First Period:
- Charlie Coyle (12) Assists: Tyler Bertuzzi (11), Trent Frederic (10)
Second Period:
- Tomas Nosek (5) (Shorthanded) Assists: Charlie Coyle (23)
- Alexis Lafreniere (12) (Power Play) Assists: Jacob Trouba (15), Vladimir Tarasenko (24)
Third Period:
Ad
- Patrice Bergeron (23) Assists: Brad Marchand (35), Dmitry Orlov (22)
- David Pastrnak (44) Assists: Charlie McAvoy (38), David Krejci (37)
- Alexis Lafreniere (13) Assists: Niko Mikkola (5), Kaapo Kakko (20)
Stats:
- They need this break until Thursday in the worst way and for so many reasons. They have been playing shorthanded, which will get some help with a returning from suspension K’Andre Miller on Thursday, they have played 3 in 4 nights after playing 3 in 4 nights last week, they need practice time and it looks like they just need a break.
- The coming 2-3 days of practice this week before Thursday’s game in Montreal will be key for the rest of the season. They need to get everyone on the same page, they desperately need to figure out who goes where and how the top PP unit should function and it’s really the only time they are going to have to work on this. Starting on Thursday they will play every other night until two days off on March 26th. This is where
- We’ll see on Thursday and in the coming games how Patrick Kane really starts to fit in. Right now he and Artemi Panarin are forcing too many plays and trying to recreate chemistry that they last had in 2017. For as dynamic as they were then and might be again, it’s been a long time. They last played together before the Rangers started to rebuild. I think it can still work, but it is/was wrong to think that after all this time that it would just work again without getting any practice time.
- Kane has looked and at times played nervous. It’s understandable as he’s been a Ranger for like four days after spending his entire career in one place. I think that once he gets a goal or a couple of assists, or even the practice time he will get this week, things will start to fall into place.
- Gerard Gallant may say that the players like it and that it doesn’t matter, but all this ice time, especially for the defensemen, has to be taking a toll. You could tell that they were tired in the third period as they just didn’t have the legs to make the push that was needed in a one goal game, especially against the best team in the league.
- At least Alexis Lafreniere is starting to score again after only one goal in the prior six games.
- I don’t know where everyone needs to go on the PP, but Mika Zibanejad can’t be in the bumper spot. He needs to be in a position to rifle off that shot and he can’t do that or can’t do it consistently in that spot.
- Next up is, more importantly, three days off before Montreal on Thursday.