Tag: gerard gallant

Rangers’ power play woes continue despite big-name talent

SUNRISE, Fla. — Offense took priority for the Rangers at the trade deadline, but that’s just how it seemed to happen when the opportunity arose to acquire scoring juggernauts Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko.

It prompted head coach Gerard Gallant to change course on how he handled the power-play units up until the deadline. He went from leaving it alone for months to switching it up on a weekly basis.

And yet the Rangers, with all their new talent, haven’t been able to put it all together on the one aspect of the game that is supposed to highlight a team’s offensive prowess.

The Rangers went 0-for-3 on the power play Saturday night in a 4-3 win over the Panthers at FLA Live Arena, extending their scoreless streak with the man-advantage to three straight games.

They have now gone 3-for-23 on the power play since a 3-2 overtime loss to Penguins on March 12.

Some games, the Rangers do everything but score with the man-advantage. In others, they struggle to even hold the zone.


Gerard Gallant talks with Barclay Goodrow (left) and Tyler Mott during the Rangers’ 4-3 win over the Panthers.
NHLI via Getty Images

Saturday was one of those instances, and the Rangers were only able to put up four shots on goal while on the power play.

Ryan Lindgren was sidelined for the 13th time in the last 14 games with a lingering shoulder injury.

The 25-year-old defenseman is still considered day-to-day.

Asked if he feels the Rangers should get some new players up with Lindgren out, Gallant said “we’re fine.”

“If we need them, we know where to get them,” he added.

The Rangers would have to place Lindgren on long-term injured reserve to receive the necessary cap relief to make a recall from AHL Hartford.

It appears the Rangers may be holding onto the hope that Lindgren will be ready to play sooner rather than later, which would give them reps as a full lineup before the playoffs. That time, however, also could be spent acclimating a depth defenseman ahead of the postseason.

Patrick Kane’s third-period goal was the 450th goal and the 1,233rd point of his career, which surpassed Phil Housley for second place on the NHL’s all-time list among U.S.-born players.

The Rangers will be off on Sunday before returning to the ice for practice on Monday at MSG Training Center.

They will host the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, then will venture to New Jersey, Buffalo and Washington to wrap up March and begin April.

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Patrick Kane scores 1st goal as Ranger in win over Canadiens

MONTREAL — The hope was that a full lineup would provide a clearer visual of what the Rangers really look like with their newest addition, Patrick Kane, but it only revealed just how much work they still have to do as a team.

Facing a Canadiens team that is in last place in the Atlantic Division and well out of the playoff picture, the Rangers barely escaped with two points after Mika Zibanejad was the lone goal scorer in the shootout, which secured a 4-3 win Thursday night at Bell Centre.

The list of excuses has quickly dwindled for the Rangers.

Sure, they’re still without Ryan Lindgren, whose absence proves time and time again that the Rangers are not the same team without him.

And Tyler Motte is still unavailable with an apparent head injury, leaving the fourth line without one of its speediest and peskiest members.

They were also away from game action for four days, so that could’ve played into some of their lapses, too.


Mika Zibanejad scores the game-winning shootout goal to give the Rangers a 4-3 win over the Canadiens.
AP

Patrick Kane accepts congratulations after scoring his first goal as a Ranger in their 4-3 shootout win over the Canadiens.
USA TODAY Sports

Between their poor transition game, their looseness in the defensive zone and Igor Shesterkin’s lingering inability to come up with that clutch save, however, the Rangers have a number of areas to focus on for which Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko cannot act as a Band-Aid.

Shesterkin, who finished with 23 saves, did make the last big stop in the shootout, however, to help secure the victory.

Still, this matchup with the Canadiens was a competitive one.

Overlooking the fact that Montreal is without a few of its top players, the Rangers were able to answer each Habs goal with one of their own through the first two periods.

The Canadiens took a 2-1 lead into the second period, but Jacob Trouba scored 48 seconds into the middle frame after the Rangers captain was allowed to skate into the right faceoff circle uncontested and wrist the puck past Montreal’s netminder Sam Montembeault.


Alexis Lafrenierre scores a first-period goal on Sam Montembeault as Mike Matheson defends during the Rangers’ victory.
AP

Momentum should’ve swung further in the Rangers favor when Rem Pitlick was called for delay of game later in the period.

