Is everyone back off the ledge now? I’d say I’m surprised a few losses sent this base to the brink, but I’ve been a Blueshirt backer for too long to expect otherwise. After a blistering start, the Rangers hit their first rut of the season in a stretch that featured some ugly losses. Unfortunately, and contrary to seemingly common belief, these games will happen. It is near impossible for a team in any sport to win almost every single night. Frankly I’m not even sure it’s healthy for them to face almost no adversity all year long (ask last year’s Bruins). As Rocky Balboa said, “it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.” The Rangers took a few hits, but kept moving forward, let’s dive in!
The Recent Run
At 6-4-0 in their last ten games, the Rangers have had to work a few things out to get back on track. These “kinks” caused far too much panic amongst the fan base, but that’s par for the course. Everything wrong was correctable, some of those issues were old habits from last season, ones they cannot let creep back into their game. One of the problems that needed immediate correcting was in goal, an area that usually doesn’t cause problem.
While Igor Shesterkin has had some struggles in the past, his recent stretch in the Ranger pipes was probably the worst of his career. He allowed at least four goals in three of his last four starts, including being charged with six against Ottawa and seven against Toronto. While these weren’t all his fault as the Rangers struggled defensively in these games too, number 31 just didn’t look right.
Shesterkin wasn’t fighting through traffic and continued to kick rebounds to open shooters. Simple mistakes like those and his habit of not covering pucks were putting him and the Rangers in bad positions in their own end. It was tough to watch on the ice, and even tougher off it as Shesterkin was besides himself in a rare postgame interview. The good news is Jonathan Quick continued to perform well and buy Igor time to get his game right. Quick’s play Sunday and Friday helped lead to the better news, when Shesterkin played a strong game in Boston as the Blueshirts prevailed 2-1 in OT. Hopefully Igor can keep it going now.
As mentioned above, the other half of Shesterkin’s problem was the Rangers play in the D-zone. The “old habits” from last season made an appearance here as at times all five Rangers failed to clear pucks and made lazy plays across the ice. There were too many diagonal “hit and hope” passes and not enough crisp straight line hockey being played. Peter Laviolette and his staff helped to eliminate the East and West style of play from this team’s game, and it cannot creep back in.
Adam Fox, who hasn’t been his usual dominating self since returning from injury, highlighted this in a postgame interview after the loss to the Leafs. Number 23 spoke about how he and his teammates were working to get back to their game after those negative habits returned. Fortunately for Fox and the Rangers, he and the D-core had two of their best games of the year in the clubs last two tilts.
The good news is that this team is resilient and has managed to battle back from ugly losses, much in the way they have battled through injuries. It would be naive to think the Rangers would go through this season with little to no adversity. As Blake Wheeler and the other veterans said last week, these kind of skids build character when you get out of them. This group is better for going everything they have so far, and it speaks to their character. The injuries have given every guy on the roster the chance to shine, as shown in our stars section below.
Three Stars
Vincent Trocheck: My preseason prediction of a big season for Vinny Trocheck continues to pay off. Number 16 has been one of the Rangers most consistent performers this year, and he was clutch on Saturday night in Boston. Scoring both goals in the game increased his season total to eight, to go with his 19 assists. His point per game pace helps give the Rangers two solid scoring lines, while he also continues his excellent two way play.
Chris Kreider: What a special Friday night at the Garden for Chris Kreider. By scoring twice against the Ducks, number 20 crossed off several career milestones. These tallies accounted for his 500th career point, 100th career power play goal, and his 281st goal in a Ranger uniform. Goal 281 moved him past the great Adam Graves for sole possession of third place in club history. Kreider’s far from done in this uniform and only needs 126 to pass Rod Gilbert for the most in team history. Number 20 is well on its way to the Rafters.
