The Islanders will be the latest team to avoid wearing rainbow warmups for Pride Night on Thursday against the Canucks.
Unlike the Rangers, who pulled their plans to do so without explanation, the Islanders have never worn rainbow jerseys due to an organizational policy against wearing specialized warmups. The only ones they wear are mandated by the league: Hockey Fights Cancer, Military and St. Patrick’s Day.
The Islanders also won’t be using rainbow tape in warmups, another common theme in Pride nights throughout the league.
The Islanders will hold Pride Night on Thursday, but won’t be wearing an special jerseys or using Pride tape to commemorate the event.Getty Images
The issue has come to the forefront this season after Philadelphia defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to take part in warmups on the Flyers’ Pride Night, stating his religious beliefs as his reason for not supporting the LGBTQ+ community. A couple weeks later, the Rangers suddenly reversed their plans to wear rainbow warmups, and still haven’t explained why.
The Islanders will be making donations toward the LGBT Network and the New York Gay Hockey Association, as well as a series of other initiatives including Pride branding on their advertising boards and on the team’s social and digital platforms.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has made clear that he doesn’t want the issue of rainbow warmups to overshadow the league’s initiatives supporting the gay community. In reality, though, it has.
Ivan Provorov drew stern criticism when he opted not to skate in warmups while the Flyers wore their Pride Night jerseys.AP
“You know what our goals and our values and our intentions are across the league, whether it’s at the league level or the club level,” Bettman said at last week’s All-Star Game. “But we also have to respect some individual choice. And some people are more comfortable embracing themselves and causes than others. And part of being diverse and welcoming is understanding those differences.”
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It feels like an error of accounting that Saturday will be the first time Adam Fox skates in an All-Star Game, and indeed, in some ways it is just that.
Had there been an All-Star Game in 2021, when this event was originally meant to visit South Florida, surely Fox would have been a part of it. That was the season when Fox elevated himself to superstar status, winning the Norris Trophy as a 22-year-old, and at the end of the year, he was named to the NHL’s honorary First All-Star Team.
This weekend, though, Fox gets his first All-Star experience live and in the flesh. It comes just as he is charting a course to fight for his second Norris Trophy, averaging an absurd 25:03 per game with 48 points to his name as he keys the Rangers’ defense corps.
“It’s awesome,” Fox said Thursday. “Being in Florida, too, I got my parents coming and my grandpa’s gonna be able to come down, too. It’s a special event. Obviously you’re around great players, too. Really excited to get everything going.”
Adam Fox spoke with reporters Thursday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.NHLI via Getty Images
Fox has quietly elevated himself into the current pantheon of New York stars by his sterling, almost innate ability to be where he is needed. Kevin Hayes, who left the Rangers before Fox got there but has played against him constantly on the Flyers, put it best.
“His poise, not a lot of guys in the league have that poise. I don’t want to say it’s risky, cause that’s probably the wrong word, cause it makes it look bad. He seems to be correct every time he does it,” Hayes said. “Maybe it’s a rewarding style, I guess. He’s an unbelievable player.”
Hayes recalled a summer tournament both participated in while Fox was still at Harvard.
Rangers defenseman Adam Fox will participate in the All-Star Game for the first time this weekend.Corey Sipkin for the New York Post
“Then all of a sudden, two years later, he’s up for the [Norris] and one of the best defensive players in the league,” Hayes said.
Fox is a stalwart atop the Rangers’ power play, yes, and can command the offensive blue line as well as anyone in the league. But it is his hockey sense and details that have gotten him this far, the nearly nightly occurrence of him being in just the right spot to stop a two-on-one.
“Every night, I look at him like that,” Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin said, putting his hands to his eyes like goggles, “when he tries to make a move. Because I see everything, everybody, but … he sees what other players don’t see.”
Ask Fox what’s improved in the four seasons he’s been in the league and you will get an answer that emphasizes the little things.
“It’s not always gonna be making a great pass,” Fox said. “Sometimes it’s, you just gotta be defensively. Maybe you’re playing against a really skilled player on the other side for most of the game. You gotta not let him score, and that’ll help the team. So I think it’s just finding each game, what you gotta do to help the team as a whole, and I think that’s really where I’m trying to focus game in and game out.”
That is what can help propel the Rangers to another playoff run, something Fox has at the front of his mind after the joy and ultimate disappointment of last season.
“I think once you experience that and got a little taste of it, at least for me, you just want to get back there,” he said.
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.