Instead, Kane mishandled the puck on the power play and sent the Habs the other way before Josh Anderson buried a shorthanded breakaway goal.

The newest Ranger, however, made up for it just over a minute later.

Sniping the puck from the top of the left faceoff circle, Kane knotted the game at three-all and subsequently let out an emphatic fist pump.


Josh Anderson scores a goal on Igor Shesterkin during the Rangers’ win.
AP

Kane had an eventful third game with the Blueshirts, recording an assist on Trouba’s 2-2 score in addition to his own goal.

He also took a slashing penalty late in the final frame that could’ve been detrimental.

The Rangers may have had a full complement of 18 skaters for the first time since Feb. 25, but it didn’t make the immediate impact on their overall play the way it was supposed to.

Even with K’Andre Miller back on defense, after the 23-year-old blueliner was suspended for three games, the Rangers defensive structure was full of holes and backdoor opportunities — as it has been the last couple weeks.

That much was evident right off the bat.

The Canadiens scored 35 seconds into the game when player after player cycled through the Rangers zone before Kaiden Guhle batted the puck past Shesterkin.

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Rangers can give new lineup true test with short break

The Rangers have two much-needed days off, Sunday and Monday, followed by two desperately needed days of practice on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After that, they will finally be in a position to be evaluated fairly when they take the ice Thursday night against the Canadiens with a full lineup for the first time since essentially the Feb. 25 loss in Washington. The outside noise from the trade deadline has come and gone. Patrick Kane technically has been on the books for six days. The Rangers can officially get back to their regularly scheduled program.

Four games of skating shorthanded — or benching players for roster-management reasons — have not been kind to the Rangers, who went 1-2-1 against the Kings, Flyers, Senators and Bruins. The fact is, however, the Rangers are simply underperforming lately.

They have lost six of their last eight games, and slipped to just a seven-point cushion on the wild-card Islanders in the Metropolitan Division standings. It hasn’t all been negative. The club is nowhere near any doom or gloom. There is still a confidence exuding from the locker room that is indicating team perseverance.


Despite underperforming, the Rangers will be in a position to be at full strength after a short hiatus.
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

The Rangers just need to tighten up defensively, integrate the new faces into their five-on-five game and power play and start working toward unlocking the lineup’s full potential to ensure they achieve optimal seeding in the playoffs. Their recent play hasn’t necessarily been bad, especially considering the circumstances, but it’s not great, either.

“I guess that’s the fine balance that you have to find,” Mika Zibanejad said of taking positives away from the 4-2 loss to the NHL-leading Bruins Saturday afternoon in Boston. “When you look back at games and what you do with them and how you go forward and whatnot. I think we do a lot of good things. The other games that we played against [Boston], the other two games, I don’t think we came up this good against them and kind of pushed them back.


The addition of Patrick Kane only bolsters the Rangers’ potential.
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

“We didn’t just sit back and watch them play and [that’s not] easy to do, especially here [in Boston]. They’re good at home. Obviously, I feel like they’ve been good everywhere this year, but especially at home. They have a ton of speed, they play very fast and they’re dangerous. But I thought we at times did a really good job pushing back and not just sitting back and waiting for things to happen.

“We did a lot of good things and hopefully that’s something that we can build on and add to. No matter who we play, to play that game, I feel like that’s how we want to play and what we’ve talked about all year. Not happy with the result, try to take some of the good things that we did, obviously get better at the things that we have to.”


The Rangers haven’t been playing at their best, with a 1-2-1 record in the past four games.
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

No team is immune to distractions, and there have been plenty around the Rangers for almost a month now. It’s also created even loftier expectations than the organization was already facing at the start of the season. That could result in a longer adjustment period than the Rangers likely desire, but it also could lead to a drop-off in the standings.

The schedule is nearing crunch time and the Rangers need to adapt accordingly with 19 games left in the regular season.

K’Andre Miller will be back Thursday from his three-game suspension and Ryan Lindgren could be nearing a return from his upper-body injury. The Rangers have no doubt missed two of their top defensemen. It is unclear what Tyler Motte’s timeline is with an apparent head injury, but the Rangers will be able to recall a forward to play at full strength going forward.

