COLUMBUS, Ohio — Regarding the Rangers, who on Saturday against the Blue Jackets will try to match their 2-0 getaway from the 2022-23 season:
1. For the primary nine years of his NHL profession while playing for head coaches John Tortorella, Alain Vigneault and David Quinn, Chris Kreider amassed a complete of 38:47 price of penalty-kill ice time.
Along got here Gerard Gallant who in 2021-22 paired Kreider on the primary penalty-kill unit with Mika Zibanejad. And if that is to function Gallant’s legacy as a Rangers head coach, it’s going to be remembered as commendable.
For when No. 20 scored on the PK off a feed from Zibanejad at 11:34 of the third period Thursday within the opener at Buffalo to present the Blueshirts a 4-1 lead en path to a 5-1 victory, that marked Kreider’s eighth shorthanded goal during the last three seasons.
That leads the NHL by one over Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson and Toronto’s Mitch Marner. Not too shabby for a person who got his first shorthanded goal in his 611th profession game, Jan. 13, 2022, against San Jose’s Aidin Hill within the match during which Braden Schneider made his NHL debut.
“I all the time sort of thought it could be something I’d be good at,” said Kreider, who also scored a power-play goal within the opener to spice up his profession total to 267, fifth in franchise history and just five behind Andy Bathgate. “Good first step … reach … close on guys.
“Get in the way in which, and when the puck turns over, take off.”
The Rangers killed all three Sabres power plays over an aggregate 5:22, allowing just one shot while blocking six attempts. The Zibanejad-Kreider tandem was one in every of three utilized by head coach Peter Laviolette with Vincent Trochek-Barclay Goodrow and Nick Bonino-Tyler Pitlick.
“I believe playing on the facility play has benefitted me by understanding where the issue areas are,” said Kreider, whose 35 power-play goals during the last three seasons are tied for second within the league with Zibanejad, a whopping 22 behind Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl. “I don’t need to necessarily be cheating, I don’t need to get caught out of position, but you already know when you may go and when you may’t.
“It’s lots easier twiddling with Foxy and Mika.”
2. The Blueshirts won 38 of 60 faceoffs against the Sabres (63.3 percent) with Alexis Lafreniere leading the way in which by winning 4 of 5 draws. Nick Bonino was at 75 percent by going 9-3, while Vincent Trocheck clocked in at 66.7 percent in winning 12 of 18.
Lafreniere stood in for center Filip Chytil, apparently compromised by the unidentified upper-body injury he sustained at camp’s fourth day on the ice that sidelined him for 2 weeks. No. 72 didn’t take a draw. Artemi Panarin, the road’s left wing, took one draw and lost it.
“It’s a very good spot to try this when any individual’s coming back,” Laviolette said. “We had talked to Laff about it, we sat him in on the faceoff meetings and worked with him on-ice a bit of bit and tried to present him some help. After which he crushed it.
“He’s not a natural centerman, [Thursday,] it went our way within the circle a bit of bit and as a part of that he did a very good job,” Laviolette said. “I don’t think it’s something we would like to be married to for the remainder of the yr, nevertheless it’s nice that he was capable of jump in and help us out in that situation.”
More to the purpose, though, is that the Rangers need Chytil to have the opportunity to leap in and help out on the dots. A yr ago, Chytil’s 39.8 percent on the dots ranked 112th and last amongst players who had taken not less than 500 draws. That represents an almost impossibly tough nut to swallow from a second-line center.
3. The Kid Line lived!
Well, for about 40 seconds on the back end of the Rangers’ third power play that got here at 7:18 of the third period with the club holding a 3-1 lead.
The Blueshirts scored 16 seconds into their first man-advantage with Kreider deflecting home Fox’s drive from the correct top.
On the second power play, the primary unit consisting of Kreider, Zibanejad, Panarin, Trocheck and Fox modified after about 55 seconds. The second unit featured 4 forwards in Chytil, Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko and Blake Wheeler, with K’Andre Miller the lone defenseman back at the highest. That’s how the club generally practiced this week.
But on the third power play, after the primary unit modified, the Rangers sent out Chytil, Lafreniere and Kakko up front with Miller and fellow defenseman Erik Gustafsson back on the points.
“It was [game situation],” Laviolette said. “Initially, I believe it’s still a very good power play, I don’t think you give anything up with the defensemen we have now on the ice.
But from a defensive standpoint, to have two guys who think that way — I believe when a defenseman gets on the flank of an influence play he thinks more in regards to the defensive side or what might occur versus a forward
“So for me,” the coach said, “it was just pulling back from the mindset but not necessarily decreasing the standard of the facility play.”
