DeAngelo benched for Rangers vs. Islanders part 2: Join the live conversation!

It’s game two of the 2021 season for the New York Rangers and after Thursday’s disaster, we should have a lot to talk about.  There was a lot of talk about lineup changes, we’ll see what David Quinn really does and more important, we’ll see if it works.

First off, Tony DeAngelo has been benched.  Quinn’s explanation: “Listen, there are lot of things that go one, we’re gonna keep in house. This is one of them. Tony and I have talked about it, there’s clarity here and it’s the right thing to do and he’ll be back in the lineup soon.”

Quinn later said that if it had been any player taking the misconduct, the response would have been the same, not just because it was DeAngelo. It still looks like the defenseman has a shorter leash.

It’s clear that the misconduct by DeAngelo was the last straw. “You can’t kill eight penalties and expect to win a hockey game. One’s too many men on the ice, one’s a misconduct.  Those two are just inexcusable…six penalties?  It’s a reflection of a lack of skating, not having the effort we need. You take penalties when you’re not moving your feet.”

To remind everyone, here is who took the nine penalties and the infractions:

1. Jack Johnson – Holding Anders Lee’s stick
2. Mika Zibanejad – Slashing Anthony Beauvillier
3. Too Many Men on the Ice – Believed to be Brendan Lemieux’s infraction
4. Ryan Lindgren – Charging Jordan Eberle
5. Alexis Lafrenière  – Hooking Keiffer Bellows
6. Brendan Lemieux – Unsportsmanlike conduct for embellishing
7. Tony DeAngelo – Holding Mathew Barzal
8. Tony DeAngelo – Unsportsmanlike conduct
9. Mika Zibanejad – Slashing Mathew Barzal

Quinn did not address the embellishment call against Lemieux.

Lineup changes

On defense Quinn had Lindgren working with Trouba, Adam Fox with Jack Johnson and Brendan Smith with K’Andre Miller.

As for the forwards, Kevin Rooney is definitely out and will be replaced by Phil Di Giuseppe.

Quinn said the decision to move Lafrenière up to the second line won’t be made until gametime. He did indicate that he believes it won’t be an issue for the rookie and all indications are that it will happen.

Quinn reinforced that he is looking for a  better effort.  “We can’t let one game turn into two bad ones, and that’s going to be the challenge tonight. for us, we need make sure we move past the other night, learn from it but forget it all in the same breath. We can’t let it linger.”

It’s interesting.  In Barry Trotz’s post practice interview, he was asked about the Islanders’ fast starts.  He attributed it to the “professionalism of the older group., they’re a proud group.” He continued “We understand the importance of being professional, the importance of getting yourself ready and the importance of being accountable to your teammates.”

The prompts the question, where is the pride of the older Ranger players?  One thing is certain, there are fewer “older” players on the team and that means it’s even more important for players like Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome and Mika Zibanejad to be leaders.

Quinn was pushed on the lineup changes, asked it if was a result of the game or a shuffling of personnel.  Quinn’s answer left more questions unasnwered, “When you lose a forward and a D, there are going to be lineup changes.  The dynamic of each line changes and the D pairings change. The changes we have are really a more of the fact that Rooney and Tony are not in the lineup.”

Does that make sense?  Rooney was a fourth line right winger.  Moving DeAngelo out doesn’t mean that Lindgren should play with Trouba.   Quinn kept saying that he is trying out different combinations and the good thing is he can always go back.  The question remains, how long should a new combination be allowed to play together before giving up?   Right now, the timeframe is one game or less.

Will it work?  We won’t know until gametime.

Projected Lineups

New York Rangers
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 13 Lafrenière
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
33  Di Giuseppe –  72 Chytil – 24 Kakko
16 Lemieux – 14 Howden –  12 Gauthier

55 Lindgren  – 8 Trouba
27 Johnson-  23 Fox
79 Miller – 42 Smith

40 Georgiev
31 Shesterkin

New York Islanders
27 Anders Lee – 13 Mathew Barzal – 7 Jordan Eberle
18 Anthony Beauvillier – 29 Brock Nelson – 12  Josh Bailey
32 Ross Johnston – 44 J.G. Pageau – 20 Kiefer Bellows
17 Matt Martin – 53 Casey Cizikas – 15 Cal Clutterbuck

3 Adam Pelech – 6 Ryan Pulock
2 Nick Leddy – 24 Scott Mayfield
4 Andy Greene – 8 Noah Dobson

40 Semyon Varlamov
30 llya Sorokin

The East Division

Here are the scores from Friday night and one game from today and standings for the East Division

Today
New Jersey 2, Boston 1 (overtime)
Friday
Flyers 5, Penguins 2
Washington 2, Buffalo 1

Standings

1- Philadelphia   2-0-0   4 pts
—Washington    2-0-0   4 pts
3 – Boston             1-0-1  3 pts.
—New Jersey     1-0-1   3 pt
5- Islanders          1-0-0   2 pts
6- Rangers            0-1-0   0 pts
7- Pittsburgh        0-2-0   0 pts.
—Buffalo              0-2-0   0 pts.

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