My 3 Rangers stars
- We’ll give Andrew Copp the first star as one of the few bright spots in the Ranger lineup. He had two assists in his Rangers debut, won 8 of 15 faceoffs and had two shots on goal and two hits. He also played 3:32 on the penalty kill. It was a nice debut.
- Mika Zibanejad played another strong game, scoring one goal and adding an assist. He had four shots on goal to lead the team.
- Barclay Goodrow was one of the few Rangers to have a decent game. He helped kill penalties and his screen helped on the Strome goal in the third period.
The official 3 stars
- Tomas Tatar – Devils
- Nico Hischier – Devils
- Jack Hughes – Devils
What’s next
One of the biggest games of the year looms on Friday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins come to Madison Square Garden. How the Rangers respond to his awful showing will tel us an awful lot about the makeup of this team. The Blueshirts have responded well to bad losses and they get up for these games.
The good news is the Rangers have two days of practice, an opportunity for Gerard Gallant to get to know his new players better and figure out how to utilize these new assets. Buffalo comes to the Garden on Sunday and then there is a rematch in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.