After cycling the puck in the corner with the game tied at three-all in the third period, K’Andre Miller watched as Kaapo Kakko dished it out to Mika Zibanejad, who was covering for the defenseman at the top of the zone.
As Zibanejad wound up to unleash a shot, Miller went to screen Pyotr Kochetkov and ended up getting his stick on the puck to redirect it to the top shelf on Carolina’s goalie.
Miller’s goal was one of three that the Rangers scored in the final 20 minutes of their eventual 5-3 win over the Hurricanes on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
The game-winning goal capped a mixed bag of a night for Miller, who — along with his defensive partner Jacob Trouba — was also on the ice for all three of the Hurricanes’ goals.
Mika Zibanejad (right) congratulates K’Andre Miller on his go-ahead goal in the Rangers’ 5-3 win over the Hurricanes.Getty Images
“Obviously, you never want to go into a period minus-three, but that’s hockey, that happens sometimes,” Miller said after the win, which improved the Rangers to 21-12-6 on the season. “I think having a short memory and trying to put it in the past and look for good plays and being reliable again.”
The 22-year-old Miller, who was a forward in his earlier playing days, admitted it was weird to be the player tipping the puck in instead of his usual role of sending it into traffic. Nevertheless, the goal was Miller’s third of the season, all of which have come in the last 13 games.
“It was a big goal,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “They were probably not too happy with being on for three goals, but I’m not blaming them for the three goals, it’s a five-man unit out there. They were unfortunate situations where the puck went in our net. It was a huge goal for K’Andre. I thought he made a couple of great offensive plays and played a good solid game again.”
With three goals in the third period Tuesday night, the Rangers have now totaled 52 in the final 20 minutes this season, which is the third-most in the NHL.
Igor Shesterkin earned the starting nod, marking his 29th start of the Rangers’ 39 games this season. After stopping 20 of the 23 shots he faced to pick up his 18th win of the season, the Russian netminder is now tied with the Golden Knights’ Logan Thomas and the Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck for the second-most in the NHL behind only the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark’s 21.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Regarding the Rangers, who open 2023 here Sunday night against the Panthers.
In other words, regarding Alexis Lafreniere.
1. The latest L’Affaire Lafreniere does not look good on anybody: not the Rangers organization, not the coaching staff and not the player. That is no small issue.
It is incumbent upon president and general manager Chris Drury to put the full weight of the organization into working with Lafreniere and his camp to determine why it reached the point that on Thursday at Tampa Bay, the 2020 first-overall pick needed to be jolted by being made a healthy scratch.
The burden of proof is on everyone, but the Rangers do go back administration after administration culpable of either mishandling or misidentifying prospects. The organization is famous for eating its young, so it is not a particular reach to wonder how much of Lafreniere’s one-step-forward, two-steps-back dance this season is on the team.
Progress in fulfilling the potential of Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov and, soon enough, Brennan Othmann — all first-rounders — is paramount to the success of the franchise.
Lafreniere, who is a pending restricted free agent in need of a second contract, is represented by Momentum Hockey’s Olivier Fortier, who replaced Emilie Castonguay when she left the agency last season to become assistant GM of the Canucks. He does not have a particular public profile — Lafreniere is his most well-known client — but it is certainly in everyone’s mutual interest for the Rangers to have a good working relationship with Lafreniere’s camp.
Alexis Lafreniere’s healthy scratch represents a serious challenge for the player and the organization.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST Photo
2. If the Rangers somehow could have known that not only would they be in the 2020 lottery, but also would win it and thus claim left wing Lafreniere, yes, it is possible they might not have extended Chris Kreider just ahead of the deadline and, in fact, traded him rather than Brady Skjei. It’s possible that the tandem of president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton might have done that. But that is moot.
All offseason following the lottery, the question was whether the Rangers would stack their left wings in Kreider, Lafreniere and Panarin. It seemed that switching the 18-year-old would make more sense than asking NHL veterans to move to their off-side, but perhaps that assumption did not allow for the fact that the pandemic prevented Lafreniere from playing competitive hockey for nearly a full year and that No. 13’s rookie season was not preceded by a traditional training camp from which he surely would have benefited.
It is still kind of a mystery whether Lafreniere can comfortably make the switch to the right after half-measures to shift him haven’t quite taken hold. I’m not sure why this has been such a mysterious process. He insists he is comfortable but then it is suggested that he’s really more comfortable on the left side of the Kid Line.
Oh, by the way: What do the Rangers intend to do when Othmann — a left wing — is ready for Broadway?
