Quick Hits- Rangers vs Canucks 11/8

Zak Chiger Updated: Nov 9, 2016

Here is my Quick Hits recap of last night’s Rangers loss to the Canucks

Rick Nash – Rick Nash continued to play like a man possessed, making power moves to the net, and being a force hawking the puck. He recorded his 400th career goal on the powerplay, finishing off a beautiful passing play. If he keeps up his level of play, he could get back to having a 30-40 goal season.

https://twitter.com/NHLDaily365/status/796185108994813952

Pavel Buchnevich – Buchnevich continues to show why he was so coveted by the Rangers. He opened the scoring with his 3rd goal in as many games, recorded the primary assist on Rick Nash’s powerplay goal and on Zibanejad’s goal. Buchnevich has really shined early on this season.

https://twitter.com/NHLDaily365/status/796184479987548161

Jimmy Vesey – Vesey didn’t do a whole lot in this game. He was benched for the majority of the third period. He’s still learning how to play at the NHL level. Hopefully he takes it in stride and continues to improve
Brady Skjei – Skjei continued his offensive excellence with another assist tonight, giving him 9 on the season. He was on the ice for one of the Canucks goals, but has played very well so far this season. And remember, he’s only a rookie. He will be a staple on the Rangers blue line for years to come.
Derek Stepan – Derek Stepan did not have a good game. He missed an open net on the short side, and got beat coming back on the 4th Vancouver goal. He has been solid so far and hopefully a game like this will make him step up his game.
Antti Raanta – Antti had a solid game, but after he gets run over by the Canucks player, he is shortly removed to go into concussion protocol. It was unclear at first, because Raanta had remained in the game, but the NHL has instituted a new rule this year that the league can call a team and tell them to take a player off the ice. With Raanta off the ice, the Canucks were able to capitalize on a cold Henrik Lundqvist, scoring 2 goals, which turned the game around.
Special Teams – One could argue that this game was lost because of the lack of a Rangers power play. Now granted that the Rangers scored on the power play to tie the game at 2, but they had 4 other chances that generated no shots on net. The power play tonight looked like it had over the last couple of years, which as we all know, is not good. They need to have a bounce back game next time out
Faceoffs – One of the keys to the Rangers hot start was the ability to control the puck off the draw. Tonight was the first night that the Rangers were beaten in the faceoff category. Vancouver won 65% of the draws. Yes it was an off night, but that means the Rangers lost 2 of every 3 draws. This needs to improve for the Rangers to excel this season.
Effort – This was, for all intents and purposes, a perfect trap game. You had a team in the Canucks in the midst of a long losing streak, the Rangers on a winning streak and about to start a road trip out west. The Canucks looked hungry all night, and played like they needed to win. The Rangers, on the other hand, played like they didn’t care if they lost. The defense was sloppy, the passing was not accurate, and there seemed to be a lack of energy throughout the lineup. I would hope this is the only time this happens this season, and the Rangers are rested and ready to go Saturday night.