After a long wait for the season opener, the New York Rangers came out and laid an egg. The Rangers looked flat from the first shift, and the Islanders cruised to a 4-0 win. Here are the highlights from last night, not many for the boys in blue.
Lets break down the good and the bad from last night.
The Good
Not much.
Alexis Lafreniere and K’Andre Miller
The two made their NHL debuts. Neither stood out and made a few rookie mistakes. Lafreniere was the more noticeable of the two. His line of Julien Gauthier and Filip Chytil put pressure on the Islanders defense and were the most consistent line of the night. The good for the two of them is that they got their first game under them. Now they can build off this experience. Here is what the two young guys had to say after the game.
K’Andre: “The National Hockey League is a tough league to win in. This first game is a great example of that – every game’s going to be a battle, and you have to play the full 60 minutes.” pic.twitter.com/tOvfcmX0HL
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 15, 2021
Jacob Trouba
Trouba did allow Lee to get the inside position on his power-play goal, but he was the most noticeable Rangers defenseman. He leads the team with 22:47 in ice time. He played most of the night with either Miller and Jack Johnson as his pairing, so he had to carry the load for the two of them. In his NHL debut, Miller took a little bit to get his feet under him. Johnson will talk about in the bad, was a train wreck. Trouba also “scored” the only Rangers goal, which was disallowed for some reason. You be the judge, but the whistle clearly comes after the puck crosses. NHL officials say there was “intent” to blow the whistle, which is such a stupid explanation. Either you blow the whistle, or you don’t. It would have made it a 3-1 game halfway through the second period. It was a huge call to go against the Rangers and kill any momentum they would have got from it. Play starts at the 4:34 mark on the highlight.
The Bad
Penalties
Nine total penalties were taken by the Rangers, amounting to 18 minutes in penalty killing. That is basically a period of penalty killing. The Rangers gave up two power-play goals on those opportunities. Due to the amount of time they were on the PK, Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko on the bench. Panarin was on the ice for just 17:24 minutes, and Kakko even worse 11:26. You can’t win when your offensive threats are sitting down.
Face-offs
New year, the same problem. The Rangers struggled all of last year in the dot, and the problem has carried over into 2021. Last night winning only 41.2% of the draws. Filip Chytil won just one of his seven face-offs, good for a 14.3% win rate.
Jack Johnson
What a train wreck debut. All Rangers fans were scratching their heads at the move to bring him in, and he did nothing last night to win them over. After taking a first shift penalty less than two minutes into the game, the Rangers let up a quick power-play goal. Then in the second period, he goes to dump the puck in and shots it at the ref, and it bounces back for an Islanders scoring chance and another puck in the net. He looked slow and indecisive with the puck. Last night the general mood I saw from Rangers fans on Twitter was to bench him for Smith next game. I am all for that, but I do not think we will get our wish. Quinn has already been talking Johnson up, I think, in anticipation of this.
Here are Coach Quinn’s game takeaways:
“Fortunately for us right now, it’s one game. We have to be quick learners because we play them Saturday.” – Coach Quinn pic.twitter.com/NdC9lfTPy6
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 15, 2021
The Rangers and Islanders face off again Saturday night back at MSG. Hopefully, the Rangers learn from this game and give a better effort on Saturday.
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