Relating to the Rangers, again above the playoff cutline whereas making ready for the back-to-back in LA and Anaheim on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, that can full this journey out west:
1. There's something acquainted about Igor Shesterkin past the Vezina-matching .935 save proportion the franchise netminder has recorded whereas going 3-0-1 with a 1.73 GAA over his final 4 begins.
That's, he has returned to being the workforce’s safety blanket, he's both stealing or nailing down factors, as he did in sealing Saturday’s 2-1 victory in San Jose with a spectacular, sprawling save on a driving Logan Couture with six seconds remaining.
The transition from icon Henrik Lundqvist to the icon-in-progress Shesterkin was virtually too seamless final season, as if replicating what The King had completed by being the Blueshirts’ finest participant virtually each recreation for a dozen years was actually going to be that simple. As if carrying the workforce and the burden of expectations was going to be as routine because the Swede made it look.
The Rangers are constructed on the proposition that their goaltender is extra equal than anybody else’s. Carrying the identical burden into this season as Lundqvist had yearly, Shesterkin bent out of the gate virtually the identical approach he did on the outset of 2019-20 that marked the primary season of the post-King period when his numbers exceeded his play.
There have been simply too many marginal objectives — perhaps one each two video games — that by no means would have gone in final 12 months. You noticed too many rebounds that may not have been allowed final 12 months. Was it and is it honest to count on Shesterkin to duplicate 2021-22? Honest has nothing to do with it.
The Rangers depend on the 26-year-old Russian to be elite the best way the Canadiens relied on Patrick Roy and Carey Value to be elite, night time after night time, 12 months after 12 months, the best way the Lindy Ruff Sabres relied on Dominik Hasek to steal video games as a matter after all.
Which comes first, the cavalcade of highlight-reel saves or the swagger that radiates by means of his workforce when Shesterkin is on the highest of his recreation? The Rangers need Shesterkin on that wall. The Rangers want Shesterkin on that wall.
Now that it seems that he has returned to his obligation as sentry, that represents the perfect cause for optimism to this point.
2. So if head coach Gerard Gallant maintained his line mixtures from Thursday’s 3-2 time beyond regulation defeat in Seattle to Saturday’s victory over San Jose, there isn't a cause to count on a change in LA on Tuesday.
Which implies Vitali Kravtsov will sit in favor of Ryan Carpenter once more, which is weird. It additionally implies that Ryan Reaves will sit for the seventh time in eight video games, which may point out that a roster transfer is coming regarding No. 75.
By the best way, these line mixtures have produced one five-on-five objective in two video games — and by the fourth line.
3. The Rangers merely can not afford to hold a 23-man roster. We have now been over this and over this and over this. It's incumbent on normal supervisor Chris Drury to chop right down to 22 and thus create cap house that might be essential on the commerce deadline.
Now that everybody is wholesome, there may be neither cause nor time to dally. On daily basis the Rangers carry 23 represents a day that makes it tougher so as to add reinforcements down the road. That is self-sabotage. This is mindless.
4. You imply to inform me after all the pieces the Rangers have endured with Kravtsov, two journeys again house (one underneath contractual proper), one suspension and 4 years of endurance since deciding on the Russian winger ninth general in 2018, he's a wholesome scratch so that a marginal fourth-liner can play?
Come on.
I get it. This isn't a growth league and the Blueshirts discover themselves in want of factors, however once more: Come on.
The Rangers not solely have to seek out out if they've one thing in Kravtsov, who has performed a sum of 52:28 this season, however they want five-on-five manufacturing from their top-six/top-nine. If he can’t get an opportunity, then what was all this for? And why are they losing roster house and cap house on him?
Carpenter has performed properly the final three video games between Sammy Blais and Julien Gauthier, little doubt. He was a think about Saturday’s victory. However he's a fourth-line participant who turns into redundant and the thirteenth ahead if Barclay Goodrow is on the fourth line, not within the top-six/top-nine, the place Kravtsov belongs.
This isn't distinctive to the Rangers, however from one administration to the following, from one teaching workers to the following, sitting gifted kids in favor of low-ceiling veterans appears to be a factor on Broadway.
5. Not the slightest disrespect is meant to those two professionals who've been among the many Blueshirts’ most regular 200-foot gamers, however Jimmy Vesey and Goodrow aren’t meant to supply long-term solutions as top-six proper wingers, are they?
It's actually conceivable that Gauthier, scared straight by his keep in Hartford, is finest in small doses. Perhaps his two-way recreation wouldn't stand as much as scrutiny at 15:00 of ice time. However boy, oh boy, only one recreation and one recreation solely within the top-six this 12 months after getting one recreation and one recreation solely final 12 months?
I’m unsure I get it.
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