All pieces will be in place soon enough. The Rangers will have to take it from there.

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Rangers rookie Will Cuylle making already making an impact

The Rangers gave Will Cuylle his first taste of the NHL this past week, recalling the big-bodied wing from AHL Hartford for a two-game stint before the All-Star break.

Cuylle had been tearing it up for the Wolf Pack, with five goals in eight games leading up to the call-up, which seemingly gave the Rangers the perfect excuse to give him a look in the fourth-line role  they imagine him fitting into in the future. Plus, the stars aligned and his NHL debut came  in Cuylle’s home city of Toronto.

“It’s kind of in the back of your head, but you don’t want to think too much about it when you have your team and you’re trying to win games in Hartford,” Cuylle said before he took his rookie lap at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday in front of his friends and family. “But, obviously, it’s my dream to play in the NHL. That’s what I want to do. So it was in the back of my mind a little bit.”

The two games were an extremely small sample size for Cuylle, who only logged a total of 12:20 ice time in 20 shifts. He skated on the fourth line with Jake Leschyshyn and Julien Gauthier.


Cuylle has been a bright spot for the Rangers since his debut.
Elsa/Getty Images

In recent games, head coach Gerard Gallant has been riding his top nine more than usual. It resulted in a gentle introductory to the NHL for the Cuylle, but the 6-foot-3, 211-pounder still showed off some bruising contributions.

Cuylle, skating in his second NHL game, engaged in his first NHL fight when he dropped the gloves with Vegas tough guy Keegan Kolesar off the second-period faceoff in the Rangers’ 4-1 win over the Golden Knights on Friday night at the Garden.

“He fought a tough guy, but he did pretty well,” Gallant said after the victory. “Good for him. Will came up and played two games. It’s pretty exciting for a young, 20-year-old to come up and do that. Then to get challenged like that and fight — and Kolesar is a tough kid, I had him in Vegas — so, he did a great job. It was probably an even fight, and good for him. [Cuylle] showed up.”

The Rangers had to send Cuylle back to Hartford for cap space-accruing purposes, but the No. 60 overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft is set to compete in the AHL All-Star Game on Feb. 6. There shouldn’t be any rush to bring Cuylle in full-time, especially when the organization still needs to figure out what to do with Vitali Kravtsov, who found himself on the outs of the lineup amid Cuylle’s recall.

The Rangers will return to practice on Feb. 5 before they resume their game schedule the following night at home against the Flames.

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Rangers know playing just ‘OK’ won’t be good enough

LOS ANGELES — Entering their 20th game of the season on Tuesday against the Kings, the Rangers have already faced their fair share of mental battles. 

Not only did they start the season under the spotlight of their Eastern Conference final finish last season, but they’ve had to work through the frustrations that have come with not getting the results they feel they deserve. That goes for wins that should’ve been losses and losses that should’ve been wins. 

“I think a number of nights, I’ve come in after the game and said, ‘I thought we played OK, not great, but OK,’ ” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said after practice Monday. “You look at the numbers and you say, ‘Well, we probably should’ve won that game.’ We had a chance to win, we were better than the other team, we had more chances and it didn’t happen. 

“Last year was the complete opposite. We got dominated a lot of nights and we had a good record. I like the wins, but again, I think our team played OK for the most part of the season. We’ve had two or three really good games that I’ve liked. If we can be more consistent, play that 60-minute game, we’ve got a good chance to win every night. I loved our last game in San Jose.” 

Gerard Gallant wants the Rangers to find consistency.
AP

The Rangers are coming up in the middle-to-top part of the pack when measuring up to the other 31 teams in the NHL. Before Monday night’s slate of games, the Rangers’ 22 points were tied with the Islanders and Red Wings, which ranks toward the top of the NHL. Their 56 total goals were tied for 13th with the Sharks and Senators, while their 51 goals against were good for the eighth least in the league along with the Maple Leafs. 

Judging by the Rangers’ lines and defensive pairs at practice on Monday, Ryan Reaves, Vitali Kravtsov and Libor Hajek will likely be scratched against the Kings on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. The lines were the same as they were in the Rangers’ 2-1 win over the Sharks on Saturday, which Gallant referred to as “the best game” since their season opener against the Lightning. 

