They have the image of the Rangers, so to speak, who thrive in open games where they can show off their top talent. However, the fact is that this was also the case with Artemi Panarin in the line-up this season. The blueshirts are best when they play methodical hockey in games with relatively low events.
Wednesday’s game in Philadelphia wasn’t a low-event game. It wasn’t one in which the blueshirts played methodically either. Not nearly. Seven nights after a nothing happened shootout win in Philly at a Seinfeldian competition, the Blueshirts were beaten 4-3 in a wild and insane competition that started from the first shift when the Flyers were essentially out of control had three great opportunities.
« I was disappointed with the fact that I thought our D was trying to do too much in general, » said coach David Quinn of the last six caused by the absence of Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller underlined COVID log list during the day. « I just thought we were out of position, people who should keep it simple and play simple hockey. I thought we got too out of control sometimes. »
Igor Shesterkin gave Kevin Hayes a seedy goal for a 4: Flyers 2 lead at 2:37 p.m. in the second half, but the Netminder sparkled with at least half a dozen phenomenal saves in what was possibly the strongest performance of his brief NHL career.
Chris Kreider recorded the third hat trick of his career and won two on power play and all three out of goal, likely over a combined distance of four feet. Mika Zibanejad played perhaps his toughest match of the season, although he was thwarted with two outliers. Adam Fox was Adam Fox.
But there were a multitude of beeps and mistakes made by the Rangers, many without assistance and in the most dangerous areas of the rink. The Flyers tested aggressively and were on the blueshirt’s faces all night after playing passively on last week’s loss. The Rangers couldn’t handle the pressure.
In addition, the blueshirts helped and augmented their own misery by kneeling eight times, twice for game delay violations for shooting the puck over the glass, and twice because there were too many men on the ice when the second only had five seconds left in the competition.
« When you take so many penalties, four of which have nothing to do with the game, it’s just inexcusable « said Quinn. « It was just a sloppy game in general, like the way we played it on our own end, and just not the way we played. » The Rangers allowed Flyers to score two power play goals. This marked the third time the shorthanded unit allowed so many this year and the first time since January 26 in Buffalo in the sixth game of the season. Erik Gustafsson took a hit from the right point through traffic to the 1-0 lead at 7:48 a.m. in the first half before Shayne Gostisbehere pierced a hit from the right from a back wall rebound to give the 2-1 lead at 15 : 31 of the first.
« It’s a strange thing to say considering they scored a couple of [power play] goals but the penalty units did a tremendous job, » said Kreider, who early a 1:38 kill on a Philly five-on-three established the second period. « That’s going to happen when you get that many penalties, but I was really proud of the way guys worked, got blocks and dived before shots. » Kreider scored his first hit in the PP by scoring knocked off a ricochet from Brian Elliott on a Zibanejad ride from the top left to tie the score at 1-1 at 9:32 of the first period. He got his second hit on a power play tap-in from the right porch on a nifty back-door feed from Zibanejad, ending a brilliant passing game that included Adam Fox and Ryan Strome to get his team within 3 : 2 to bring 8: 03 of the second period. He took the hat by converting Colin Blackwell’s attempt to hit the left post to bring the Rangers within 4-3 at 3:27 PM of the third period.
After a very quiet opening in five In weeks Kreider scored eight goals in the 17 Rangers games.
For some reason Jonny Brodzinski got 9:41 while Julien Gauthier got only 7:04. Pavel Buchnevich hardly had his best night. But both the backend and the team defensive structure have stalled a lot. The third tandem of Anthony Bitetto and Libor Hajek had a nightmarish time. If Miller isn’t around for a long time, the Rangers might take a look at Tarmo Reunanen.
The Rangers will head home in the garden on Friday to meet with the Bruins, who are fans for the first time in may enter the building this season. The blueshirts may be overwhelmed, but let’s face it, their best chance of winning is to keep them as boring as possible.
© 2021 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved
Terms of Use
Data protection
Your ad choices
Sitemap
Your California Privacy Rights
Don’t sell my personal information
Ref: https://nypost.com