The New York Rangers will have an opportunity to show what they are made of as they take on the Islanders again
It’s really kind of ridiculous to call this a key game under the circumstances, but you have to believe that everyone, fans and the organization, will be looking for signs that the New York Rangers are a better team than they showed on Thursday.
If they come out passively and let the Islanders walk all over them, the alarms will go off in earnest. But the one thing the Rangers cannot do is respond emotionally and take ill advised penalties. We know what happens at that point.
There are many questions facing the Rangers, too many in fact. It’s only the second game of a 56 game season and they are playing a team that was one of the best in the NHL last season. They also let the Islanders take the lead and there is no team in the league better at protecting an advantage than Barry Trotz’s squad. Face it, when the Islanders were up 2-0 just four minutes into the game, it was over.
About the Rangers
It’s all questions when it comes to the Blueshrits. How will they respond? Who will play goal? Will the lines remain the same? Will the defense pairings stay the same? Will anyone sit?
We got some answers after practice on Friday. While the Zibanejad line will remain intact, it appears that’s the only one. Alexis Lafrenière will move up to the off wing to play with Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin.
Kaapo Kakko will move to the third line to play with Filip Chytil and Phil Di Giuseppe. Julien Gauthier will play right wing on the rights side of Brett Howden and Brendan Lemieux.
That was after practice, but it could change if Kevin Rooney is deemed fit to play. After taking the worst of a collision with Ross Johnston, he is listed as day-to-day.
Meanwhile, the defense is a complete question mark. Tony DeAngelo was relegated to practice with the taxi squad and was replaced on the top six (in practice) by Tony Betitto. Quinn explained that it was a result of a lack of discipline. “Tony just took an undisciplined penalty and he and I have had a conversation. We’ve just got to make sure that that doesn’t happen. We took too many penalties last night, took too many penalties last year, and we’ve got to nip it in the bud right now.”
The Rangers are not moving DeAngelo to the taxi squad as he would have clear waivers, but they do have room on the roster if they want to activate Bitetto. In practice the pairings were Jacob Trouba/Ryan Lindgren, Adam Fox/Jack Johnson and Brendan Smith with K’Andre Miller.
One thing is certain, Alexandar Georgiev will get the start. He has already had a lot of success against the Islanders with a 5-2 record in seven games with a 2.09 Goals Against Average and a .934 Save Percentage. The only wild card is that this will be Georgiev’s first hockey game in 311 days. That’s a long time.
When asked if he was reacting or overreacting, Quinn said “It’s a balancing act. We certainly are very alarmed at what happened last night. It was a complete shock to us as a staff. Talking to the players, they were surprised at what developed last night. We do get to play them tomorrow. Let’s see how we respond. But certainly, really disappointed. There really wasn’t anything good that happened last night in any capacity, in any fashion in the game.”
Here was Ryan Strome’s response to the bad night. “Last year if you look at our season, not until January we probably played our best hockey of the year. We had good nights, we had bad nights, up and down, sort of treading water…. looking at our team this year, it’s kind of the same , maybe a little younger… though in a short season we have to do that quicker.”
About the Islanders
There was no word about who will be in goal for the Islanders, but after the game Semyon Varlamov had, it’s very unlikely he will not play. With Varlamov in net, there should be no lineup changes for the Islanders.
That fourth Islander goal that was originally credited to Jordan Eberle was changed to Anders Lee and rightfully so. Lee led the Islanders with two goals and he and Nick Leddy each had two points.
There’s not much more to say about the Islanders. They played a solid, dominant game and deserved to win.
Reaction or overreaction?
As soon as word got out that David Quinn was shuffling the lineup, reaction was immediate. While the feeling was universal that Alexis Lafrenière was one of the better Rangers forwards, moving him up to the second line was seen by some as overreaction.
The biggest concern was the impact it would have on Kaapo Kakko, the Rangers’ prized and fragile rookie who has been a crisis of confidence ever since he got to the NHL. Some also weighed in on the impact it would have on Julien Gauthier, moved down to the fourth line due to his position as a right winger. While replacing Kevin Rooney with Phil Di Giuseppe makes sense, putting him on the third line could be seen as a head scratcher.
