

New York Rangers come up short in a 5-2 loss to the Capitals

By Steve Paulus

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 18: Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers makes a save against T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals in the first period at Capital One Arena on October 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 18: Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers makes a save against T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals in the first period at Capital One Arena on October 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 18: Artemi Panarin #10 of the New York Rangers celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal in the second period against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on October 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 18: Artemi Panarin #10 of the New York Rangers celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal in the second period against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on October 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Notes on the game

David Quinn had a pretty harsh assessment of the Rangers’ defense. “From my end it was just how bad we were defensively.  The glaring chances we gave up, the turnovers, the lack of  urgency in the D zone. That’s where it all started.”  He added “there was a lot of purposeless hockey today.”

Putting Kreider on the top line on the right wing was intended to jump start his game.  It had more of an effect on Pavel Buchnevich who moved to the second line playing on the left wing.  Kreider did get an assist on the Panarin goal in the second period.

Jacob  Trouba’s bodychecking is underestimated.  In the second period, he laid out Garnet Hathaway with an open ice hit that rocked the Capital, sending him to the lockerroom.  Trouba played 28:22, more minutes than any Ranger in the last two years.

The Jakub Vrana penalty shot was the 23rd of Henrik Lundqvist’s career.  He has stopped 14 and allowed nine goals. Two of those stops came in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2008 against the Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins and John Madden of the Devils.

Back from his trip to the Quinn Bin, Lemieux played a solid game.  He threw some heavy checks and got into a wrestling match with Radko Gudas.   It was the first fighting major of the season for the Blueshirts.  He drew a penalty in the second period.

Anthony DeAngelo found himself riding the bench, playing only 8:09, even less than Micheal Haley.   After the game Quinn called it a “coach’s decision.”

Here’s the marginal crosschecking call on Brendan Smith.  You look at it and what do you think?

Speaking of Haley, he hasn’t embarrassed himself on the ice. He takes the body and made some decent plays on the fourth line.  The question is whether the team could do better.

The Rangers won the majority of the faceoffs, with Howden leading the way at 7-4.

The Capitals are a “heavy” team, but the Blueshirts matched them hit for hit.  The Caps ended up with 22 hits to the Rangers’ 19.

After no fights in the first four games, the Ranters got into two fights against the Capitals.  Probably the biggest surprise is that it was not Micheal Haley

Home/Analysis