Jonathan Quick: We’re running out of superlatives to describe Jonathan Quick. The future Hall of Famer is now 9-0-1 on the year with a 2.09 goals against average and .926 save percentage. He had an extra special week at home with a tremendous performance against Anaheim, a rival from his days out west, and a win against his old team last Sunday, the Kings. Number 32 is living the dream right now, and the Garden Faithful are rightfully showing him love for his play.
The New Threads
To kick off December the Rangers launched their new alternate third jersey. They got some negative reviews off the top, but since then I’ve seen more and more people on board with them. I’m certainly in the latter camp as I think the Rangers nailed it with these jerseys. I think some of the small details are cool, especially the striping on the arms, meant to mimic the Madison Square Garden lighting. The shield moving front and center is also a cool change of pace while being a call back to the 76-77 season’s look.
The best news of all regarding these new uniforms is the Rangers are 2-0-0 while wearing them. Last year’s latest reverse retro “Liberty” jersey didn’t see many wins, so let’s hope the trend continues for this new look. I look forward to receiving mine soon, so I can wear it to the “World’s Most Famous Arena.”
Rangers Wishlist
As the holidays are in full swing, I thought now was a good time to do my Rangers “Christmas Wishlist.” I’m trying to be reasonable here, after all Santa is a busy guy, but let’s see what he can do.
A Clean Bill of Health: One of the stories of the Rangers season so far has been the injury bug. While some of the injuries have been short term, two are dragging on and one is particularly concerning. Kaapo Kakko has been out since November 27th with a leg injury, while Filip Chytil has been out since November 2nd with an undisclosed issue. While Kakko’s injury was grizzly, there seems to be a positive outlook on his return occurin at some point. Meanwhile the club has offered little information on Chytil’s condition, a worrying sign for a player with a concussion history. The Rangers will need them back to go with deadline reinforcements to make a run this year.
HARTemi Panarin: While there are many deserving candidates around the league, I’m pulling for the Breadman to win this year’s Hart Trophy (the league MVP award). With 42 points (16 goals and 26 assists) number 10 has elevated his game after a frustrating season last year. He’s been so much better in all three zones, seemingly going back to his aggressive style of play from year one on Broadway. Hopefully this continues and helps get the Blueshirts team MVP some more votes at year’s end.
Gifts under the Deadline Tree: Rangers GM Chris Drury has been in charge for two solid trade deadlines so far in his tenure. Interestingly he’s taken two different approaches to adding to his lineup in each. At the 21-22 deadline Drury acquired solid role players Andrew Copp, Frank Vatrano, Tyler Motte, and Justin Braun, all of whom wound up making an impact. In contrast the 22-23 deadline saw him add splashy names like Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, while also returning Motte and adding solid blue liner Nikko Mikkola. I’d argue all these trades, Kane aside, worked out. Drury has managed to not give up the farm while also improving his roster. My guess is the upcoming deadline will look more like the 21-22 haul. This current squad is very good and very deep. It just needs some final touches to go to battle with in the spring.
Please be the Year: Would be one hell of a way to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1994 championship.
Around the Rink
Now that we’ve covered the Rangers, let’s go around the NHL and look at the latest headlines. There’s been a lot going on of late, both on and off the ice. So let’s dive in.
So Long Chief: All good things come to an end, unfortunately it rings true for now former Blues head coach Craig Berube. “The Chief” was relieved of his duties in Gateway city with the Blues underachieving. Everyone (aside from Jordan Kyrou) sang the praises of Berube, who will always be a hero in St. Louis for bringing home their first Stanley Cup. The Blues have been plagued by a lineup that has struggled to score at even strength and on the power play. This team had playoff expectations preseason so they need to get going fast. The good news is interim head coach Drew Bannister is off a 2-0-0 start and the Blues sit just one point out of a playoff spot.
Music City Revival: While one central division team is struggling, another is surging. That surging team is the Nashville Predators, who are currently riding a four game winning streak, moving their record to 18-13-0. That mark is good enough for fourth in the central, and a wild card spot out west. Through 31 games they’re led by three big guns. Filip Forsberg continues to be a model of consistency with 36 points in 31 games. He’s backed up by star D man Roman Josi who has 27 points of his own and new comer Ryan O’Reilly with 26 points. Of course their backbone is goaltender Jusse Saros, who is playing the pipes at a .912 save percentage clip. Year one of the Trotz and Brunette regime is off to a good start.
