The New York Rangers resume their quest for a playoff spot as they look to end a two game slide and beat the Boston Bruins on the road. Artemi Panarin is back with the team, but is not ready to play so the Blueshirts will have one more opportunity to win without him in the lineup.
The Rangers have dropped seven points out of the last playoff spot, currently occupied by the Bruins. In a season when all games are virtual “must win” games, these two matches with Boston will help define if the Rangers have any chance to contend or if they will be sellers at the April 12 trade deadline.
There’s a surplus of wingers on the Rangers, vying for a slot on the top six and as the team gets healthier, it gets even tighter.
It will get more interesting with the return of Panarin and an imminent arrival from Russia.
Kravtsov’s KHL season is over
Salavat Yulaev elminated Vitali Kravtsov’s Traktor team in the KHL playoffs on a Markus Granlund penalty shot with only 19 seconds left in the game, breaking a 2-2 tie. The Traktor goalie had been called for knocking the net off its moorings. It’s worth a look.
Penalty shot with 19 seconds left!
— KHL (@khl_eng) March 11, 2021
Markus @GranlundMa 🇫🇮 nets series-winner for Salavat Yulaev! #GagarinCup pic.twitter.com/I41rRLMcAr
It was a tough road loss before 7.865 spectators at the Ufa-Arena. The two goals scored by Traktor were their first after being shut out in their last two games.
Kravtsov had an assist on Traktor’s go ahead goal by Igor Polygalov in the second period. He finished the five game series with two goals and two assists to lead Traktor in scoring.
With the KHL season over for Kravtsov, it means he will be returning to North America and he should be ready to play after going through COVID protocols. That should take 10-14 days and then Coach David Quinn will have the challenge of figuring out where Kratsov fits in the Rangers’ lineup.
All reports are that he improved his overall game immensely and is much stronger in all three zones. This season he averaged 17 minutes playing time per game on the second line and tied for the team lead in goals with 16. He led the team in even strength goals with 13 while averaging 2.6 shots per game.
Where he slots on the right wing among Pavel Buchnevich, Kaapo Kakko and Julien Gauthier remains to be seen. While he had played center for Russia at the World Juniors, he didn’t play any shifts at center this season.
Managing Kravtsov’s expectations should be interesting. Last season he thought he would make the team out of training camp and after he was sent to Hartford there were issues that resulted in his return to Russia to finish the season with Traktor.