Bobby Trivigno shows mettle, Rangers rookies lose 5-1 to Flyers
Bobby Trivigno is the smallest player at New York Rangers rookie camp standing in at 5-8′ and 161 pounds. In last night’s rookie game finale against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Setauket, NY native was the biggest Blueshirt on the ice.
“Obviously, these are both rookie teams but when you look out on the ice, there’s a lot of good players,” Trivigno said. “Going into main camp you can only expect higher talent, higher compete, better, faster players. It was good to get these two games in before main camp.”
In Game 1 on Friday, the Rangers rookies were outshot by the Flyers and fell 2-1 in OT. Saturday’s game was a role reversal with the Rangers outshooting the Flyers by a sizable margin but losing by a 5-1 score.
Matthew Robertson scored the lone goal in the first game and Bobby Trivigno got the only Rangers tally in the second contest.
Bobby Trivigno shows his mettle
The Rangers looked better in the backend of the two game set, but almost every mistake went into their net. Olof Lindbom struggled allowing 3 goals in his first half of play, with Talyn Boyko giving up two in relief. It simply wasn’t a good night in goal for the Blueshirts.
As for the skaters, they were much improved overall from the first contest but still struggled to generate enough high danger chances to beat Flyers netminder Samuel Ersson.
Top prospect, Brennan Othmann had a strong game, but was given very little room to generate offense. Will Cuylle, who should compete for a spot on the big club, also spent more time in his own end than he did attacking.
While those two rookies pressed, the Rangers smallest player stood tall.
Trivigno, 23, was all over the ice generating offense with his speed and using his diminutive size to his advantage by ducking in and out of traffic. That didn’t prevent him from getting into scrums when the whistle blew with much bigger players.
His goal would break Ersson’s shutout bid in the third period off a 2 on 1. Instead of passing, Trivigno took the shot from the left circle for the tally. It’s always refreshing when someone wearing a Rangers sweater looks to shoot first.
“I know it’s just a rookie game,” Trivigno said afterwards. “Growing up a Rangers fan ever since I knew hockey, it’s huge for me and special for my family to put on that jersey for the first time.”
Trivigno signed with the Rangers as a free agent last season after a successful college career where he won the NCAA National Championship in 2021. In his final year at Mass, he scored 49 points with 20 goals earning himself College Hockey News’ Player of the Year Award.
He will be heading into camp looking to earn a role on the team’s bottom six.
“I’ve never been a part of main camp before,” Trivigno explained. “I know the Rangers have good forwards so I’m just going to play my game and everything will take care of itself.”
New York Rangers rookies lose 5-1 to Flyers
Here’s a look at the lines and pairings that were used for the contest:
- Othmann – Korczak – Pajuniemi
- Cuylle – Khodorenko – Sýkora
- Trivigno – Henriksson – Barbashev
- Edström – McConnell-Barker – Rempe
- Jones – Emberson
- Robertson – Scanlin
- Skinner – Henault
Zac Jones and Matthew Robertson played well on defense in these two rookie games. They’ll both be fighting for the open left defense spot on the Rangers third pair at main camp.
Overall, I felt Robertson looked slightly better, as he did score a power play goal in the first contest. He also took a few shifts on right defense and did not look out of place. Jones on the other hand looked very strong as the team’s top PP quarterback setting up Brennan Othmann on a few one-timers that Ersson stopped.
The Rangers first pick in the 2022 Draft, Adam Sýkora (second round) made a few excellent defensive plays but not much else. I’m sure he will have more to show the organization next season as he matures.
One rookie I would keep an eye out for next year will be Maxim Barbashev. His game is not flashy, but he plays all three zones well. He picked up an assist on Robertson’s PP goal in game 1. The Rangers drafted him in the fifth round this past summer with one of the picks they received from the Avalanche in the Alexandar Georgiev trade.
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