A great, hardworking 3-1 road win over the Predators

Notes on the game

Igor Shesterkin had another fine game, but didn’t have to steal the win. He made 28 saves, 23 in the first two periods.  This was the first time Shesterkin has faced Nashville.  He is tied for the league lead in wins with three and his Save Percentage of .953 is second best in the NHL.

Shesterkin has allowed six goals in his first four starts.  That’s something that Henrik Lundqvist did only twice when he allowed five goals in his first four starts in 2005 and 2008.

As good as Shesterkin was, Juuse Saros was arguably better. The Rangers had 30 shots and 10 were high danger shots compared to five for the Preds.  While he could have made the save on Chytil’s goal, it took a perfect set up to beat him on the game winning goal.

The new top line of Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider had a dynamic game though they didn’t dent the scorecard.  The trio had 11 scoring chances with four high danger chances.  Zibanejad hit a cross bar and post as well.

Although they were held scoreless, Zibanejad and Panarin lost assists when the Lindgren goal was disallowed in the third period and it was Panarin’s work that led to the opportunity, though he was the player who was offside.

Speaking of the disallowed goal, while Panarin was forced offside by Mark Boroweicki , almost 21 seconds passed between the time he crossed the blue line and Lindgren scored. The Predators gained control of the puck twice in that time, but coughed it up. The idea that a team could have a goal disallowed at any point after they enter the zone  is a flaw in the rule. The NHL should change the rule to put a time limit on off-side challenges (not on goals scored 15 or 20 seconds after a team enters the zone or simply if there is a change in possession.

Sammy Blais was everywhere in this game.  He took two iffy penalties, the worst being a cross checking penalty in the first period.  He scored the first two points of his Ranger career, assisting on the Chytil goal in the first period and making a fabulous pass to a wide open Lafrenière for the game winner.

The newly configured second line with Chytil centering Lafrenière and Blais did all the scoring for the Rangers are starting to build some chemistry.  The question is what Gallant will do with his lines when Kakko and Strome are ready to come back.  Leaving the Chytil line intact as the third line may not be a bad idea. It would allow Kreider to return to the left side where he is more comfortable.  Gallant would just need to find a right winger for the Zibanejad line.

The Rangers penalty kill was a perfect 3-3 and have now killed nine in a row. After starting the season killing only four of eight, it’s now 4 of 17 and they are slowly creeping up the penalty killing rankings.

The power play is something else entirely, going 0-4 in the including 1:22 of a two man advantage in the second period. That power play was pathetic with the Rangers standing around and taking perimeter shots.  The power play has not scored in their last eight chances and is 2-20 overall.

The Rangers lost the faceoff battle, winning 29 of 64 (45.3%), but that was a lot better than their 24% against Toronto.   The best Rangers were Kevin Rooney (54%) and Chytil (50%.).  Worst was Greg McKegg who won 3 of 10 draws.

The empty net goal by Barclay Goodrow was his first goal and point as a Ranger.

Once again, the Rangers defense did a good job clearing the front of the net so Shesterkin could see shots.  The duo of Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller were especially good.

With 23:26 minutes of ice time, Adam Fox was tied with Chris Kreider. It was the fewest he has played since opening night.

Morgan Barron played 9:18 on the fourth line including 39 seconds on the penalty kill. He was credited with one hit and won two of three draws.

When rookie Phil Tomasino scored for Nashville, it marked the third time a rookie has scored his first NHL goal against the Rangers.  He joins Hendrix Lapierre of Washington and Jacob Peterson of Dallas.

With 11 goals in their first five games, the last time they had the same start was in 2017-18. The have scored fewer than 11 goals in five games only twice since 2005-06.

They have allowed 11 goals in their first five games for the first time since 2011-12.  They’ve allowed fewer twice since the lockout.

With seven points in their first five games, it’s the team’s best start since they opened with eight points in five games in 2009-10.

In case you were wondering, Gallant’s Golden Knights had eight points in their first five games in their inaugural season in 2017-18.

We are five games into the season and the Rangers have yet to have a fight and have been called for no major penalties.

It took Alexis Lafrenière16 games to score two goals last season. Both of those goals were game winners and both of his goals this season are game winning goals.