Blueshirts Blitz: Laviolette’s Lineup Gambit Sparks Epic Rangers Win
Smashed in Smashville:
The start of Saturday’s game felt like déjà vu, especially that first period. Considering how their last meeting went, fans questioned whether the Predators had the Rangers’ number.
Nashville was all over New York, playing aggressively with their forecheck, and the Blueshirts seemed sluggish. Mistakes were happening left and right, thanks to the Preds’ pressure. Ryan O’Reilly even scored with a little assist from a referee who kept the puck in and an accidental Will Cuylle deflection, putting the Preds ahead 1-0. Then Roman Josi added insult to injury with a power-play goal, doubling the lead. The Predators outshot the Bluehits 17-8 through the first 20 minutes.
They were successfully squeezing the slot and blocking point shots. New York struggled to get the puck below the dots or behind the net where Andrew Brunette’s boys have been weak and established pressure. It led to a furious Peter Laviolette making dramatic changes. He decided enough was enough. He stirred the pot and headed into the second period with his team focused on turning the tide. ” He Gave us the business”, Trochcek said. “He woke us up”, Jonny Brodzinski added.
“We just didn’t do enough things well,” the bench boss said. “If there’s 15 things you have to do to win a hockey game, we probably got beat in all 15… I thought amazing job by them just coming back and fighting for something in the second and then gutting it out in the third.”
Peter Laviolette’s line-blender:
Trailing 2-0 after one, Laviolette shook things up. He ripped into his group and changed the lines, waking everyone up. It’s not just the players; the new coach has been a critical player in the Rangers’ strong start. You could feel the change in the air after tongue-lashing in the locker room and some line-blending magic.
With the team being the best in the NHL, Laviolette had yet to make many lineup changes, but the slow start in Nashville and the absence of Chytil and Kakko gave him a reason to mix it up.
The top line was first on the chopping block, especially Zibanejad, who, despite a five-game point streak, needed to hit the mark regarding quality scoring chances. Laviolette broke them up, moving Zibanejad between Panarin and Lafrenière, the dynamic duo leading the team in 5v5 points.
The new trio faced a few challenges in Nashville, but sometimes, you must let things marinate. Meanwhile, the Kreider-Trocheck-Brodzinski line stole the spotlight, driving the comeback effort in Saturday’s win. Speed was the name of their game, pushing back against the Predators’ aggression with a 6-1 shot advantage and a dominating 76.01% expected goals for.
Wheeler was in the bottom six with Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow, while the final revamped line featured Will Cuylle, Nick Bonino, and Tyler Pitlick. Laviolette’s moves paid off, showing why he’s earned back-back coach of the month honors.
The Comeback Kids:
The lineup shake-up worked like a charm – the Chris Kreider-Trocheck-Brodzinski trio scored on their first shift together. Trocheck’s faceoff win set up Trouba for a slick finish, narrowing the deficit to 2-1 just 31 seconds into the second period. However, there was a hiccup on the power play, leading to a shorthanded goal by Colton Sissons, putting the Preds up 3-1.
No worries, though. Kreider batted a rebound out of the air 1:24 later, notching his 14th goal of the season. Trocheck then redirected a pass from Zibanejad on the power play to even the score at 3-3. In the third, Ryan Lindgren added some luck with his first goal of the season. After a faceoff win from Guess Who? Trocheck, Fox, who had three assists, passed the puck across to his partner. Lindgren sent the puck to the net where Trocheck was battling with Jermy Lauzon and got credit for the tally when the puck hit off the Predators player’s skate to give the Rangers a 4-3 lead.
From there, Shesterkin made sure it stood up. He faced a furious push from Nashville in the third, stopping all 13 shots and securing his 10th win of the season with 38 saves and a +1.90 goals saved above expected.
He also got some help from his defense. With four minutes left, when Shesterkin got caught out of his net, a scramble and some heroic plays by Trouba and Brodzinski denied Nashville a game-tying tally. Wild and scary, indeed.
Looking ahead to the game against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday at MSG, the question is whether Laviolette sticks with the successful lines from periods 2 and 3 or reverts to the original ones. Considering the back-to-back games with travel and no time to practice, he may go back for that much-needed familiarity. What’s your take on it?