New York Rangers vs St. Louis Blues: A tough road test
The New York Rangers are riding a two game winning streak as they head to St.Louis for a big test against the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The St. Louis Blues are one of three teams that have established themselves at the top of their respective divisions. The Bruins in the Atlantic, the Capitals in the Metropolitan and the Blues in the Central are the class of their divisions and this will be a tough road game for the New York Rangers. Their record so far this season against those top teams is 1-2-1. This is their first match this season against the Blues.
The Blues have kept up where they left off last season. On January 1, 2019 they were dead last in the Central Division with a 15-18-4 record and 34 points. Since that time, they have played 90 regular season games and lost only 20 in regulation. Their record has been an astounding 58-20-12. Even more impressive, their goal differential. On January 1, they had a minus-21 differential. Since that date they have scored 288 goals and allowed only 222, a +66 goal differential.
There have been a number of games for the Blueshirts this season that can be described as benchmark games. This is certainly one of them. The Rangers played two outstanding defensive games against Vancouver and Colorado then followed that up with an impressive 6-3 win over the Devils where they reverted to their undisciplined style, allowing 49 shots. Against a weak defensive team like New Jersey, that will work, but if they attempt to do that against the Blues, it will be a disaster.
About the Rangers
The three ringed circus known as the Rangers’ goalie situation will feature Henrik Lundqvist in goal, his first game in nine days. Alexandar Georgiev will get to wear the uniform as he backs up Lundqvist and Igor Shesterkin will watch from the press box.
When asked, coach David Quinn addressed the decision to start Lundqvist. “Obviously there’s a lot that goes into these decisions when you have three goalies…you know he’s played really well against St. Louis and we want to get him back into the net.”
Lundqvist’s career record against St. Louis is only 5-6, but his career goals against average of 2.14 and save percentage of .929 against the Blues are the fourth best against any team in his career.
The lineup will not be determined until gametime. Ryan Lindgren is day-to-day but is making the trip. Libor Hajek is ready to play and could see action if Lindgren is out. Marc Staal missed practice on Friday but is also making the trip. As always, Brendan Smith is an option on defense and Micheal Haley is still around. They are all with the team and we won’t know until warm-ups.
Quinn was concerned about the Rangers’ defense in the Devils game. When asked about the 49 shots against he said ““I can’t stand the number…but it didn’t feel that way. We definitely had a different mindset going into the game than the previous two. We gave up seven odd-man rushes. We gave up three combined in the previous two. That’s usually an indication of what you’re trying to do offensively…a little more high risk with the puck you turn the puck over. It’s part of the equation.”
You can be sure that the coaching staff will be beating that message into the heads of the players and the question is whether they will take heed. The goal-fest against the Devils can be infectious and it’s well worth remembering that the teams were tied halfway through the game.
One question everyone is asking is what Anthony DeAngelo can do for an encore. He’s had seven points in his last two games. He is skating with a lot of confidence and he’s been opening a lot of eyes around the league.
Artemi Panarin is not far behind with six points in his last two games. He’s had a lot of success against the Blues with four goals and 11 assists in 14 career games.
Quinn addressed his benching of Ryan Strome on Thursday. Strome sat for almost nine minutes after Kevin Rooney‘s shorthanded goal. Strome was weak on checking Pavel Zacha who got the puck to Rooney for the goal. “…that’s unacceptable. He knows that. He’s had a helluva year. I think responsibility comes with being in the situation he’s in now, more is expected of you when you’re playing that role or as productive as he is…he knows that.”
Strome did get assists on the last two Ranger goals and played a regular shift after he returned, but it’s clear that Quinn is keeping him on a short leash.
About the Blues
The Blues boast the best home record of any team in the Western Conference at 15-4-3. They have won seven games in a row at the Enterprise Center, the longest active streak in the NHL and tied for the longest home streak this season.
They’ve won seven of their last ten games though things have been a little rocky lately. Since having an eight game winning streak stopped by Arizona on New Year’s Eve , they have have gone 2-2-1 and allowed 18 goals.
