So, let me say this without anyone suggesting that I’m calling Alexis Lafreniere a bust or disappointment or in some way an example of how the Rangers don’t know how to care for teenagers.
But for the third consecutive game in which open ice was valuable and the game was played in tight spaces, David Quinn abandoned the selection of the first general draft of the rotation in the second half of the third period.
The first general selection of the 2020 draft took two shifts worth 1:24 in the final 11:56 of Monday’s 2-0 loss at the Gardeners to the Islanders, in which visitors scored twice at 2:05 after a first 51:15 goalless.
After No. 13 took two turns for 57 seconds in the final 10:40 of Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Capitals, which was a game after he took two turns for 1:29 in 11:13 finals of the 3- 1 win over the Penguins on February 1st.
It is funny. People kind of assumed – and you and I and Felix Unger all know what happens when you do that – that Lafreniere would naturally elevate his game after scoring his first NHL goal with the game winner in overtime in Buffalo on January 28 . reason, however, the 19-year-old’s game has stalled.
He’s not much on the disk or around it. Instead, he was stuck in traffic, unable to get on the open ice. Of course, there were also two games in a row on the third row with Brett Howden, who has many admirable qualities, but serving his wingers’ attack is not at the top of the list.
Lafreniere played a sum of 14:02, including 2:00 in the second unit of the strength game, which did little in this case that for 40 minutes there could be a Jacques Lemaire around 1995 behind both banks. The Islanders had a more effective forecheck than the Rangers, who generally put the disc on line changes and therefore had little chance of creating support for the disc. Lafreniere was credited with five hits, but he did not register an attempted shot.
Furthermore, he was part of the group on the ice due to the mass confusion that scored the 2-0 goal in his final round, although perhaps the least guilty. This marked Lafreniere’s final night shift, with Kaapo Kakko buying time with the extra striker who had previously moved to No. 13.
Casey Cizikas had hit one in the mouth of the goal at 11:15 am, taking advantage of an unfortunate left-wing play by Libor Hajek. Now the islanders were fleeing unopposed, as they were allowed to do most of the night. Mathew Barzal crossed the neutral zone and launched for Cal Clutterbuck, who scored in the right corner.
Somehow, Matt Martin sneaked on the left side, without realizing it. The Rangers seemed paralyzed in time when Clutterbuck made a pass that Martin placed home from the left door at 13:20. Howden and Anthony Bitetto, both on site, had their gloves extended. His pleas were not heeded.
“It was one against four and we just didn’t play well,” said Quinn, whose team played very well, but at the same time fought his own offensive game. “Clutterbuck is in the corner, we clear the middle, and our backchecker stops backchecking.
“We had four against two and I think everyone assumes that someone else is going to do something. It was a bad read. It was just confusion in general, because I thought we had a lot of guys who had a chance to do something and nobody did anything. “
The Rangers were minimalist in the offensive zone. Semyon Varlamov, who passed 120: 00 without giving up a goal at the Garden this season with this one after closing on opening night, made some cool stops at Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, but the Blueshirts were unable to create traffic in front of the goalkeeper nor generate second chances. Virtually complete.
Zibanejad, tied with a goal and two assists in 11 games and a point (one assist) in the last eight games, was another factor in the offensive zone. But Chris Kreider didn’t make much of an impact and neither did linemate Pavel Buchnevich. That unit, however, was more effective than the Panarin-Ryan Strome-Kakko triumvirate, which did much more than it created.
Outside the puck and in the defensive zone, there was a lot to like. The Rangers yielded just 30 shots, just a few ticks above the 27.7 average they brought into the game, which is good for the tenth best in the NHL. Last year, the Blueshirts were the ones who surrendered the most in the league, with 34 shots against. Two years ago, they were the third worst, 33.8 against per. This is real progress.
The Rangers will have no break from programming, with the Bruins being next for a pair on Broadway. They are not known to allow too much open ice. We will see how much of any kind will be awarded to Lafreniere with delay if the game is in play.