New York Rangers fall just short against Florida in shootout thriller

Notes On The Game

Here was the New York Rangers lineup to start the game:

Panarin-Strome-Fast
Kreider-Chytil-Buchnevich
Lemieux-Howden-Kakko
McKegg-Andersson-Smith

Hajek-Trouba
Skjei-DeAngelo
Lindgren-Fox

Lundqvist

Here are some notes on the game…

• The New York Rangers are still yet to win three games in a row after dropping a tough one, and their record after today stands at 7-6-2.
• On what was Kids Day at Madison Square Garden, the young Blueshirts in attendance were certainly kept entertained, particularly in the second period where they were treated to six goals, yes six, in a crazy 20-minutes of play.
• And that period sums up the class of 2019-20. Yes, they are going to give up a plethora of chances, yes they will take their foot off the gas but, boy, these New York Rangers are fun to watch and that was proven today.
• It was the first time this season that the Blueshirts had scored four goals in a single period, with the last time coming back on Nov. 6, 2017 vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets.
• It was also the first time in the last four games that they had allowed more than two goals. The Rangers were 6-0-0 when allowing two or fewer goals in a game this season.
• Mika Zibanejad missed his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury and, given that this is a development year, it is wise not to rush the franchise center back.
• Over 30 percent of the Rangers’ goals this year have been scored by defensemen, with two of their first three today coming from blueliners.
• Brendan Lemieux took a puck to the leg early in the first period after blocking a shot with Florida on the power play. It looked a nasty one and he headed to the locker room soon after but, thankfully, he returned to the game later in the period.
• The Rangers recorded the first goal of the game for the fifth consecutive contest, and they are now 6-4-1 when tallying the first goal of the game in 2019-20.
• Ryan Lindgren recorded his first career goal in the National Hockey League, and the defenseman has been a positive factor since being recalled from the AHL.
• Artemi Panarin made a host of superb defensive plays, particularly in the first period where he twice broke up a Panthers attack in quick succession. The Breadman really is the complete package.
• And Panarin now has an eight-game point scoring streak (four goals, eight assists) with another two-point performance today. He’s one game shy from tying his career-high.
• Panarin leads the Rangers in points with 18 (eight goals, 10 assists) through 15 games.
• Brady Skjei led all Rangers skaters in ice time in the first period with 8:21, in what was his first game back after being a healthy scratch on Thursday. He responded well to being scratched last year and he showed the same attitude in today’s game.
• And he topped off a strong bounce back with a goal after going hard to the net. He logged 23:47 minutes of total ice time and his performance would have pleased Head Coach David Quinn.
• Filip Chytil tallied his fourth goal in six games since being recalled from the AHL, and this one was perhaps the pick of the bunch, pulling off a filthy move to drag the puck through the legs of Anton Stralman before ripping it home.
• Ryan Strome also extended his points streak to three games (one goal, four assists) with a two-point night, claiming an assist on Ryan Lindgren’s first NHL goal and on Kaapo Kakko’s tuck.
• And it was another impressive outing from Kaapo Kakko, who tallied on the power play before converting the only shootout goal for the Rangers.
• He finished the night  with16:14 minutes of total ice time and now has six points (four goals, two assists) on the year.
• Chris Kreider finished with a two-point night with a goal and an assist, and he led all Rangers with a plus/minus rating of +2.
• Pavel Buchnevich leads the Rangers in assists with 11, tied with Ryan Strome, after getting a primary helper on Filip Chytil’s goal.
• Adam Fox continues to improve on a game-to-game basis, assisting on Chris Kreider’s tip-in during the second period.
• Tony DeAngelo now has a four-game point streak after tallying an assist on Kaapo Kakko’s goal in the second period. He now has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) on the year.
• Ryan Lindgren was hurt in the third period after being on the wrong end of a bone-crunching hit from former Ranger Brian Boyle, who certainly puts his huge frame to good use. Lindgren went to the locker room but not until after he stayed in the game and made a big play. Hell of a tough kid.
• He said after the game that he felt fine after that hit, which is good to know because it was a hefty collision.
• Chris Kreider cut a very, very frustrated figure in his postgame media scrum, and he stated that the Rangers can’t go run and gun with teams like that.
• Kreider also said that the wingers need to be better and, interestingly, he said that the Rangers’ progress is sputtering. He was clearly unhappy and he didn’t look up at the camera once.
• You have to agree with Chris Kreider, though. The Rangers have to be better defensively or they will lose more games than they win this year. They aren’t equipped to go run and gun with the top teams in the NHL.
• The Rangers were completely outdone in the faceoff circle, winning just 24 percent of their draws with Florida winning 76 percent.
• New York went 2-for-4 on the power play and both units look dangerous, while they did a good job on the penalty kill, limiting the Panthers to just one power play goal from three attempts.
• The Rangers were outhit 28-25 but blocked 15 shots compared to Florida’s nine, while they also had less giveaways than the Panthers (15-22).
• Jacob Trouba led all Rangers skaters in total ice time with 24:01, although he was held pointless and had a plus/minus rating of -1.
• Micheal Haley was a healthy scratch for the Rangers and I would have Lias Andersson or Greg McKegg over him in the lineup any day of the week.