Panarin likely to play, Kinkaid gets the start in Bruins rematch

The New York Rangers get back to work on Saturday afternoon, trying to wipe away the bad taste left from their 4-0 defeat Thursday night.  They hope to do it with Artemi Panarin back in the lineup after missing 11 games.   Meanwhile, Keith Kinkaid gets the nod in goal over the slumping Alexandar Georgiev.

Coach David Quinn said that Panarin will be a game time decision because they want to put him in “a position for him to succeed. ”  All indications are that he is in good spirits, is fully engaged in practice and Quinn said that “he’s in a real good spot mentally,” so there doesn’t appear to be any issues with him not playing.  We shall see.

Platitudes

Much of the discussion post-practice was devoted to the power play and what can be done to fix it.  Considering that Panarin has missed 11 games, Mika Zibanejad hasn’t scored a power play goal in almost two months and last year’s power play quarterback is sitting at home in New Jersey, is it any mystery that the power play isn’t working?

Quinn said that Panarin’s return will help a lot, especially with the confidence of the unit, but added “There’s certainly other things that we’ve got to address.”

When it comes to David Quinn, specificity is not his strong suit.  When asked what they need to do to cure their power play woes, to respond that there are other things that need addressing is not an answer.

Ryan Strome was asked the same question and his answer was that the team needed to simplify things  Take shots, don’t get fancy.  Simplify the game.  It would be nice to hear that from the coach.

Same thing when asked about the team’s inability to deal with adversity. Asked specifically how he addressed the team’s problems dealing with those back breaking goals, Quinn’s answer was “we’ve talked about that all year long…it’s something we’ve got to continue to manage, do a better job of, it’s part of being a pro athlete, part of being a successful team, part of being a successful player, how do you handle adversity.  We’ve shown signs of handling adversity, but not enough.”

That’s not an answer, it’s cliches.  And if that’s what he’s telling the players, that’s not good enough.  Ironically, Strome was asked the same question and answered quite specifically, saying that it’s the responsibility of the next line on the ice to change the momentum, to win the next faceoff and get the puck in deep and that’s something that they haven’t done the last two games.

About the Rangers

If Panarin is back in the lineup it will mean the line of Mika ZIbanejad, Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich will be reunited.  Panarin will definitely skate with Strome, but who will play the right wing is a question.

There is a chance that Quinn will keep the “Kid Line” of Alexis Lafrenière, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko together, but that means Chytil taking draws.

Chytil didin’t take a single faceoff in his first five games back from injury.  On Thursday he took ten draws and won four, a 40% winning percentage was better than Brett Howden (16.7%) and Kevin Rooney (33%).

If the kid line stays together that means either Colin Blackwell or Julien Gauthier will play right wing with Strome and Panarin.

Keith Kinkaid gets the start. In three games he has a Goals Against Average of 2.21 and a Save Percentage of .912.  Those are decent number, but he is still looking for his first win since Halloween 2019.

The Rangers lost four in a row in January, with one of their losses in a shootout.  If they lose today, it will the first four game losing streak of the season and their first since October 2019.

About the Bruins

There’s a possibility that Brad Marchand will miss the game as he was “banged up” during the game on Thursday and did not practice Friday. Marchand was the best player on the ice in that game, notching three assists.

Also out is Tukka Rask so the Rangers will face their nemesis, Jaroslav Halak.

Also injured in Thursday’s game was winger Zach Senyshyn,  who was just called up from the AHL.

The last time the Bruins won two straight games was February 10-12 when they swept the Rangers at the Garden. That was a stretch when the Bruins had won eight of nine with the only loss in overtime.

The Bruins have allowed their opposition five goals in their last six games.  The last time a team scored more than one goal was the Rangers’ 6-2 win on February 26.

The season series

This is the sixth game between the two teams with the first four games at Madison Square Garden and the remaining three in Boston. Garden. After today,  the two teams don’t meet until the last two games of the regular season in May.

February 10 – Bruins 3, Rangers 2 (Overtime)

February 12 – Bruins 1, Rangers 0

February 26  – Rangers 6, Bruins 2

February 28 – Bruins 4, Rangers 1

March 11 – Bruins 4, Rangers 0