First Period:
- Chris Kreider (2) (Shorthanded) Assists: Adam Fox (1), Mika Zibanejad (2)
- Miles Wood (1) Assists: Dougie Hamilton (1)
- Dougie Hamilton (2) Assists: Graeme Clarke (1), Nathan Bastian (1)
Second Period:
- Nathan Bastian (1) Assists: Dawson Mercer (2), Brendan Smith (1)
Third Period:
- Tomas Tatar (2) Assists: Dougie Hamilton (2), Jonas Siegenthaler (2)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- The good thing is that the preseason is now half over, cuts are being made and the Rangers are starting to resemble the team they are going to be.
- There isn’t much to take out of tonight other than The Kid Line having a pretty good night pressuring, possessing the puck and creating some offense. It will be interesting to see if Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko end up as penalty killers during the regular season. They might be the third or fourth option as a duo, but it would get them on the ice a bit more and give the Rangers, like with Kreider and Zibanejad, a quick outlet for shorthanded opportunities.
- It was nice to see Sammy Blais back on the ice. There is an obvious rust factor since he last played in November 2021, but he threw four hits and that is all the Rangers need from him until he gets back on track.
- Blais did not lead the Rangers in hits tonight. That went to Julien Gauthier with 8. He had his usual crashing the net moments, without scoring, but if he can do that and be physical, he wouldn’t be the worst 13th forward. That physicality isn’t just to try and impress Gerard Gallant, he wants to show he can bring that to another team if he’s put on waivers at some point.
- This was probably not the best night for Libor Hajek and his chances of getting that spot on the third pair. The fact that Zac Jones will probably play with Braden Schneider again tomorrow also doesn’t help his chances.
- It would seem like the Rangers will go with the group of players that didn’t play tonight when they play the Devils tomorrow and then probably cut down to close to the full group before the last two preseason games.