[ad_1]
So let me say this without anyone suggesting that I call Alexis Lafrenière a bust or a bummer or sort of an example of how the Rangers don’t know how to feed teenagers.
But for the third straight game in which open ice was a bonus and the game was played in tight spaces, David Quinn relinquished the No. 1 pick in the rotation draft in the second half of the third period.
The first overall selection in the 2020 Draft made two changes worth 1:24 in the final 11:56 of Monday’s 2-0 Garden loss to the Islanders in which the visitors struck twice in 2 : 05 after a scoreless first 51:15.
This after No.13 received two changes worth 57 seconds during the final 10:40 of Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Capitals, which was a game after receiving two changes worth of 1:29 in the 11:13 final of the 3- 1 win over the Penguins on February 1.
It’s funny. People kind of assumed – and you, Felix Unger and I all know what happens when you do that – that Lafrenière would naturally improve his game after scoring his first NHL goal with the winner of the overtime game at Buffalo. January 28. reason, however, the 19-year-old’s game has stalled.
He’s not so much on or around the puck. Instead, he was stuck in traffic, unable to exit in the open ice. Of course, it’s also been two back-to-back third row games with Brett Howden, who has many admirable qualities, but serving his wingers’ attack isn’t high on this list.
Lafrenière played a sum of 14:02, including 2:00 on the second unit of the power play which accomplished little in this affair which for 40 minutes could have had a Jacques Lemaire around 1995 behind the two benches. The Islanders had a more effective pre-chess than the Rangers, who generally played a role in the puck during line changes and therefore had little chance of creating puck support. Lafrenière was credited with five hits, but did not register a shot attempt.
Plus, he was part of the squad on the ice for the mass confusion that hit the goal 2-0 on his last shift, though perhaps the least culpable. This marked Lafreniere’s last shift of the night, with Kaapo Kakko getting the time with the extra striker who had previously risen to No.13.
Casey Cizikas hit one from the mouth of a goal at 11:15, capitalizing on an unfortunate giveaway from the left corner in nowhere by Libor Hajek. Now the islanders were breaking out unopposed, as they were allowed to stay much of the night. Mathew Barzal crossed the neutral zone and threw past Cal Clutterbuck, who caught him in the right corner.
Somehow, Matt Martin had crept up the left side, unanswered. The Rangers seemed frozen in time as Clutterbuck passed a pass Martin had brought in from the left doorstep at 1:20 pm. Howden and Anthony Bitetto, both at the scene, stood with outstretched gloves. Their requests went unanswered.
“It was a one-on-four and we just didn’t play well,” said Quinn, whose team played pretty well in the lockout but at the same time locked their own offensive game. “Clutterbuck is in the corner, we leave the middle and our backchecker stops coming back.
“We had four against two and I think everyone’s guessing someone else is going to do something. It was a bad read. It was just general confusion because I thought we had too many guys who had a chance to do something and nobody did anything.
The Rangers were minimalist in the offensive zone. Semyon Varlamov, who has gone 120: 00 without giving up a goal in the garden this season with this one after his opening night shutout, made some shrewd saves on Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, but the Blueshirts didn’t not been able to create traffic in front of the goalkeeper nor generate second chances. Pretty much unique.
Zibanejad, stuck on one goal and two assists in 11 games and with one point (one assist) in his last eight games, has been more of a factor in the attacking zone. But Chris Kreider didn’t have much of an impact and neither did his teammate Pavel Buchnevich. This unit, however, was more effective than the Panarin-Ryan Strome-Kakko triumvirate which yielded far more than it created.
Off the puck and in the defensive zone, there was a lot to like. The Rangers gave up just 30 shots, just a few ticks above the 27.7 average they introduced into the game, which is good for the 10th best in the NHL. Last year, the Blueshirts surrendered the second most in the league with 34 shots on par. Two years ago, they were third at 33.8 against par. It is real progress.
The Rangers won’t have a break in the schedule, with the Bruins next for a pair on Broadway. They are not known to allow a lot of free ice. We’ll see how much of whatever nature is awarded to Lafreniere late if the match is on the line.
[ad_2]
Source link