First Period:
- Chris Kreider (27) (Shorthanded) Assists: Adam Fox (47), Mika Zibanejad (34)
Second Period:
- Shane Pinto (16) Assists: Alex DeBrincat (33), Drake Batherson (32)
- Derick Brassard (10) Assists: Mathieu Joseph (11), Dylan Gambrell (4)
- Jacob Trouba (5) Assists: Artemi Panarin (50), Vincent Trocheck (30)
- Vladimir Tarasenko (14) Assists: Mika Zibanejad (35), Ben Harpur (4)
Third Period:
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- Derick Brassard (11) Assists: Claude Giroux (36)
- Claude Giroux (26) Assists: Travis Hamonic (9), Brady Tkachuk (38)
- Tim Stutzle (29) (Empty Net) Assists: Brady Tkachuk (39), Claude Giroux (37)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- For all the excitement that tonight brought, and it was a lot, the Rangers, on the second half of a back to back, just couldn’t find a way tonight.
- It’s easy to point to why, outside of some sloppy defense and poor puck management, and it was the PP, for all it’s new firepower, struck out time after time, most notably on a five minute major after Tyler Motte was possibly concussed.
- They sort of showed last night how the PP with Kane was going to work, with Zibanejad in the middle/bumper spot. We all know that Zibanejad is at his best and the Rangers PP is at it’s best when he can take his one timer and while if he gets the time and space to wind up in the bumper spot he might actually put the puck through the net, those opportunities are going to be few and far between with so many defenders around. I’m not sure how they can finagle it to get him back into that spot, but that is on the coaches to figure out.
- It also seems like Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere are going to each get shifts on the second PP unit. That is not ideal for development, but is what it is at this point with Vladimir Tarasenko and Vincent Trocheck now on the second unit.
- It was nice that they got to play with 12 forwards for all of about 7 minutes. Tyler Motte got knocked out of the game and it was back to 11 forwards and 5 defensemen for the second straight now. They are still going to be down to five defensemen on Saturday, but hopefully by next Thursday they will not only get K’Andre Miller back, but maybe Ryan Lindgren. There is no indication that Lindgren could return by then, but if they aren’t putting him on LTIR than they must feel he can’t be that far away.
- Overall this was a game that the Rangers certainly were in and had a chance to win even though they were on the second half of a back-t0-back and with a shorthanded lineup. It wasn’t as good as it needed to be, but at least the distraction is over. Patrick Kane is here, K’Andre Miller will be back next Thursday and after Saturday’s game in Boston the Rangers will get four days off to rest, practice and shore things up.