WJC update and Hartford back in action
As busy as the New York Rangers were this weekend, so were the prospects in the WJC Tournament in the Czech Republic and the Hartford Wolfpack.
New York Rangers prospects K’Andre Miller and Zac Jones were in action Sunday at the WJC tournament in a key match with Russia. Neither player figured in the scoring, but the United State squad notched a key 3-1 win to take over first place in Group B. It was the fifth straight victory for Team USA over the Russians.
It looked like Zac Jones would be the first to score, but he hit a post early in the second period. It was scoreless until 16 minutes into the second period when Team USA scored twice within six seconds, enough to win the game.
#WorldJuniors: UMass LHD Zac Jones (NYR 3rd/2019) nearly breaks thought but Amir Miftakhov with a last-second toe save. pic.twitter.com/GfTDoktfmH
— Steve Kournianos (@TheDraftAnalyst) December 29, 2019
Arthur Kaliyev scored twice for Team USA with Trevor Zegras adding two more assists. Zegras leads the tournament in scoring, with seven assists. Both players have local connections as Kaliyev (Los Angeles second round pick, #33 ) is from Staten Island and Zegras (Ananeim first round pick, #9) is from Bedford, New York.
As for K’Andre Miller, he played 25 shifts worth 19:24, the third most minutes on team USA. Jones finished minus one on the contest in 15:24 minutes of ice time.
Monday is a very busy day at the tournament with four games on the schedule. All three teams with Rangers prospects are in action. Team USA takes on the hometown Czech Republic, the Swedish team takes on Kazakhstan and Switzerland plays Slovakia. The Team USA match will be televised live at 1pm EST on the NHL Network.
Shesterkin, Kravtsov and Rykov going strong in Hartford
The Hartford Wolf Pack were back on the ice after a lengthy holiday break, splitting their two weekend games. Adam Huska was in goal for the first game, a 5-1 loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Vitali Kravtsov had four shots on goal, but didn’t get on the scoreboard.
Saturday night it was Igor Shesterkin in net and that meant a win for Hartford as they defeated the Providence Bruins 4-1. Shesterkin notched 30 saves and his goals against average dropped below 2.00 to a league leading 1.98. With the win the Wolf Pack leapfrogged into first place in the Atlantic Division over the Bruins who had won on Friday night.
The win meant that Hartford coach Kris Knoblauch will coach the Atlantic Division squad at the 2020 AHL All-Star Classic in late January.
The big news for Ranger fans was the play of Vitali Kravtsov who scored his second goal since returning to North America five games ago. He has also gotten an assist so his totals are two goals and three points in five games. Kravtsov has to be glad to be back in Hartford, playing meaningful minutes.
In the video below, the Kravtsov goal comes about a minute into the highlights.
Perhaps even more encouraging is the play of defenseman Yegor Rykov. He was named second star of the game on his two assists and now has five points in 11 games. Rykov’s season was delayed by an ankle injury he sustained in Traverse City and aggravated in training camp.
At 22, Rykov is older than most of his fellow prospects and going into Traverse CIty the thought was that he would contend for a roster position after three full seasons in the KHL. Depending on what happens at the trade deadline, we could see Rykov in the NHL before the end of this season.
Other goal scorers against Providence were Phil Di Giuseppe, Tim Gettinger and Matt Beleskey. Boo Nieves had two assists and was the number one star.
In other news the Pack signed forward Dillan Fox to a tryout. He’s a 28 year old forward who has shown a scoring touch in the ECHL. Ostensibly he will replace Steven Fogarty who was called up to the Rangers to replace the injured Brendan Lemieux.
The Wolf Pack will be busy with three games in five days starting New Year’s Eve. The Rangers have to be very gratified by the play of their three young Russians. We’ll see if they can keep it up.
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