They are coming off a dominant 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Alexander Steen, Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak each had three points in that win. Meanwhile, David Perron has goals in three straight games and Ryan O’Reilly has six assists in his last four games.
The Blues are without Vladimir Tarasenko who is out for months after shoulder surgery. Top defenseman Colton Parayko missed Thursday’s contest with an upper body injury and is deemed unlikely to play tonight.
The Blues are averaging 3.18 goals per game (the Rangers average 3.35), but they are doing it with defense, allowing an average of 2.64 goals per game, fifth best in the league. That’s a half a goal per game fewer than the Blueshirts at 3.30.
They have a lethal power play, operating at 25% efficiency and they have the 12th best penalty kill in the NHL at 80.9%. The Blues average the fourth fewest penalty minutes per game in the league while the Rangers take the most.
David Perron is the Blues’ “Last Man In” candidate for the All-Star team and he is their leading scorer with 19 goals and 45 points in 45 games. Those 19 goals lead the team followed by Brayden Schenn with 17. They do miss Tarasenko’s offense and have been mentioned as a possible suitor for Chris Kreider at the trade deadline. One issue for St. Louis is the salary cap as they have only $20k in cap space available.
Alex Pietrangelo is their leading defenseman and team captain. His status as an unrestricted free agent his hanging over the team as they head into the second half of the season. The Blues traded for Justin Faulk at the start of the season, a move seen as protection in case Pietrangelo departs.
Stuff you should know
- This will be Henrik Lundqvist’s 882nd career NHL game. That will tie him with John Vanbiesbrouck for ninth place overall. He is right behind Tony Esposito with 886 games in eighth place.
- Pavel Buchnevich is completely snakebit. Despite playing on the second line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad he has only three goals and three assists in his last 22 games. That’s a 6.5% shooting percentage. His overall shooting percentage of 8.9% is the worst among Ranger forwards.
- The Rangers are the only team in the NHL with both a forward and a defenseman in the top six in the league in points. Artemi Panarin is sixth with 61 points and with his big night, Tony DeAngelo is now fifth among defenseman with 36 points. The last time that happened in New York, the forward was named Wayne Gretzky and the defenseman was named Brian Leetch.
- No one is talking about it, but the top power play unit is not having a good year. Mika Zibanejad has scored two power play goals and had one power play assist in his last 12 games. Artemi Panarin has had only one power play goal in his last 24 games. He has notched six assists in that time, but seven power play points in 24 games isn’t good.
- Chris Kreider has quietly improved his numbers and is headed for his best NHL season. At his current pace he will finish with 27 goals and 55 points. His career best is 28 goals and 51 points. He’s enhancing his reputation as the best deadline rental candidate in the league and setting himself up for a big payday this summer.
- The Rangers swept the season series last year, winning one game when the Blues were bad (before January1) and one when they were good. The Rangers have a 6-2-2 record against St. Louis over the last five seasons.
Three keys to winning
- Score first – Unless you believe in the law of averages, the Rangers absolutely have to score the first goal tonight. Why? The Blues have scored first in 25 games this season and haven’t lost a game in regulation. They have dropped five in overtime, but they are the only team without a regulation loss. If the Blues score, look out.
- Get back to defense – That Devils game was great to watch and had a thrill a minute, but if they get into a run-and-gun offense with the Blues, the Rangers will lose. As David Quinn said, the Blueshirts gave up over twice as many odd-man rushes against New Jersey than they did in their previous two games.
- Get some depth scoring – In the last two Ranger wins, they have scored 11 goals and all of them came from the top two lines. The lack of scoring from their bottom two lines has been masked by the play of Panarin and Zibanejad and the scoring from the defense, but the team needs to do something to jump start the offense from players like Kakko, Chytil and Howden. As we saw in Vancouver and Calgary, when those two top players are shut down, the Rangers lose and well coached defenses like St. Louis will try to do exactly that.
About the game
The game is scheduled for 8pm EST. It will be televised on the MSG Network and the radiocast will be on ESPN 98.7 FM. The Blue Line Station live thread will be up about an hour before gametime and feel free to join the conversation and share your feelings with other Ranger fans.
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