The Rangers have their fifth back-to-back set of the season on Tuesday against the Kings and Wednesday against the Ducks. In the first game of a back-to-back schedule, the Rangers are currently 2-1-1.

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Alexis Lafreniere’s struggles aren’t worrying Rangers teammates

Amid a four-game losing streak, the Rangers are preaching calm, and that extends to the performance, or lack thereof, of individual players. Case in point: Alexis Lafreniere.

The former top-overall pick hasn’t scored a point since the Rangers last won. They need production from him on the right side of the second line with Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin. That trio, in 89:16 together per Natural Stat Trick, has a 60.10 percent Corsi rate, a 50.72 expected goals percentage and is dead even on scoring chances. The only major category in which it is underwater is the most important: goals for, which is as good a stand-in as any for the Rangers right now.

“Good sign if you’re getting good chances,” Lafreniere said before the Rangers jetted off to Dallas for a match Saturday afternoon against the Stars. “They don’t mean much if you don’t score. You just gotta keep going, and I think eventually, we’ll find our way as a team.”

Lafreniere — and for that matter, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil, his linemates last season on the Kid Line — came into this season with more on their shoulders than ever. Lafreniere was thrust into a top-six role after Vitali Kravtsov flunked his training camp audition, but a successful playoff run would have bred expectations regardless of where in the lineup he ended up.

Moreover, with the Rangers in a cap crunch and having lost a number of forwards who had been integral to their run last season, they needed more from Lafreniere and the rest of the Kids, regardless of expectations.

New York Rangers left wing Alexis Lafrenière hasn’t scored a single point since the Blue Jackets last won.
Corey Sipkin

The current second line, which came out with a bang when Lafreniere was first promoted there against the Wild in the second game of this season, has slowed down as all three participants figure out the jigsaw puzzle of how their respective games fit together.

“Just learning to play with different guys, that’s the toughest part,” Lafreniere said. “I think that they’re two really good players. Just trying to know a little bit where their favorite spots on the ice, in the [offensive] zone to get pucks and stuff like that. I think trying to work on getting a good forecheck in.”

That is a matter of patience, which Rangers coach Gerard Gallant is currently practicing.

With the Rangers sitting at 3-3-2 going into  weekend games at the Stars and Coyotes, the panic meter in the room is at zero.

“Individual players, you’re not gonna get 82 great games from them it’s gonna happen,” Gallant said. “I liked our game the last five periods. We keep doing that, we’ll win hockey games; there’s no doubt. Sometimes, the results aren’t there. Keep sticking with it, and you’ll win games. That’s how it works.”

Gallant said he thought the Rangers played well in their 3-0 loss to the Islanders on Wednesday. They outshot the Islanders, 41-29, but couldn’t get the puck by goaltender Ilya Sorokin.

As for Lafreniere?

“It’s like the rest of the team,” Gallant said. “He’s getting his chances. He’d like to finish more, he’d like to put the puck in the back of the net, but again, I’m not gonna point out Laffy over anybody else. He’s played fine.”

Being himself, Trocheck added, is the best way Lafreniere can contribute.

“I don’t want him to change his game,” Trocheck said. “There’s a reason that he’s here. He obviously is a really good hockey player. The way he competes, the way he works, is something that we need on our line. We just want him to go out there and play his game.”

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How Rangers can win Game 2 against Hurricanes

The Rangers played a game they could have won on Wednesday, and everything they’ve said about the 2-1 overtime loss to the Hurricanes in Game 1 of this second-round series has reflected that fact.

They controlled play for 40 minutes, and it looked like that would be enough to escape PNC Arena with a 1-0 lead in the series until Sebastian Aho finally got one past Igor Shesterkin with 2:23 to go. Despite the unpleasant reality of the loss, coupled with the Hurricanes finding a groove in the final period of regulation, the tone emanating from coach Gerard Gallant and his players has been positive. 

Gallant pointed out to reporters on Thursday that Carolina had dominated the last two matchups between these teams in their building, and was right in saying that this one felt different.

Reality, though, has a way of kicking you in the teeth. And the Rangers still woke up on Thursday needing to overcome a deficit to keep their season alive, just days after having successfully done just that against the Penguins.

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