Rangers star politely claps back at notion team needed to ‘turn it around’ before latest win
It’s no secret that the New York Rangers were not exactly playing their best brand of hockey in recent weeks. A 4-4-0 stretch often saw them chasing the game and struggling mightily in their own end of the ice.
They’ve won three in a row since, progressively playing better each game, including a 4-3 win on the road against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
It was after the latest win — the second straight on a current four-game road trip — when Rangers defenseman Adam Fox was asked, “Is this an opportunity to really, really do something with your season, turn it kind of around the way you’re playing?”
Fox clearly wasn’t thrilled with the question, likely considering the Rangers are 12-4-1 on the season and have the fifth-best points percentage in the NHL (.735) despite that rugged three-week stretch.
So, he ran his hand through his hair and with a sarcastic chuckle replied, “I don’t know that we need to turn it around necessarily … ” with a heavy emphasis on the word “turn.”
It’s about as confrontational as it will ever get with Fox, who’s well known and respected for how polite he is with the media. The phrasing of the question irked him, no doubt, but he quickly caught himself, especially after the reporter tried to clarify what he emant.
“We were definitely playing not our best hockey, sneaking away with wins, whether it be goaltending or being able to score a few,” he continued in a more polite, Fox-like manner. “There are definitely still things we want to clean up, like we’ve talked about odd-man rushes … but it’s definitely a good start to the road trip for sure.”
The win in Vancouver was one of the most complete games the Rangers have played in a while. But it’s been building. It started last week in a 6-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, believe it or not, when the Rangers did many things better and weren’t pinned in their own end for extended stretches. It continued on an upward arc in a 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks last Thursday and in the first two games of this road trip.
The Rangers had a 61.65 xgf percentage against the Canucks, per Natural Stat Trick. They out-scored (4-3), out-shot (27-17) and out-chanced (20-16) the Canucks on Tuesday.
Related: Jonny Brodzinski ‘getting better every game’ for Rangers
Adam Fox, Rangers ‘pretty steady, pretty solid’ in win against Canucks
A big reason why the Rangers were so good in Vancouver was Fox. The 26-year-old defenseman played one of his most complete games of the season. He was excellent in every phase of the game, and finished with two assists, two shots on goal and three blocked shots in 22:06 TOI. His xGF was 64.75 percent.
In a quietly effective manner, Fox set the tone for the Rangers against the Canucks, which is what great players do.
All in all, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette was very happy with what he saw Tuesday.
“I thought it was pretty steady, pretty solid,” Laviolette said about his team’s performance. “I thought defensively we were good, offensively we had lots of good looks, and we were pretty consistent with it the whole game.”
He could’ve been speaking specifically about Fox. Steady. Solid. Consistent.
Those are hallmarks about the Rangers top blueliner. He now has 15 assists in 17 games, tied for third most among NHL defensemen, and continues to be a calming presence on the back end — in all three zones of the ice.
Perhaps Fox — the Norris Trophy winner in 2020-21 — stepped his game up a bit more because he faced the reigning Norris winner, Quinn Hughes of the Canucks.
“It’s definitely not fun to play against him,” Fox said with a laugh. “It’s fun to watch him, though. The way he skates and moves on the ice, I’d pay a lot of money to be able to move like that out there.”
It says here Fox is doing quite fine with his own skill set. No reason to turn it around on his end.
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