Blog Archives
Rangers Practice Report; Skjei earns high praise and AV shuffles up the whole lineup
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers practiced in New York yesterday ahead of their first extended road trip, beginning with a trip through Canada to play the Flames, Oilers and Canucks before heading back to the states to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Alain Vigneault and his team have played 10 of their first 14 games at Madison Square Garden, with four brief one game road trips in between the homestands. The Rangers have been a good home team in recent years, with their 74 wins being tied for second in the NHL.
“It’s a good challenge for us,” Henrik Lundqvist told reporters on Thursday. “We haven’t traveled much. We’ve played a lot of home games, which has been a good test. Now, I think it’s going to be a good test to go out on the road here and face some desperate teams.” Read the rest of this entry
Rangers win streak ends with loss to Canucks; Buchnevich scores again
Alexandra Russo
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The New York Rangers (10-4-0) had their win streak broken at five as well as their home-ice winning streak. The Vancouver Canucks (5-8-1) snapped a nine game losing streak and scored a season high five goals, the most the Rangers have given up this season.
Usually, teams take penalties quite often when they are being pressured for extended periods of time. And that is exactly what the Canucks did. However, it didn’t cost them because the Rangers couldn’t seem to sustain any consistent zone time. Credit Vancouver for blocking some shots and passes, but the Rangers could have still done a better job with their playmaking. Maybe they needed some practice on the power play after not having one in the previous game against Boston.
Arguably the best chance of the first period came from the Rangers when Jimmy Vesey and Derek Stepan went racing down the ice on a two on one. Vesey waited just a little too long to make a pass, and Stepan wasn’t able to control it enough to get a shot off. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers battle Laine and the Jets at MSG and aim for fifth straight win
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
After another five goal effort against the Bruins last night, the Rangers (9-3-0) take on the Winnipeg Jets (5-6-1) at Madison Square Garden, with the team looking for a season best five game win streak.
The Rangers erased an early deficit yesterday with another five goal game, including Nick Holden’s first as a Ranger, Stepan’s first of the season and Pavel Buchnevich’s first career NHL goal. Antti Raanta had another great performance, turning aside 35 shots for his second win of the season.
The Jets won their last game, beating the Red Wings 5-3. Two rookies shined in the game, with 2016 second overall pick Patrik Laine scoring his seventh goal of the season, and Brandon Tanev scoring his first two NHL goals, including the game winner. Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves. Read the rest of this entry
Kreider back in the lineup against the Blues; AV switches lines for speed, skill
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
For the first time in four games, the Rangers (6-3-0) will play with Chris Kreider in the lineup as they take on the St. Louis Blues (5-2-2) tonight at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers are coming off of an impressive victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring six goals and being led by Michael Grabner, who had a hat trick, as well as the rest of the third line in Kevin Hayes and JT Miller, who each had three points. Antti Raanta made 31 saves for his second win of the season.
The Rangers’ offense has been buzzing without Chris Kreider, but now the forward group gets even more dangerous and deep with him back in the lineup tonight. He started out the season red hot, scoring three goals and seven points in each of his first five games. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers head back home to battle the Lightning; Kreider doubtful
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
After a brief stop in Carolina that resulted in a 3-2 loss, the Rangers (5-3-0) look to get back to their winning ways when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning (5-3-0) at Madison Square Garden.
In that loss to Carolina, Mats Zuccarello scored both Rangers goals, giving him four this season. Pavel Buchnevich recorded an assist in his first game back from back spasms, and Ryan McDonagh also tallied an assist, on a marvelous stretch pass, to extend his six game point streak. Mika Zibanajad’s assist kept him at a point-per-game pace through eight games (2-6-8).
The Lightning played last night in Newark, falling to the Devils by a score of 3-1. Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed three goals on 20 shots and the team’s lone goal came from Tyler Johnson. Tampa Bay has had trouble with starting slow, and that happened again when they gave up two goals in the first period to New Jersey. Read the rest of this entry
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