There is a fine line between reacting and exaggerating. The side on which Rangers coach David Quinn fell, following the embarrassment on Thursday of a 4-0 loss on the opening night for the Islanders, may reverberate throughout the season if the coach chooses badly.
“It’s a balancing act,” said Quinn after Friday’s practice, in which Tony DeAngelo was sent to skate with the JV team and, essentially, each combination of line and defense pair was made. “We are certainly very alarmed by what happened [Thursday] night.
“Certainly, very disappointed. It was a complete shock for us as a team. “
Of course, it was just a game. Of course, it was only the first game. Of course, there will be speed bumps along the way not just for this team, but also for any team. It would be crazy to panic and start throwing furniture in the middle of a 60-minute tantrum in a season of 3,360 minutes or more.
But Thursday’s smelly effort cannot simply be dismissed as just one of those things. The defeat was the most unbalanced of the Blueshirts in their debut in 40 years, since the 1980-81 club was defeated by the Bruins 7-2, en route to a 3-12-3 escape. In fact, the Rangers teams were defeated by four goals or more in the first match just four times in the franchise’s history. So no, this is not something that happens every day.
But following a performance in which Quinn, immediately after the match and again on Friday, said: “There was nothing good that happened … in any condition”, the combinations of players were less problematic than the intention of the team and preparation. And, of course, the coaching staff shares responsibility for the total eclipse of the team’s heart.
DeAngelo was temporarily demoted – he cannot be officially assigned to the taxi squad without releasing the exemptions, which can be a 50-50 proposition at this point, given the off-the-ice luggage he carries – because of bad behavior, no because he was one of the cast of thousands to play badly.
There was no excuse for the defender to incur an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when speaking and slamming the area door after being called in for a bear hug a minute after the third period. In fact, DeAngelo appeared irritated on the bench at several different times in the competition.
The Rangers and Quinn thought they had set aside actions like this two years ago, when DeAngelo was a repeated scratch for “maturity issues”. There was none of that last season. But here we are, a game in 2020-21.
“Tony suffered an undisciplined penalty, he and I talked and we just have to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Quinn. “We caught a lot of penalties [shorthanded eight times] in [Thursday], we suffered a lot of penalties last year and we need to nip that in the bud now. “
Quinn declined to say whether DeAngelo will be streaked for Saturday’s rematch against the Islanders, but smart money says yes, he will be in normal clothes. Each tandem of defense has changed in practice, with Ryan Lindgren skating with Jacob Trouba, Jack Johnson on the left of Adam Fox and Brendan Smith on the right with K’Andre Miller.
Two things here: 1) Why break the Lindgren-Fox combination that was the best of the team last season; and, 2) If the idea is to reduce the pressure on Miller by removing him from a matchup pair with Trouba, why not reunite Smith with Trouba to rebuild the pair that was so effective after the negotiation deadline?
And, I think a third and fourth: why change each defense combination, and what is it about Johnson that elevates him above Smith in the hierarchy?
In addition to the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich unit, the remaining three lines were also flexed. More notably, Quinn moved Alexis Lafreniere to the right on line 1A with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome, while Kaapo Kakko was moved to a third remodeled unit with Filip Chytil and Phillip Di Giuseppe.
I spent the summer lobbying for Lafreniere to immediately win a place in the top six, and I think he deserves it. But this move will be seen more as a demotion from Kakko than a promotion from Lafreniere. If that is the case internally, the shot can backfire. The Rangers simply cannot afford to diminish Kakko at this point before he has a chance to establish a position.
“This is his second year. Everyone here thinks he is a very good player. We just need guys to show up night after night, compete night after night, and he’s no different, ”said the 19-year-old. “He was on a bus full of guys who didn’t have a good night, so he has to be better, but everyone has to be better.”
That’s right. Rangers have to be better. Much better. The way to get there will be full of choices. Selecting the wrong ones can have long-term consequences.