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Game preview: First game of the season against the Flyers

By Steve Paulus

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 16: Julien Gauthier #12 of the New York Rangers reacts late in the third period against the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden on February 16, 2021 in New York City.The New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 5-2. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 16: Julien Gauthier #12 of the New York Rangers reacts late in the third period against the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden on February 16, 2021 in New York City.The New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 5-2. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Colin Blackwell #43 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal i. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Colin Blackwell #43 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal i. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

About the Rangers

The Rangers will not reveal who will be in goal until just before game time. Igor Shesterkin has started five of the last six games and played really well against New Jersey.

The forward lines will be juggled one more time with the return of Panarin.  The assumption should be that the Strome-Panarin-Kakko line will be intact, but the question has to be about the first line.  Pavel Buchnevich was demoted briefly to the third line, but rejoined the top line and scored.   No matter how you look at it, Buchnevich is still the second leading scorer on the team and has more points than Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad combined.

The question is whether Kreider or Zibanejad should be moved down in the lineup.  Quinn said that it is a possibility and that their experience is not a factor.   He said ” They’ve run out of (the) veteran status ticket that they’ve had .  I’ve liked Mika’s game…I thought Chris was more physical last night, listen, we’ve talked about it a lot, we need more from everybody, not just certain guys.  No one’s working harder to get out of it than those two guys. Its not for the lack of caring or effort.”

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It’s revealing that he would highlight Kreider’s physical game against the Devils. He was second on the team with four hits and fought Michael McLeod 29 seconds into the game.  But by singling it out, doesn’t it mean that Kreider hasn’t been playing as physically as he should be?   He’s got the most seniority on the team and should be a leader.   A physical effort shouldn’t be worth highlighting, it should be a standard every game.

Quinn said that they are still discussing the defensive alignment without Trouba.  The likelihood is that K’Andre Miller will end up playing with Brendan Smith with the Adam Fox-Ryan Lindgren and Libor Hajek-Tony Bitetto pairings remaining intact.

One area of concern has to be the amount of minutes that Adam Fox is playing. He is averaging just under 25 minutes per game and that will not go down with Trouba out.  The fear is that he will wear down and before the Devils game they Rangers had discussed trying to reduce his ice time.

With two power play goals in their last ten games the Rangers need to fix that part of their game and do it fast.  While the Devils were extremely disciplined in not taking any penalties on Tuesday, the Rangers didn’t give them many reasons to take penalties by not driving to the net.  It’s ironic considering that the Rangers had focused on the power play in practice after going 0-6 against the Bruins.

The Rangers have not lost five games in a row since March 2019.   With the next five games against Boston, Philadelphia and Washington there is a real risk of going into a tailspin.

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