Rangers Week Ahead: Back to work after Olympic gold for Trocheck, Miller
The New York Rangers’ three-week Winter Olympics break officially ends on Thursday night, when they host the Philadelphia Flyers in the first of 25 games in a seven-week span to conclude the wrong kind of a season for the ages.
Before the game, you can bet that the Rangers will honor forwards Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller, coach Mike Sullivan and assistant David Quinn after they helped the United States win gold on Sunday by defeating Canada 2-1 in the championship game of the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
The Rangers hope they’re coming out of the break for home games against the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins healthier than when they finished the pre-Olympic portion of their schedule on Feb. 5 by losing 3-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes – their ninth shutout loss of the season and seventh at Madison Square Garden.
No. 1 goaltender Igor Shesterkin and top-pair defenseman Adam Fox missed the past 13 games with lower-body injuries each sustained in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth on Jan. 5. But Shesterkin and Fox began practicing without restrictions last week, and the Rangers would like nothing more than to see them back in the lineup when play resumes.
The Rangers plummeted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference without Shesterkin and Fox, and return to action 30th out of 32 teams in the NHL standings. Shortly after the injuries, general manager Chris Drury waved the white flag and told fans that a retool — not a complete rebuild — is underway.
But having Shesterkin and Fox back in the lineup does give the Rangers a fighting chance to stack a few wins. It also gives management and the coaching staff a better chance to evaluate the Rangers’ young talent in a more stable atmosphere.
However, they’ll be missing fourth-line forward Matt Rempe when play resumes. Rempe is back on injured reserve and looking at a lost season stemming from the broken left thumb he sustained in a fight against San Jose’s Ryan Reaves on Oct. 23; he’s had one operation and reportedly is headed for another.
Who’s Hot
Mika Zibanejad, the Rangers leading scorer (23 goals, 52 points) now that Artemi Panarin is a member of the Los Angeles Kings, returns to the NHL after putting up six points (three goals, three assists) in five games for Sweden. That includes a late goal in the Swedes’ quarterfinal game against Team USA. It forced overtime, though the U.S. won 2-1.
Who’s Not
Defenseman Braden Schneider isn’t expected to put up a ton of points. But no goals, three assists and a minus-10 rating in 15 games since the start of the new year isn’t going to cut it. For the season, he has two goals, 11 points and is minus-15 in 57 games.
Rangers lookahead this week includes …
Back-to-back nationally televised games against their Pennsylvania-based Metropolitan Division rivals.
Philadelphia Flyers at Rangers (Feb. 26, 8 p.m.; ESPN)
One of the few highlights for the Rangers this season is that they won both meetings against the Flyers, including a 6-3 road win on Jan. 17 that represents their most recent regulation victory.
The Flyers were probably very happy to have a break in the schedule after winning just three of their final 10 games before the Winter Olympics. That slump dropped them eight points behind the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division and eight in back of the Boston Bruins for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. But they’re still 11 points ahead of the Rangers.
The Rangers are 10-3-0 in their past 13 games against the Flyers, including 4-0-0 in games decided after regulation.
Shesterkin’s availability is good news in any case, but even more so against the Flyers; he’s 10-4-1 against them. Zibanejad had a hat trick in the win at Philadelphia, giving him 23 goals and 47 points in 50 career games against Philly.
Pittsburgh Penguins at Rangers (Feb. 28, 12:30 p.m., ABC)
The Penguins are one of the League’s biggest surprises this season as they return to the Garden for the first time since a 3-0 win on opening night. Not much was expected from a team that missed the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, but they reached the break second in the Metro despite losing 12 games after regulation – including seven of eight shootouts.
Pittsburgh has been getting plenty of production from the forward duo that keyed its Stanley Cup championships in 2009, 2016 and 2017. At 38, Sidney Crosby (27 goals, 59 points in 56 games) is on pace for his NHL-record 21st consecutive point-a-game season, and Evgeni Malkin, who’s 39, has 13 goals and 44 points in 41 games. But the Penguins are getting scoring from a lot of other sources; in all, nine players hit the break with double figures in goals.
The division rivals are 4-4-0 in their past eight games, with Pittsburgh winning two of three this season – including a 6-5 victory on Jan. 31 at PPG Paints Arena. Crosby feats on the Rangers, with 41 goals and 110 points in 90 regular-season games. But Crosby missed Canada’s final two games of the Olympics, including the gold medal game, with a lower-body injury and may not play against the Rangers this weekend.
Pittsburgh native Trocheck had a goal and two assists in the loss at Pittsburgh, giving him 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists) in 33 games against the team he grew up watching.
