3 Rangers takeaways from 5-0 thrashing of Senators
This was supposed to be a playoff-like battle between two legit contenders in the Eastern Conference. It was anything but, when the New York Rangers completely dismantled the Ottawa Senators 5-0 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
Believe it or not, the Senators are the team currently holding a wild-card spot in the East, and the Rangers are the team on the outside looking in, though they’re only two points out of a wild card right now.
The Senators (24-19-4) didn’t look anything like a playoff team Tuesday, due in large part to the all-around complete game played by the Rangers (23-20-4), who were better in every single facet. Heck, it could’ve been 7-0 if the Rangers weren’t offside twice, negating apparent goals by Sam Carrick in the first period and Arthur Kaliyev in the second.
The score only partly speaks to how completely the Rangers thrashed their guests. It was 2-0 after two periods and still felt like Ottawa didn’t have a chance.
The Rangers are on a season-long nine-game point streak (6-0-3), one point behind the Columbus Blue Jackets (whom they also shut out last weekend) and two behind the Senators, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens (whom they lost to 5-4 in overtime Sunday). They are physically healthy and their game is healthy again.
This is simply night and day from that disastrous 4-15-0 stretch in November and December.
Related: Controversial former Rangers defenseman now NHL free-agent option
3 takeaways from Rangers shutout win against Senators
Here are three takeaways from the dominating win Tuesday.
1. All for one
The Rangers are again playing as a team, not a group of individuals. It shows in their defensive structure and commitment to one another, evidenced by allowing a season-low 20 shots Tuesday. It hasn’t always been perfect and there’ve been some serious breakdowns even in this current point streak (case in point Sunday in Montreal). But this group has come together, they are playing for one another and there’s no longer a question of compete when watching the Rangers play.
Certainly that was evident in the third period when all five Rangers jumped in to defend Igor Shesterkin after the Rangers goalie was leveled by Senators captain Brady Tkachuk in a goal-mouth scrum. That Shesterkin joined the fray and went after Tkachuk after the Ottawa captain looked to fight Braden Schneider was the cherry on top for the fans and Igor’s teammates. Of course, all involved prefer that Shesterkin not get socked by the left hand Tkachuk greeted him with. But the point is that it was all for one, and the one is the Rangers name across the front of their jerseys.
Coach Peter Laviolette maybe wasn’t thrilled to see his $92 million goalie get involved. But he sure as heck appeared quite pleased discussing the melee in his postgame chat with the media.
“That hockey, man,” the coach quipped with a smile.
2. Twin towers
Great nugget dug up by Peter Baugh of The Athletic: when Matt Rempe scored his first goal of the season on a neat feed from Adam Edstrom in the third period, they became the tallest teammates in NHL history to combine with a goal and the primary assist on the same scoring play. At 13-feet-3-inches, Rempe and Edstrom passed Zdeno Chara and Dougie Hamilton, who did it three times together with the Boston Bruins.
This was not a greasy fourth-line goal, either, not that there’s ever anything wrong with one of those, mind you. But this one started in the Rangers end with the fourth line defending well and winning a puck battle along the boards. Carrick chipped to Rempe, who quickly fed Edstrom. Then Edstrom took off the other way, eventually playing the puck to himself off the boards, before neatly passing it over to Rempe bursting down the middle toward the Ottawa net. Rempe made a sweet forehand-backhand finish and The Garden exploded.
Edstrom’s play improves by the day and Carrick has provided a massive lift offensively since the start of the New Year, though his all-around game has been consistently solid all season. Only recently did Rempe work his way back to the NHL and into a regular role on the fourth line, and he had himself a strong night Tuesday.
Rempe played a smart, physical game in just under 10 minutes TOI, He was second behind Artemi Panarin (five) with four shots on goal, nearly scored a second goal late in the third period off another rush chance and was right in the middle of things to stand up for his goalie. Not many teams can match up on the fourth line to the twin towers of Edstrom and Rempe, if they play as they did Tuesday.
3. It takes everyone
Shesterkin backstopped his second straight shutout. The Rangers had five different goal scorers. Thirteen of the 18 skaters recorded a point. New York allowed only eight scoring chances all game, never more than three in any one period, per Natural Stat Trick. They scored two power-play goals, including Will Cuylle’s first extra-man marker this season. They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and didn’t allow the Ottawa power play a single shot on goal.
It was a thoroughly dominant outing for the Rangers. And it was as complete a total team effort as they’ve had all season. This is what it will take throughout the stretch run and when they line up against stiffer competition. This was the blueprint.
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