Lafreniere, the top pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, could benefit from the change Gerard Gallant refuses to make.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST Photo
3. Yes, this is true: a career 36-33 in 171 games that includes 36-30 at even-strength and 0-3 on the power play.
And here is what I do not understand, and this directly has a dramatic impact on Lafreniere:
When lines struggle at five-on-five, coach Gerard Gallant will not hesitate to change them. A couple of bad periods is often enough to create an upheaval.
But when the first power-play unit struggles for games at a time, the coach not only will not change the personnel, but also would consider it blasphemy to break up the four-righty unit even under the current 1-for-16 quagmire in which they are stuck. I know — missed open nets and posts.
That is where the team and Lafreniere could benefit if Gallant would make that kind of move and elevate an athlete who is supposed to possess great vision and creativity into a spot where he may be able to show his stuff. Lafreniere should be an effective puck retriever, too.
4. I cannot imagine what equal value in a trade for Lafreniere would possibly resemble. Dealing Lafreniere and having him flourish somewhere else would represent the ultimate organizational nightmare.
Who would they be able to get, a first-rounder who may or may not ever play? Another project who plays a different position? Where is the GM who will deal a known, young, cap-controllable center or defenseman for Lafreniere … if, again, the Rangers would ever even consider making that move?
If you’re bringing in a center, you’ve decided to move on from Chytil, isn’t that correct? Unless, that is, that you’re going to ask Vincent Trocheck to waive his no-move clause one season into a seven-year agreement?
Do you think Drury wants to risk a trade that becomes Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi?
5. It is time to get Lafreniere back in on Sunday.
The remade lines worked against the Lightning on Thursday to the degree the Rangers produced 46 shots and double-digits of glorious chances, but still scored just once in the 2-1 shootout defeat.
There is no reason to break up the Kravtsov-Chytil-Julien Gauthier third line that played dynamic hockey against the Lightning. Kreider, Zibanejad and Kakko are remaining intact.
Lafreniere should slide in on the right (Is he comfortable on the right?) with Panarin and Trocheck reforming the unit that was together for 12 games in the early weeks while Barclay Goodrow shifts into the middle of the fourth line between Sammy Blais and Jimmy Vesey while Jonny Brodzinski sits.
Brodzinski has been fine in his role, and Gallant had him on late in the third period in place of Kravtsov on Thursday. But in the big picture, and that is surely as important a part of it as the narrower one, playing Brodzinksi ahead of Lafreniere is a little bit nutty.
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The narrative that had taken hold since Gerard Gallant’s reign behind the bench started last season — and for good reason — is inoperative.
The Rangers who were insufficient at five-on-five and were carried offensively by the power play have ceased to exist.
Instead, the remodeled Blueshirts, who used 40 different game-opening line combinations in the club’s first 35 games leading into the wonderfully civilized Christmas recess, rank comparatively higher playing at even strength than with the man advantage.
No one would have expected that.
By the way, Gallant created 33 line combinations in last season’s first 35 matches. Neither that total nor this season’s tally includes units that were combined mid-game. So the Artemi Panarin-Mika Zibanejad-Vitali Kravtsov and Barclay Goodrow-Jonny Brodzinski-Julien Gauthier combinations that played the final two-plus periods of the 5-3 victory over the Islanders on Dec. 22 are not included in the count.
The 411 on 5-on-5
Artemi Panarin and the Rangers have become a better even-strength team in 2022-23.NHLI via Getty Images
The 2021-22 Rangers improved their five-on-five game proximate to the trade deadline with the rental additions of Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte and defenseman Justin Braun. The club’s production and efficiency improved.
But before Vatrano was acquired as the first of the fortifications following Game 60, the Blueshirts ranked 24th in the NHL at five-on-five in goals-per-60:00 at 2.26 (thanks, Natural Stat Trick). They ranked 28th in xGF (expected goals-for) percentage at 45.85, and their goals-for percentage of 50 percent (111 for, 111 against) came in at 17th.
Hence, the flurry of trades that cost the Blueshirts one first-round draft pick, one second-rounder, one third-rounder, a pair of fourth-rounders and Morgan Barron, but also propelled the club to the conference finals.
This season, without any of the rentals and also without free-agent departure Ryan Strome, the Rangers will enter Tuesday night’s Garden match against the Caps ranked 12th in goals-per-60 at 2.66 and 15th in xGF pct. at 51.16. Their goals-for pct. of 53.96 (75 for, 64 against) ranks eighth.
