Grading the Rangers Offense versus Calgary

The New York Rangers suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Calgary Flames on Thursday night. Alexis Lafreniere and Will Cullye scored just 14 seconds apart in the second period, but the Rangers could not muster an answer to Connor Zary's third period goal. What went wrong for the Blueshirt's offense?

One Productive Line

In order to win hockey games, you need twelve forwards to show up for the game. On Thursday, it felt like Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, and Alexis Lafreniere were the only ones to make the trip to southern Alberta. This line generated seven of the ten high danger chances created by Ranger forwards, including Lafreniere's goal.

If the Rangers have aspirations of playing deep into the spring, then they need to get more from their "top line." The trio of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, and Reilly Smith was mostly ineffective on Thursday night, only generating seven shot attempts in their 11 minutes of ice time. We saw a glimpse of what this line can do when they linked up for a beautiful goal against the Vancouver Canucks. They have the skill to generate more offense. They need to find it within themselves to make smart plays with the puck.

The new third line featuring Cullye on the left, Kaapo Kakko at center, and Jimmy Vesey on the right scored the Rangers second goal. Kakko won the faceoff leading up to the goal in his first extended look at center since he made his NHL debut in 2019. The puck eventually found its way to the point, where K'Andre Miller's wrister was deflected straight down by Cullye past Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf.

Despite scoring a goal, this line was not particularly strong. Only generating three shot attempts, they were never truly threatening outside of this moment of brilliance. Kakko performed admirably in an unfamiliar position, but is clearly much better suited on the wing. Once Filip Chytil is available, Kakko should slide back outside. While unfair, this line needs to generate more when the Zibanejad line fails to click. No team should have to rely on their third line to score as much as the Rangers do.

The Ranges failed to generate anything substantial outside of a brilliant stretch in the second period.

In order to have sustained offensive success, consistency is key. Right now, the Rangers have a difficult time staying engaged for sixty minutes offensively. Loss of focus in the defensive end and neutral zone made it difficult for the Rangers to create chances as well. When the ice is tilted against you, players often want to survive the incoming onslaught. In the first period, the Flames outshot the Rangers 20-5. While the Rangers did play more competitive second and third periods, their slow start set the tone.

Moving forward, the Rangers would be smart to start games with more energy in order to galvanize their offense. They failed to do this against Calgary, leading to a D grade. Though, the the Blueshirts still have a chance to turn it around.

The Rangers have the opportunity to make positive strides in their next game against the Edmonton Oilers, who allow over half a goal more per game than their neighbors in Calgary.