3 Rangers takeaways after wild day at MSG ends with 4-2 win against Penguins
It’s hard to believe that a slump-busting 4-2 win for the New York Rangers over a division rival like the Pittsburgh Penguins probably ranked No. 3 in attention-grabbing events at Madison Square Garden.
But that was definitely the case on Friday night, when the Rangers’ second win in eight games came a few hours after they traded captain, Jacob Trouba, and saw reports that Igor Shesterkin agreed to the richest contract for a goaltender in NHL history. They came out with the kind of energy that was rarely in evidence during a 1-6-0 slide that dropped them from the chase for first place in the Metropolitan Division to battling for a wild-card playoff berth.
“It’s a starting point,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said postgame. “Like I said this morning, it’s a different direction and it’s a starting point for that. A win is the way to start. If you’re going to start something in a different direction you’d like to get out with a win, you’d like to get out feeling like you played well in the game, and I think we accomplished that.”
The Rangers hit the statistical marks that usually mean victory for them. They improved to 10-0-1 when they score four or more goals and 12-0-0 when they allow two or fewer goals. They’ve given up two or fewer goals in 12 of 14 victories this season. Since the start of last season, the Rangers are 50-1-0 in 51 regular-season non-shootout games when allowing two goals or fewer.
After ending the Penguins’ four-game winning streak, the Rangers have a chance to string a few wins together by beating sub-.500 teams. They host the Seattle Kraken (13-14-1) on Sunday afternoon and the Chicago Blackhawks, who are last in the overall standings and fired coach Luke Richardson on Thursday, the following night. On Wednesday, they visit the Buffalo Sabres (11-12-3), who walloped the Rangers 6-1 at MSG on Nov. 7.
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3 takeaways from Rangers 4-2 win against the Penguins
Here are three takeaways from the game Friday.
1. Rangers come together after a crazy day
Facing a division rival a few hours after your team traded its captain isn’t the best way to prepare for a game. The distraction of reports that your star goalie has reached a huge contract extension doesn’t help either. But the Rangers didn’t let either one bother them against the Penguins. They played the kind of game that Laviolette has been looking for during their slump that’s reached back more than a month – fast-paced with quick puck movement and a lot of time spent in the offensive zone. That’s almost the complete opposite of what they’ve been doing for the past few weeks.
Shesterkin faced just 22 shots, the fewest he’s seen in a game this season.
Trouba’s situation has been hanging over the Rangers since the summer. A final resolution could be just what’s needed to get everyone on the same page. The goal now is to build on what they did against the Penguins.
“The day happened, we needed to do that anyway. When things aren’t going your way, (you’ve) got to stay together,” Laviolette said. “You have to play for each other. It’s the only way out of it sometimes. Tonight, for me, was a positive step. It’s one step. We need to follow it up more.”
But as center Vincent Trocheck said, Trouba will be missed.
“It was tough,” he said. “I mean, every team you go to you build relationships with everybody on the team, and as cliché as it sounds you become brothers with these guys. It’s always tough to see anybody go — but ‘Troubs’ I’ve known for a long time and for him to go as one of the big leaders on our team it’s always tough. It was a tough morning, obviously. We knew we had to come in here tonight and really show up.”
2. Reilly Smith and his linemates step up their game
Not only had Reilly Smith gone 10 games without a goal, he wasn’t even generating scoring opportunities. Laviolette had moved him away from his regular linemates, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, during the lineup juggling of the past few games, and even scratched him for one.
But Laviolette put his line combinations back to what they had been during the Rangers’ 5-0-1 start, and Smith looked like the player the Rangers hoped they were getting when they acquired him from Pittsburgh during the summer. He led the Rangers with nine shot attempts and six shots on goal – the last of which put the Rangers ahead to stay midway through the third period.
The reconstituted line outshot the Penguins 9-2 and out-attempted them 19-6, according to Natural Stat Trick. That’s despite spending much of the night playing against Sidney Crosby’s line.
“From the first shift and mostly through the first period, I thought that they had great offensive looks, and they just carried that right through the game,” Laviolette said. “I thought all three of those players were really strong tonight.”
3. Big night for the big line
The line of Trocheck between Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere carried the offense during the Rangers fast start. But they’ve cooled off in the past couple of weeks – and not coincidentally, the team struggled offensively.
But the threesome looked like their early-season selves against the Penguins. Panarin scored twice in the second period and assisted on Trocheck’s insurance goal; Trocheck assisted on both of Panarin’s goals and Lafreniere assisted on one goal by each of his linemates. That’s three goals and eight points from one line.
All three goals came off the rush following quick breakouts, something that hadn’t been happening during the past couple of weeks.
“More decisive, yeah,” Trocheck said. “That’s what we’re trying to get to; more decisiveness on the breakouts.”
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