Will Panarin play in Rangers vs. Bruins round 2? No he won’t
Editor’s note: Updated to include news about Panarin and Blackwell.
Fresh from a frustrating overtime loss, the New York Rangers look to even up the season series with the Bruins. The big question going into the game was the availability of Artemi Panarin. The Rangers’ star tweaked something in the second period on Wednesday and barely played in the second half of the game. He will not play tonight and is listed as day-to-day.
With the game on Sunday against the Flyers postponed, it is wise for the Rangers to take advantage of the break and let Panarin recover. The Rangers’ next two games are against the Devils and the Flyers and both teams are in the COVID protocol. There is a good chance that those two games could be postponed and that would mean the Blueshirts’ next game would be Saturday, February 20 versus Washington. That would give Panarin nine full days to recover.
With Panarin out of the lineup, the question is how Coach David Quinn will juggle his forward lines. He replaced him with Phil Di Giuseppe in the third period on Wednesday. Should he be giving Alexis Lafrenière a shot at a top six role? The only change we know about for sure is that Colin Blackwell is back from his injury and will play.
F Colin Blackwell will return to the lineup tonight vs. BOS, per #NYR Coach Quinn. Artemi Panarin is day-to-day and will not play.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 12, 2021
One thing is for certain, Quinn regretted not giving the fourth line more ice time on Wednesday. They were playing well with Julien Gauthier getting his first NHL goal and Kevin Rooney scoring his third. On a positive note, Mika Zibanejad had his best game of the season and is hopefully getting closer to being the player he was last season.
The Rangers have not announced who will be getting the start in goal. While Alexandar Georgiev did nothing to surrender his slot in the rotation, Igor Shesterkin has been slightly better so far this season. Georgiev was beaten on two breakaways in the game and the Blueshirts need their netminders to make those game saving stops. It’s something Ranger fans have gotten used to with Henrik Lundqvist in goal for so many years.
About the Rangers
Believe it or not, by getting one point on Wednesday, the Rangers jumped from 8th to 6th place in the East Division. They’ve gotten points in five of their last six games, something essential this season. That was after getting points in only two of their first six games.
One good thing is the Rangers are keeping games close, something they didn’t do last season. This season nine of their 12 games have been one goal games (counting games with empty net goals). Last season, they played a total of 35 one goal games. The issue is they need to win those one goal games.
So far they have won only 33% of their one goal games (3-6) and that won’t cut it. Last season they didn’t play as many but won 51% (18-17). Their scoring woes have really cost the Rangers this season.
The offense that propelled the Rangers into the playoff race last season is still missing. They are averaging 2.58 goals per game, 25th in the NHL. It’s not for lack of trying as they are averaging 32.4 shots per game, sixth best in the league.
Improving the power play would go a long way towards fixing the offense. They are currently six for 46, a 13% efficiency rating, better than only six other teams. They have been shut out with the man advantage in six of the last eight games and are two for 25.
The injured Filip Chytil was added the NHL’s list of players unavailable due to the COVID-19 protocol. It may not mean that he has the coronavirus, but may have been exposed to someone who could have it. He is still out for a few more weeks so it shouldn’t affect the team, but he will be unable to practice or have any contact with the team until he is cleared.
Finally, you have to love positive spin as in this tweet from the Rangers.
The Rangers have registered 50 more shots on goal than they have allowed this season (389-339). Entering tonight's game, the Blueshirts are one of six NHL teams that have posted a plus-50 shot differential or better this season (Boston, Montreal, Vegas, Carolina, Colorado). #NYR
— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) February 12, 2021
What they don’t say is that despite that huge shot differential, the team’s shooting percentage is an abysmal 8%. Only four teams in the league are worse. The Flyers have a ridiculous minus 124 shot differential, but they have scored on 14.9% of their shots so their goal differential is plus six. The Rangers have take 50 more shots than allowed, but have allowed one more goal than they have scored. Like I said, positive spin.
The big question for the Rangers is how they do without Panarin in the lineup. He has missed only one game in his Rangers career and the Rangers lost 4-2 to the Islanders last January.
About the Bruins
The Bruins keep piling up points. They have gotten points in nine straight games and are on a four game winning streak. They are in first place in the East, two points ahead of the Flyers. They have lost only three games this season, one in regulation. Along with the Florida Panthers, they are the only team with one regulation loss so far. Their 20 points are second in the NHL to Toronto with 23.
They are doing it while averaging 3.08 goals per game, 14th best in the league. It’s the defense that is working as they are allowing only 2.17 goals per game, second best in the NHL. Their goal differential of +13 is fourth best in the NHL .
They are the best team at shot suppression, allowing the fewest average shots per game, 24.4. The 35 shots the Rangers had on Wednesday were the most allowed by the Bruins in one game this season.
They are also excelling on special teams. Their power play percentage of 31.6% is sixth best in the league and second best in the East Division. Their penalty killing success rate of 88.4% is second best in the NHL. Chris Wagner’s shorthanded goal on Wednesday was their third of the season, second most in the NHL.
All in all, statistically, the Bruins are near the top in virtually every category and have not missed a beat this seasons despite the departures of Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara.
Matt Grzelcyk was injured on Wednesday and will not play tonight. He has lower body injury and missed a number of games already this season. He will be replaced by Connor Clifton.
Brad Marchand’s overtime goal was his ninth against the Rangers in his career in 33 games and the first game winner. He is tied with Patrice Bergeron for the team lead with 16 points and leads the Bruins with eight goals.
The Rangers were able to do what no team has done this season, keep David Pastrnak off the scoresheet. In his first four games back from injured reserve, he had five goals and three assist while notching at least a point in each game.
3 keys to winning
- Top line scoring – While it’s wonderful for the fourth line to get two goals and outplay their teammates, it’s not the way to win. Mika Zibanejad had his best game of the season with numerous chances. Now, he needs to finish and it wouldn’t hurt for Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich to contribute as well. As for the second line, with Panarin out, the pressure on the first line to produce becomes even greater.
- Play fast – The Rangers made a point of talking about the need to play a fast paced game against the Bruins and they had their most success when they did that in the first period. The Rangers’ speed game kept the Bruins on their heels for most of the period.
- Win the special teams battle – As mentioned above, the Bruins are one of the top power play teams in the NHL. The Rangers need to keep them off the scoreboard, something the penalty killers have been doing recently. However, they need to score while on the power play which they have not been doing. The Bruins’ shorthanded goal is one more goal than the Rangers have scored in the last three games with the man advantage. Ugh.
East Division
Scores
Penguins 4, Islanders 3 (shootout)
Standings
- Boston 12 GP 9-1-2 20 pts
- Philadelphia 13 GP 8-3-2 18 pts
- Washington 12 GP 6-3-3 15 pts
- Islanders 12 GP 5-4-3 13 pts
- Pittsburgh 12 GP 6-5-1 13 pts
- Rangers 12 GP 4-5-3 11 pts
- New Jersey 9 GP 4-3-2 10 pts
- Buffalo 10 GP 4-4-2 10 pts
About the game
Game time is 7pm and it will be carried on MSG Plus. The radiocast will be on WEPN 1050AM.
Be sure to join Blue Line Station’s live conversation during the game and share your thoughts with your fellow Ranger fans. The live thread will be up just before the start of the game.
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