So, despite splitting up Zibanejad and Chris Kreider and also having stopped trying to bang the Panarin-Vincent Trocheck peg of a connection into a round hole (or perhaps, because of these unanticipated moves), the Blueshirts have taken significant strides in their five-on-five game … and that is while receiving average goaltending for the first couple of months.
Nothing special about this power play
With Mika Zibanejad sniping away, the Rangers power play has become predictable.NHLI via Getty Images
These results may not alter Drury’s approach to the deadline — at or around which everyone expects the Rangers to add a known-quantity top-six right wing — but it represents improvement and good news.
Neither of which applies to the allegedly vaunted power play.
After ranking fourth overall last season while operating at a 25.2 percent clip with a dynamic group that was feared, the Rangers sit at 15th at the break with a 22.9 percent rate that has provoked tears. That is simply not close to good enough for a unit expected to be a game-breaker.
The four-righty concept has been in place since Thanksgiving of 2019, when then-head coach David Quinn constructed a unit including Zibanejad, Panarin, Strome and Tony DeAngelo with the lefty Kreider. That unit went off at a clip of 29.3 percent from the Christmas break to the COVID-related March 11 end of the season.
Vincent Trocheck, celebrating a power-play goal against the Devils on Dec. 12, is much more shoot-first than Ryan Strome was.USA TODAY Sports
Righty Adam Fox replaced DeAngelo at the top at the start of the following season. That unit remained inviolate until Trocheck, another righty, stepped in for Strome at the start of this season.
But with familiarity, the unit has become more predictable and even occasionally stale, even if Panarin and Zibanejad essentially exchanged places against the Islanders last week with No. 10 moving into the off-wing, left-circle, one-timer position that he originally held upon joining the team in 2019-20. The puck often moves too slowly. The setups are often too deliberate and at times telegraphed.
Strome was more of a facilitator while Trocheck has a shoot-first mentality out of the bumper position. Indeed, Trocheck is tied with Panarin in power-play shot attempts, trailing Zibanejad, while second in shots to Zibanejad. That’s a change.
Chris wires crossed
But the most dramatic change as the season has evolved concerns Kreider, who led the NHL last season with a franchise-record 26 power-play goals on his way to a 52-goal season. The league’s most effective net-front presence hasn’t gotten anywhere near the touches he did both last season and through the first 20 games of this season when the unit pretty much ran through him.
Chris Kreider battles for position in front of the Penguins goal during a game on Dec. 20.NHLI via Getty Images
Over the first 10 games, Kreider had 28 attempts on the power play and 15 shots while being credited by Natural Stat Trick with creating 21 scoring chances. Over the next 10 matches, Kreider had 16 attempts and 12 shots while creating 16 scoring chances. So, through 20 games, Kreider had 44 attempts and 27 shots while creating 37 scoring chances and recording four PPGs.
But over the next 15 games that led into the break, the Rangers have either been unable to get the puck to Kreider either screening the goaltender or at the side of the net, or they have changed the game plan. In the past 15 games, Kreider has only 10 power-play attempts and five shots while generating nine scoring chances. He has gone 18 straight games without a PPG.
New York Post
The difference is dramatic.
Maybe opposing penalty kills are preventing the guys at the top from getting shots through to Kreider. Maybe Trocheck’s increased shooting mentality as he has gained more comfort on the unit has changed the dynamic. Maybe defensemen are doing a better job preventing Kreider from getting position. Maybe Kreider hasn’t done as good a job establishing that net-front presence. Maybe the Rangers fell head over heels for Zibanejad’s one-timer.
Some of all of the above? Probably. But the fact is that over the past 15 games, Kreider ranks eighth on the team in power-play attempts per 60:00. Something is off there. It is imperative the Rangers get Kreider more involved. Everyone benefits when he gets his touches around the net.
Sammy Blais’ third-period benching in the Rangers’ loss at Pittsburgh on Tuesday that snapped their seven-game winning streak carried over to the next contest — and his replacement made the most of the opportunity.
After Blais took an undisciplined penalty when he punched Penguins forward Brock McGinn in retaliation to tee up the home team for their go-ahead power-play goal, he was a healthy scratch for the 5-3 win over the Islanders on Thursday night at the Garden.
As a result, Julien Gauthier drew back into the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch in the previous three straight games. The 25-year-old Gauthier had a hand in two plays that allowed the Rangers to tie the score, including his fifth goal of the season in the second period.