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Regarding the Rangers, who on Saturday against the Blue Jackets will try to match their 2-0 getaway from the 2022-23 season:
1. For the primary nine years of his NHL profession while playing for head coaches John Tortorella, Alain Vigneault and David Quinn, Chris Kreider amassed a complete of 38:47 price of penalty-kill ice time.
Along got here Gerard Gallant who in 2021-22 paired Kreider on the primary penalty-kill unit with Mika Zibanejad. And if that is to function Gallant’s legacy as a Rangers head coach, it’s going to be remembered as commendable.
For when No. 20 scored on the PK off a feed from Zibanejad at 11:34 of the third period Thursday within the opener at Buffalo to present the Blueshirts a 4-1 lead en path to a 5-1 victory, that marked Kreider’s eighth shorthanded goal during the last three seasons.
That leads the NHL by one over Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson and Toronto’s Mitch Marner. Not too shabby for a person who got his first shorthanded goal in his 611th profession game, Jan. 13, 2022, against San Jose’s Aidin Hill within the match during which Braden Schneider made his NHL debut.
“I all the time sort of thought it could be something I’d be good at,” said Kreider, who also scored a power-play goal within the opener to spice up his profession total to 267, fifth in franchise history and just five behind Andy Bathgate. “Good first step … reach … close on guys.
“Get in the way in which, and when the puck turns over, take off.”
The Rangers killed all three Sabres power plays over an aggregate 5:22, allowing just one shot while blocking six attempts. The Zibanejad-Kreider tandem was one in every of three utilized by head coach Peter Laviolette with Vincent Trochek-Barclay Goodrow and Nick Bonino-Tyler Pitlick.
“I believe playing on the facility play has benefitted me by understanding where the issue areas are,” said Kreider, whose 35 power-play goals during the last three seasons are tied for second within the league with Zibanejad, a whopping 22 behind Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl. “I don’t need to necessarily be cheating, I don’t need to get caught out of position, but you already know when you may go and when you may’t.
“It’s lots easier twiddling with Foxy and Mika.”
2. The Blueshirts won 38 of 60 faceoffs against the Sabres (63.3 percent) with Alexis Lafreniere leading the way in which by winning 4 of 5 draws. Nick Bonino was at 75 percent by going 9-3, while Vincent Trocheck clocked in at 66.7 percent in winning 12 of 18.
Lafreniere stood in for center Filip Chytil, apparently compromised by the unidentified upper-body injury he sustained at camp’s fourth day on the ice that sidelined him for 2 weeks. No. 72 didn’t take a draw. Artemi Panarin, the road’s left wing, took one draw and lost it.
“It’s a very good spot to try this when any individual’s coming back,” Laviolette said. “We had talked to Laff about it, we sat him in on the faceoff meetings and worked with him on-ice a bit of bit and tried to present him some help. After which he crushed it.
“He’s not a natural centerman, [Thursday,] it went our way within the circle a bit of bit and as a part of that he did a very good job,” Laviolette said. “I don’t think it’s something we would like to be married to for the remainder of the yr, nevertheless it’s nice that he was capable of jump in and help us out in that situation.”
More to the purpose, though, is that the Rangers need Chytil to have the opportunity to leap in and help out on the dots. A yr ago, Chytil’s 39.8 percent on the dots ranked 112th and last amongst players who had taken not less than 500 draws. That represents an almost impossibly tough nut to swallow from a second-line center.
3. The Kid Line lived!
Well, for about 40 seconds on the back end of the Rangers’ third power play that got here at 7:18 of the third period with the club holding a 3-1 lead.
The Blueshirts scored 16 seconds into their first man-advantage with Kreider deflecting home Fox’s drive from the correct top.
On the second power play, the primary unit consisting of Kreider, Zibanejad, Panarin, Trocheck and Fox modified after about 55 seconds. The second unit featured 4 forwards in Chytil, Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko and Blake Wheeler, with K’Andre Miller the lone defenseman back at the highest. That’s how the club generally practiced this week.
But on the third power play, after the primary unit modified, the Rangers sent out Chytil, Lafreniere and Kakko up front with Miller and fellow defenseman Erik Gustafsson back on the points.
“It was [game situation],” Laviolette said. “Initially, I believe it’s still a very good power play, I don’t think you give anything up with the defensemen we have now on the ice.
But from a defensive standpoint, to have two guys who think that way — I believe when a defenseman gets on the flank of an influence play he thinks more in regards to the defensive side or what might occur versus a forward
“So for me,” the coach said, “it was just pulling back from the mindset but not necessarily decreasing the standard of the facility play.”
