Coach’s challenges, a stomach flu and other Rangers rumblings

What little pleasure the New York Rangers got from ending the Florida Panthers unbeaten streak  must have totally disappeared after the New Jersey Devils scored the last four goals in thoroughly dismantling the Panthers on Tuesday by a 7-3 score.  The way the Devils manhandled the Panthers late in the game with three third period goals contrasts to how much trouble the Rangers had in closing out their win.

The only good news that came out after the Blueshirts’ win Monday was that Igor Shesterkin didn’t ignore first star honors for any reason other than he had to use the facilities due to a bad stomach.  That was the explanation from Coach Gerard Gallant on Tuesday.   Gallant said that he had the “stomach flu” and the whole story was “blown way out of proportion.”

On Thursday, Shesterkin praised his teammates, telling USA Today’s Vince Mercogliano, “Our players made a lot of block shots and I just want to say thanks for that. When I have a chance to make a good save and stop the puck, I try to do this because I know every player on our team is trying to make a block.”

Coach’s challenges

After Monday’s game, many were questioning the lack of a coach’s challenge for goalie interference on the first Florida goal.   The goal was scored by Eetu Luostarinen after the initial stop by Shesterkin.  Panthers forward Patric Hornqvist was in the crease hacking at Shesterkin when the puck squirted loose and Luostarinen was able to put it in the net.

In looking at the goal, it is easier to see why Gallant didn’t challenge. Here’s the play:

First, let’s review the criteria for goalie interference.

Rule 69.1

Goals should be disallowed only if (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal; or  (2) an attacking player initiates intentional or deliberate contact with a goalkeeper, inside or outside of his goal crease. Incidental contact with a goalkeeper will be permitted, and resulting goals allowed, when such contact is initiated outside of the goal crease, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.

First off, it’s a pretty chaotic scene around the Rangers’ net.  Luostarinen takes the shot from the slot and it hits the post.  It bounces into the crease where there is a scramble including Patric Hornqvist hacking away at Shesterkin and Ryan Lindgren behind the goalie in the net.

Shesterkin is prone on his back and had no idea where the puck was when it squirted loose and Luostarinen scored.  So, there is a question of whether Hornqvist actually prevented Shesterkin from attempting the save.  Looking at the play, Shesterkin made no attempt to move as he no idea where the puck was.

It’s worth considering the circumstances.  True, a Panthers goal 20 seconds into the third period could serve an impetus for a comeback, but the Rangers still had a three goal lead.  If the challenge failed, the Rangers would have been assessed a penalty and they would have had to stop the NHL’s seventh best power play.   The three goal lead could easily have been down to two in the first two minutes of the third period.

There’s another reason why Gallant was reluctant to challenge.  He has one of the worst records in the NHL when it comes to coach’s challenges.  Since they became part of the NHL rule book in 2015,  Gallant has used the coach’s challenge 52 times.  He has won 19 of those challenges or 37%.  However, he has used the goalie interference challenge 32 times and won only six times, a horrible 19% success rate.  He’s been much better on offsides challenges where he has won 13 of 21 challenges (62%).

Over two years when he was coach of the Vegas Golden Knights he had a 3-21 record in interference challenges including 2018-19 when he lost 11 times.  The only coach with more lost interference challenges was Jeff Blashill of the Detroit Red Wings who failed 13 times in 2017-18. All of these stats courtesy of morehockeystats.com.

With goalie interference calls so discretionary and with the lack of consistency on how they are decided, considering that track record, is there any question about why Gallant didn’t challenge?

The roster

Filip Chytil skated on his own on Thursday, but is still listed as day-to-day. On Friday, he was unable to practice with the team.

At practice Thursday, Barclay Goodrow continued to center the third line with Alexis Lafrenière and Julien Gauthier.  Sammy Blais practiced with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on the first line.

As reported, Libor Hajek is down in Hartford on a conditioning assignment.  He can remain there a maximum of 14 days and he had to give his approval.   The team cannot replace him on the 23 man roster since it is a conditioning assignment.

After not playing in the Rangers’ first 13 games, he will be able to play in as many as five games for the Wolf Pack, starting tonight (Friday) in Springfield.

Schedule change

The Rangers play the Boston Bruins the day after Thanksgiving (November 26) in the annual NHL Thanksgiving Showdown to be televised nationally on ABC.  Originally scheduled for 3:30pm, the game will now start at 1pm and will be played in Boston.

The NHL Thanksgiving Showdown series began in 2011 and the Rangers have played in six of the eight games. Due to the lockout there was no game in 2013 and the pandemic prevented the 2020 game. The Blueshirts’ record is 2-3-1.  They have played the Bruins three times all on the road, and have lost all three games, the last one in overtime in 2019.

The standings

Not playing since Monday, many teams have caught up to the Rangers in games played.  The Blueshirts had played among the most games the NHL as of Monday night and had boasted one of the top point totals in the league.

They are still eighth overall with 17 points and have slipped to third place in the Metropolitan Division behind Carolina and Washington.  All of the teams below them in the Met Division have games in hand and the Devils, Flyers and Blue Jackets would be ahead of them in the standings if they won all of those games.

That reinforces the importance of the next two games against Columbus and New Jersey.  The Blue Jackets (7-3-0) have played the fewest number of games (10) in the NHL and are in Washington tonight.  The Devils are coming off a shutout win over the Islanders and host the Bruins on Saturday riding a three game winning streak.

No one said it would be easy.