In addition to scoring the goal that made it 2-2 off a strong move to the net, Gauthier sent the shot on net that Barclay Goodrow deflected in to knot the score 3-3 three minutes into the third period. It was Gauthier’s second multi-point game of the season.
Julien Gauthier scores during the Rangers’ win over the Islanders. Getty Images
There was some extra energy to Gauthier’s game, which was certainly a result of coming off his longest stretch of scratches this season.
“It’s never pleasant, honestly, when you’re trying to fit in, trying to get back in as much as possible,” Gauthier said after the win. “I thought my game was good tonight, but overall this year has been really good. Sometimes it’s just not fun or easy to be the scratched guy, but when you go back in the lineup, like tonight, you try to make the most of it.”
Gauthier, who enjoyed a run of 17 contests in a row before he was relegated to street clothes, primarily skated in his usual right-wing spot on the fourth line, next to Vitali Kravtsov and Jonny Brodzinski. He also spent some time next to Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil after Kaapo Kakko’s costly turnover in the second.
“He was upset and disappointed,” head coach Gerard Gallant said of Gauthier’s scratches. “He wasn’t scratched for bad play, he was scratched from coaches making decisions. We liked the way he played, we just wanted some different kind of players. He came in tonight and did a real good job. Played hard and scored a great goal.”
It marked just the second time in Blais’ Rangers tenure that the 26-year-old forward was a healthy scratch. The first was last week against the Maple Leafs, when Gallant wanted to get Kravtsov back into the lineup.
Blais, who has five assists in 30 games this season, was called for roughing at the 18:09 mark of the second period against the Penguins. He did not take a single shift afterward, including the entire third period.
Defenseman Libor Hajek was scratched for a fifth straight game in favor of Ben Harpur, who has provided a more physical presence on the back end throughout this stretch.
Artemi Panarin and Barclay Goodrow each had one goal and one assist to lift the New York Rangers past the host Philadelphia Flyers 6-3 on Saturday.
K’Andre Miller, Jimmy Vesey, Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren also scored one goal apiece for the Rangers, who won their sixth in a row.
Rangers goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves.
James van Riemsdyk, Scott Laughton and Morgan Frost scored one goal each for the Flyers.
Philadelphia played without Kevin Hayes, who was benched by head coach John Tortorella for personal reasons. Flyers goaltender Carter Hart stopped 29 shots.
The Flyers went ahead 1-0 at 7:11 of the first period when van Riemsdyk spun around and scored from the corner of the net.
The Rangers soon unleashed a flurry of shots and equalized at 16:58 when Panarin connected.
Artemi Panarin tied the game at one apiece in the first period. APJaroslav Halak makes a save during the Rangers’ win over the Flyers. AP
Panarin nearly scored again at 1:54 of the second when he fired a shot which deflected off Philadelphia’s Cam York and then the crossbar.
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The Flyers soon earned a power play and Travis Sanheim ripped a slap shot at 6:19 which was denied by Halak.
Seconds after killing off back-to-back power plays, Miller gathered the puck at center ice, skated in all alone and scored for a 2-1 New York lead at 9:09.
Goodrow scored at 12:14 for a 3-1 advantage though it appeared as if the Rangers had too many men on the ice.
The Flyers closed within 3-2 when Laughton corralled a loose puck at center ice, skated in and scored a short-handed goal on the backhand at 17:56.
The Rangers went ahead 4-2 at 6:22 of the third period after Vesey scored for the third time in the last two games. Vesey’s shot landed in the top right hand corner of the net.
The Rangers celebrate during their win over the Flyers. Getty Images
Philadelphia quickly cut the deficit to 4-3 when Frost fired a shot through a screen and past Halak at 7:53.
The Flyers received a power play at 16:40 when Vincent Trocheck slashed Frost. Hart was pulled for an extra skater midway through, but Trouba scored on the empty net from nearly the length of the ice at 17:52.
Lindgren also was credited with a goal with 49.3 seconds left.
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There comes a time when you just have to take a break from hitting your head against a wall. Does anyone today seriously need another rundown of what is going so wrong for the Rangers over a first 23 games in which so little has gone right?
The Blueshirts left the ice following Monday’s 5-3 defeat to the Devils in fifth place (by point percentages) in both the Metropolitan Division and the wild card race in a league in which both the loser’s point and the paucity of head-to-head divisional matches conspire against clubs coming from behind in the standings.
