The Rangers play a “real” game as the lineup starts shaping up

The New  York Rangers played a scrimmage, the first real competition of training camp

As the New York Rangers played their first scrimmage of the preseason, the lineup the Rangers will use when they take the ice for real on the 14th is starting to take shape.   For practices the squad has been split into two groups and one group looks to be close to the team that will be together when the season starts.

Based on the practice squads there are some lineup configurations that will be very familiar on January 14.

The forward lines

Though Mika Zibanejad has yet to make an appearance at training camp, it looks like he will play with Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich.  The trio was the number one line last season and the hope is that they will pick up where they left off.

Kaapo Kakko has been on the right side of Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome since the first minute of training camp and they played together in the scrimmage.

Alexis Lafrenière is on a third line, centered by Filip Chytil, with Julien  Gauthier on the right side.

The only question when it comes to forward lines is the fourth line.   They’ve used different formations including Kevin Rooney between Colin Blackwell and Morgan Barron. Meanwhile, Brendan Lemieux has played with a number of different players.

The defense

On defense, it is looking more and more apparent that Tony DeAngelo and Jacob Trouba will be playing together.  Coach David Quinn thinks the pair have a chemistry.  “I think they complement each other well, they keep getting better, reading off each other better, getting more familiar with each other, we’ll find out  a lot more over the next few days.”

David Quinn is keeping the Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren pairing together noting their success last season and saying “I just think it gives us a chance to put our top four defensemen together.”

It is the third pair that is the question mark.   K’Andre Miller has played  a lot with Brendan Smith while Jack Johnson has seen a lot of ice time with Tony Bitetto.  Quinn noted that they have nine defensemen who could make into the top six so with the top four set, that means a battle between Miller, Johnson, Smith, Bitetto and Libor Hajek for the last two spots.

The first scrimmage

The Rangers played their first scrimmage of the preseason, with set lineups, 20 minute periods and intermissions.   Here are the lineups for the Thursday night “game.”

The tentative starters were split between the two squads with the lines remaining intact. The final score was a 6-1 win for Team B.   The first goal of the preseason was scored by Ryan Strome for Team A, but that was the only goal that got by Shesterkin.

Strome scored on a feed from, who else but Artemi Panarin.

Here’s Georgiev stopping a backhand from Alexis Lafrenière on a feed from Julien Gauthier.

Here’s the fifth Team B goal, scored by Phil Di Giuseppe on a pass from Brendan Lemieux.

The sixth goal was a one-timer from Filip Chytil on a pass from Lafrenière, making that the first point for the vaunted rookie as a New York Ranger.

Here are all of the goals (courtesy of Vince Mercogliano of Lohud.com).

It was a good win for Igor Shesterkin on the anniversary of his NHL debut one year ago.

Tomorrow we will get a full breakdown from David Quinn as he assesses the play of his team.  It’s only a scrimmage but let’s check off what he might have been looking for.

√  Strome scored on a Panarin feed.
√  Lanfreniere showed his skill as a passer.
√  The Chytil-Lanfreniere-Gauthier line showed some offensive chemistry.
√  Shesterkin played solidly in goal.
√  Kreider got off to a hot start, scoring two goals.
√  Pavel Buchnevich scored a goal and added an assist.
√  Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller and Brendan Smith were the top four d-men and allowed only one goal.

That’s a lot of check marks for one scrimmage.