Rangers hit the road after being a hit at home
The road has been good for the Rangers this season, and they are back on it, and are heading out on their second four-game tour of the season after Friday’s complete 4-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden.
The tour will feature Blueshirts’ first trip to Seattle to play the Kraken, which Rangers will meet on Sunday night at Climate Change Arena. Then it’s through western Canada, with matches in Vancouver on Tuesday, Edmonton on Friday and Calgary on Saturday. The Rangers swept all four games in their final round, a spin through Montreal, Toronto, Nashville and Ottawa.
“It’s good for team building,” said Rangers forward and deputy Chris Kreider about the eight-day trip. “Of course we spend a lot of time together on the road and I think it’s a hard thing to do, to go out and win in the NHL.
“We’ve played a lot of games so far, so I think that’s the first thing I’m guessing, real NHL program for a lot of our young guys, who’s had a little weird experience with Covid, only playing in the division. [last season]. So it’s a really good test and a really good learning experience for us. ”
They start the trip after their best game of the season in the win over Columbus. The Rangers were pleased with the energy they played with and the style – the direct, north-south approach that saw them dump pucks in behind the Blue Jackets defense, the cycling in the offensive zone that allowed them to retain ball possession and the rock-solid. , and often spectacular play by goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin, who made 31 saves in his first shutout of the season.
The Rangers start the tour with their powerplay apparently starting to find themselves, after battling through the first seven games, with just three goals in 26 chances (11.5 percent). Against Columbus, the extra male unit joined twice in three attempts, with Kreider scoring both goals, on redirecting passes from Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox.
According to Kreider and coach Gerard Gallant, the only difference in the powerplay on Friday was that the Rangers finally had luck with the puck going in, instead of from the post, as they so often had in the first seven games.
“The puck went in,” Gallant said after the match. “Kreids is a great man in front of the net and he had a couple of really good tips. They had, I think, Mika [Zibanejad] had a couple of chances, and on top, Foxy (Adam Fox) had a really good shot. But no, I did not think I saw anything really different [Friday]. We did not talk about anything different before the match or at our last training. It’s pretty much the same setup. but they went in tonight. ”
Two other things happened on Friday that helped the Rangers play their best game of the season. Right winger Kaapo Kakko returned from the injury list after missing four games, meaning the Rangers had their top six strikers, all healthy and playing. And Gallant made a change in his lines, moving the hard winger Barclay Goodrow up to the first line with Zibanejad and Kreider, and dropping second-year winger Alexis Lafreniere to the third line, with Filip Chytil and Sammy Blais.
Lafreniere scored his third goal of the season and his second goal in three games with Chytil and Blais. And it’s starting to look like the 20-year-old may have found some chemistry with his new linemates.
“I think so,” Gallant said. “I think he’s comfortable playing with File and ‘Blazer’, and … if he’s playing something up and back and you’re rotating [him and Goodrow] a little bit … I think he likes it. As long as he scores every night like he did tonight, he will be happy. ”
Colin Stephenson covers Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and virtually every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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