Still, it can be done. In 2018-19, the Blues charged from last place overall on Jan. 2 with a 15-18-4 record to go on a 17-4-1 run that extended to 30-10-5, boosting them not only into the playoffs but to a Stanley Cup. In 2014-15, the Senators, 10 points out of a playoff spot on Jan. 17 with a 22-23-10 mark, went an astounding 21-3-3 the rest of the way to make the playoffs before losing in the first round.
Both of those teams’ revivals were sparked by goaltenders who essentially came out of nowhere — Jordan Binnington for St. Louis and Andrew (Hamburglar) Hammond for Ottawa. Following that model, the Rangers perhaps should dip down into Hartford and promote Dylan Garand, the 20-year-old who recorded his first pro shutout Saturday in, of course, a 1-0 shootout defeat to Hershey.
The Devils’ comeback Monday night at Madison Square Garden left the Rangers 14 points behind New Jersey and buried deep in the Metro standings.Robert Sabo
Falling fast
A look at the standings is sobering. The Rangers have lost contact with the Devils. They’re out of sight by 14 points and thus should be put out of your minds. The role reversal between these two clubs might make more sense if put this way:
Last season, Jimmy Vesey played on the fourth line for a New Jersey team that missed the playoffs by 37 points. On Monday, Jimmy Vesey was on the first line for a Rangers team went into the season fancying itself a Stanley Cup contender.
This is not a knock on Vesey, who earned a spot on the varsity after coming to camp on a PTO and has been one of a tiny faction of Rangers — Vesey, Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, Filip Chytil, Julien Gauthier, Barclay Goodrow and maybe Braden Schneider — to meet expectations. (If you want to lobby for Ryan Carpenter in his role as fourth-line center, be my guest.) Early in camp, Vesey talked about having adopted a fourth-line mentality, how he modeled his game after Tyler Motte, so valuable in a fourth-line role for the Blueshirts last spring. And now No. 26 has played on the first line in eight of the club’s 23 games.
That hasn’t changed the situation Vesey and the Rangers find themselves in. Not only have the Blueshirts have lost contact with the Devils, but the Hurricanes are going to be long gone. The Rangers are going to have to be careful not to lose contact with the Islanders, whom they trail by six points while having only one game left against them.
After watching the Rangers reach the playoffs while playing with the Devils last season, Jimmy Vesey is now watching New Jersey steam toward a potential playoff spot while playing for the Rangers.Jason Szenes
In order to qualify for the tournament, the Rangers will have to pass three teams they currently trail. Awarding spots to the Devils, ‘Canes, Bruins, Maple Leafs and Lightning, the teams to catch would be the Islanders, Penguins, Red Wings, Canadiens and Panthers.
Again, not one of them and not two of them. Three. Add to the equation that the Blueshirts will also have to stay in front of the Caps, who are three points back.
Strength of schedule
The schedule turns murderous next week, when the Blueshirts travel to Vegas and Colorado before home games against the Devils and Leafs. The Rangers — who have won four out of 12 (4-5-3) at the Garden — wouldn’t be expected to win any one of these.
But before the Rangers get from here to there, the schedule provides a silver lining. The next three games are against 29th-overall Ottawa and 31st-overall Chicago, teams that appear well on their way to Lotteryland. If there can be a soft spot for a team such as the Rangers, this is it. Of course, this is also the way the Senators and Blackhawks might look at it, preparing for a Blueshirts team that has won 10 of 23 overall (10-9-4) and is on a three-game regulation losing streak.
With an upcoming date against Jack Eichel and the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, the Rangers’ path to getting back in the playoff hunt isn’t getting any easier.NHLI via Getty Images
After Wednesday’s match in Ottawa, there is a back-to-back at the Garden on Friday and Saturday, respectively, against the Senators and Blackhawks. Yes, get ready for Jaro Halak in one or the other.
Quick hits
• Is it a coincidence that K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere have regressed in what is a contract year coming off entry-level deals for both?
• There are 37 defense pairs that have been on the ice for at least 200 minutes at five-on-five. Miller and Jacob Trouba, the tandem that went into this season as the club’s presumptive shutdown pair, ranks 37th and last in goals for/against percentage at 28.57 (8 for/20 against). How’s that?
The Lindgren-Fox duo is 26th at 52.17 percent (12 for/11 against).
K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba have struggled to be the defensive stoppers they were expected to be when the season began.NHLI via Getty Images
• There are 187 forwards who have played at least 250 minutes at five-on-five. (Thanks, Natural Stat Trick.) Vincent Trocheck is tied for 163rd with 0.37 goals per 60:00.
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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