Rangers don’t benefit from drastic line changes in latest loss to Blues
Following another disastrous performance against the Los Angeles Kings in a 5-1 loss Saturday, the New York Rangers made significant changes to their lineup Sunday when they faced off against the St. Louis Blues. Artemi Panarin, their top scorer, was out with an upper-body injury, and Kaapo Kakko was a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
Coach Peter Laviolette also changed the look of all four line combinations. But the moves didn’t have the desired result in a 3-2 loss to the Blues, New York’s 10th defeat in the past 13 games.
With two wings out of the lineup, Johnny Brodzinski and Jimmy Vesey returned. Brodzinski got a premium spot next to Vincent Trocheck and Reilly Smith, and Vesey played on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Brett Berard.
One of the more surprising elements of this was the fact that Zibanejad had the least ice time at 5v5 of anyone on the team. He’s struggled plenty this season, with just six goals and a minus-15 rating. Playing him on a line with Vesey and Berard doesn’t exactly scream instant offense, but Laviolette saw fit to demote Zibanejad to the third line and then played him only 13:04.
Zibanejad’s normal running mate, Chris Kreider, was demoted even further. He played on the fourth line with Sam Carrick and Adam Edstrom. This line played with some jump, but it generated little offense outside of Edstrom nearly sneaking a right-wing shot off the rush past Blues goalie Joel Hofer in the second period.
The results played out pretty much as expected given these lines. The Rangers created just two high-danger chances for the entire game, according to Natural Stat Trick. They hadn’t had fewer than five in any game prior to Sunday. Last season, their fewest high-danger chances in any game was four.
Related: Adam Fox perplexed by Rangers inability to create sustained offensive pressure
Peter Laviolette isn’t entirely to blame for Rangers lack of production
These line changes were somewhat bizarre and haphazard, and really did not help, as evidenced by the lack of chances in the game. Scratching Kakko was also a strange move from an increasingly desperate coach, given the options available to him.
“We were putting fresh legs in the lineup.” Laviolette said after the game. “It was just based on the decision we made to go with this lineup”.
Given that Panarin didn’t play, it wasn’t a surprise that the Rangers had one of their worst offensive performances. When the options to replace him are Brodzinski and Vesey, there just isn’t much a coach can do to replace
Through the first 15 games of the season, the Rangers scored 3.65 goals per game. Their shooting percentage was 11.83 percent, which is definitely on the higher side than you can reasonably expect from any team.
In these past 15 games, they are down to 2.47 goals per game. That’s the fourth-worst in the NHL in that time span. The shooting percentage has plummeted to 8.28 percent, the third-worst in the league.
The drop in finishing can’t be blamed on the coach. It’s probably a bit of bad luck, and also the lack of good scoring looks. In the first 15 games, the Blueshirts created 13.07 high-danger chances per 60 minutes; in the past 15 they are down to just 9.7 per 60. Quite simply, they don’t work hard enough for their chances, and even Adam Fox, their top defenseman, acknowledged after the latest loss that the Rangers are a “one-and-done” team offensively.
Failing to generate chances could be on the coach and force him to make changes. Laviolette has jumbled the lines often lately to get things going, and nothing seems to be working. The question marks over the play of certain forwards remain, and have carried over no matter which line they’ve been on.
Rangers getting little from top offensive players
Panarin and Will Cuylle have been the only consistent producers at forward in this time span, each with over 10 points, including Cuylle’s 11th goal Sunday. Zibanejad appears disinterested and not engaged. Kreider has just three points in his past 12 games and has just one assist all season, and Filip Chytil has three in his past eight. Kakko has two points in his past nine games.
Having Zibanejad and Kreider play lower in the lineup may serve as a bit of a wakeup call to them, and perhaps things will go back to normal on Tuesday in their next game against the Nashville Predators. Trocheck has been dining out on playing with Panarin — it’s going to be hard for him to get back to scoring if the Breadman remains out of the lineup.
Chytil got to play with Cuylle and Alexis Lafrenière, a line that has potential to be effective. Chytil and Cuylle have scored 4.03 goals per 60 minutes when together at five-on-five this season. Add in Lafreniere’s playmaking ability, and this line could be a reliable scoring threat. Lafremiere assisted on Cuylle’s goal against the Blues.
It’s tough to figure out exactly what the Rangers could possibly do with the personnel they have at forward to fix their scoring woes. A little shooting luck would go a long way to helping the team’s confidence, and maybe that will be what’s needed. Other than that, they need to work much harder to generate more and better opportunities, no matter what the line combinations look like.
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