Another change was the power play. Adam Fox replaced DeAngelo on the first power play unit with Panarin, Strome, Zibanejad and Kreider. The second unit in practice was Trouba, Lafrenière. Lemieux, Howden and Buchnevich with Kakko dropped from the unit entirely. Talk about head scratchers.
It’s even more perplexing when you see Brendan Lemieux on the power play. Lemieux was the reason for the too many men on the ice penalty and then he was called for embellishment in his scrum with J.G. Pageau at the end of the second period. While he sat for a few shifts after the bench penalty, those two penalties are the very definition of a lack of discipline, for which DeAngelo found himself on the taxi squad.
Quinn and Kakko
So, what is going on with David Quinn and Kaapo Kakko. So much was made of putting Kakko on the Strome-Panarin line. That experiment lasted about one period though they were reunited in late in the third period. Of his 16 shifts, seven were with Panarin and Strome, The fact is that the Rangers played one third of the game either killing penalties or on the power play and that didn’t help them to establish any kind of chemistry.
If you listen to what he says, it certainly appears that Quinn has issues with Kaapo Kakko. “This is his second year, everybody here thinks he’s a really good player, we just need guys to show up night in, night out, compete night in, night out, He’s no different. He was on a crowded bus of guys who didn’t have good nights last night, so he’s got to be better but everybody has to be better after last night’s performance.”
The implication is that he didn’t show up and didn’t compete. The same could be said for a number of Rangers, some of who are making millions of dollars more than Kakko. Despite the fact that moving Kakko off the second line was the big move, Quinn insisted it wasn’t meant just for him “It’s not just a message to Kaapo, it’s a message to everybody. It’s early in the season, we’re trying different things, we’re moving people around, especially after a game like last night. You don’t want to overreact. That said, if someone plays better than you, then they should get a better opportunity.”
Statistically, that line was awful. They allowed ten scoring chances while getting only one. They had one high danger scoring chance while the Islanders had seven. The three had the worst Corsi For Percentages on the team.
Strome was asked about Kakko and the possible move off his line. “He’s such a talented kid…he’s young, he’s worked extremely hard…it’s just a matter of getting comfortable. The NHL is such a hard league and I think that’s one thing that people tend to forget sometimes. For a lot of guys it’s not easy and it doesn’t happen overnight.”
Strome also pointed out that he has had his share of challenges in his career so he could identify with Kakko. Was Quinn one of those people who “tend to forget?” One thing is certain, for a 19 year old to bounce from line to line, that is no way to “get comfortable.”
What went wrong
It’s starting to sound like broken record. David Quinn keeps coming back to the same themes he has repeated for over two years. One is shooting the puck. “We get a puck, we hold it. We don’t have a shooting mentality. Too often we get a puck in an area we can shoot it and we don’t. It’s been a problem for us since I’ve been here… when you don’t shoot pucks, you don’t get people turned around…it’s not a recipe to have success against anybody.”
The second mantra is taking away time and space. One thing is for certain, Quinn’s instructions are not getting through and he is perplexed. “I don’t know…we’re gonna keep pushing it, demanding it, and maybe losing the way we did last night will open some eyes and make it more instinctive instead thinking that the coaching staff wants us to do it and (then) play that way.”
The fact is that despite hammering home these messages, the team came out Thursday night and played an unprepared, passive and undisciplined game. After two years you have to ask why the players are not listening.
David Quinn was brought in because of his reputation for being able to work with and mold young players. When Quinn took over in 2018-19, one could argue that the Ranger team he was given was not his team. Well, that is not an excuse anymore. Of the 19 players who played in his first season opener against Nashville, guess how many were in the game against the Islanders? Five.
So, that means that on Sunday we will either be talking about how the Rangers took it to heart and taught the Islanders a lesson, playing with courage and skill. Or we will be asking the same questions we asked on Thursday night and after each of the three games the team played in the Toronto bubble in August. Let’s hope for the former.