Steel City Meltdown: Back east, one of the preseason media “darlings” is struggling to find their way. The Pittsburgh Penguins have lost five of their last seven and things are getting pretty uncomfortable for those in charge. While Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel are doing their part, the Pens are struggling to get production from the rest of the group. Newcomers Erik Karlsson and Reilly Smith haven’t hit the ground running and Kris Letang looks run down at 36 years of age. Goaltending has been hit and miss, making this the perfect storm for a messy start. All eyes are on head coach Mike Sullivan, whose job may be in jeopardy soon, especially after Saturday’s blowout loss to the Leafs.
Buckle Up: We move from the metro to the Atlantic with a look at the Leafs roller coaster. Last week “Torona” put their fans through the wringer. It started with a John Tavares picking up his 1,000th point in a thrilling overtime loss to the Islanders Monday. They then made their way to Manhattan and blew out a good Ranger team 7-3 on Tuesday. Only to throw away that momentum in another heart stopping 6-5 OT loss to Columbus (a game they trailed 5-0 after two). Before capping their week off with a 7-0 rout of the Penguins on Saturday. This team is so hot and cold it’s easy to understand why their fans are always panicked. Despite these inconsistencies within individual games, the Leafs are now 16-6-6, and second in the Atlantic division. The Cup parade is back on…for now.
Trouble in the Capital: This story wound being a late breaking addition to today’s recap is it came out just before publishing. The Ottawa Senator relieved head coach DJ Smith of his duties Monday afternoon. At 11-15-0, the Sens sit at the bottom of the East, a major disappointment for a team with high hopes. This team just never can seem to put it all together. Maybe it’s the coaching, maybe it’s the locker room culture, maybe it’s the dead rink they play in. It’s probably a combo of all three as the rebuild has been over for a while yet they don’t take the next step. One thing is clear, failure will not be tolerated under new owner Michael Andlauer, who has fired his coach (Smith) and GM Pierre Dorion this year. Veteran coach Jacques Martin will take over behind the bench.
Looking the Part: Out of the many surprises this season, the Flyers may be the best story. At 17-10-3, they are second in the metro ahead of preseason contenders Carolina and New Jersey. They’ve been particularly impressive of late, going 7-1-2 in their last ten games. While they don’t score a ton, they have gotten standout offensive performances from Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, and Joel Farabee. Their middling offense is mitigated by excellent defensive play by the whole team, and good goaltending from Carter Hart and Sam Ersson. John Tortorella has long been one of the leagues finest coaches, but this may be his best work yet. We may need to stop asking if this team is for real, and instead discuss how far they can go.
Flying High: The Flyers doppelgänger out west is the Winnipeg Jets. Expectations weren’t high in “The Peg” this season but so far Rick Bowness team has been great. Their 18-9-2 mark is good for second in the central, right behind the Avalanche who they recently pounded 6-2. What makes this even more impressive is that they continue to win in the absence of star shooter Kyle Connor, who will be out 6-8 weeks. In his absence Mark Scheifele, Nik Ehlers, and Cole Perfetti have shouldered the load up front. Josh Morrissey remains one of the best D men in the league, helping Connor Hellebuyck have another dominant season in net. Keep an eye on new comer Gabe Vilardi, who was acquired this summer in the Pierre Luc Dubois trade. Big number 13 has nine points in 11 games after missing the start of the year, and could play a key role this year.
That does it for this recap. Stay tuned for a special fan led Rangers article, as well as a World Junior preview coming soon. We’ll also have plenty of football content this week and next. Follow me on Twitter @YNWA9623 and subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in then bottom right corner of your screen and entering your email address. We’ll be back with more soon.
The Broadway Breakdown 
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