The Rangers welcomed JT Miller back to the fold yesterday and had him in the lineup against the Bruins. He did all that you could expect but unfortunately, the rest of the Rangers were not up to the task at hand – getting two points.
Unlike so many games this season, the first goal did not come until 10:21 of the first period when McAvoy (6) scored on the PP. 1-0 BOS but only for moments as at 10:55 JT Miller (10) would rifle one home from the slot, picking up a lose puck Panarin just managed to push off the boards and towards the middle of the ice. 1-1
And then the December Rangers returned. Fox quite literally escorted Poitras across the blue line into the offensive zone and behind the Rangers net where he found Pastrnak (25) in front for the score. Mr. Whipple would be happy with that performance. And so the period would end 2-1 BOS.
The second period would see Boston extend its lead with scores by Coyle (13) on a tip-in and Zacha (12) on the PP off a rebound. 4-1 BOS after two.
The third period would start well for the Rangers, at least momentarily, as JT Miller (11) donned his cloak for the last moments of a carried over PP to tip in a hard Zibanejad shot. 4-2 BOS with almost 20 minutes left! But no, less than a minute later Pastrnak (26) would score on what amounted to a shootout/penalty shot, Shesterkin failing to rise to the moment. 5-2 BOS and the Rangers looking a bit deflated.
But not quite dead yet. Panarin managed to keep the puck in the offensive zone while the Rangers changed. This allowed Lindgren and Brodzinski to get on the ice and into the zone. Lindgren put a shot towards the goal from mid-boards that Brodzinski (4), cutting across the slot and in front of two defenders, managed to deflect for the score at 10:47. 5-3 BOS with not quite 11 minutes left.
The Rangers failed to mount any further comeback and in fact gave up an early ENG at 16:38 after Laviolette pulled Shesterkin. Final BOS 6- NYR 3
Injury Note: Edstrom would leave the game with what was said to be a lower body injury. Rumors abound that it was Jimmy Vesey dressed up as Tonya Harding.
The scoring details from the NHL:
The Rangers have a quick turnaround, returning on the Amwreck to NYC to host the VGK at MSG, puck drop said to be 18:10 EST. MSG and SCRIPPS have the telecast.
46 responses to “Rangers 3, Bruins 6”
So Lavi started with
Bread/Miller/Mika
Laffy/Tro/Smith
Kreider/Brodude/Cuylle
Edstrom/Carrick/Rempe
was (trying) to think about this when lifting last night and perhaps it is a bit unconventional but I think NYR are past the point of caring about that
Cuylle/JT/Laffy
Bread/Tro/Brodude
Kreider/Mika/Smith
Edstrom(VC)/Carrick/Rempe
Cuylle and Laffy are the future and they need to learn to play with the same drive and style as JT. Put them together now and give them the 18-20 ice time.
I know Lavi had Mika on the Bread line wing yesterday and I don’t object too much to it but wonder if purely based on speed and willingness to get near the net that Brodude might be worth a look instead. Less time for a Mika turnover as well as both he and Bread are pass happy.
Yes, I know, the island of misfit toys reuniting Kreider/Mika/Smith. Can always swap Mika and Brodude on the fly.
4th line don’t mess with, it works.
Gravy (from last post) I think Fox has been on a slow, steady decline for the past two seasons. He gets slower as the season progresses and is rarely physical at all. To some extent, I think this also ends up pulling Lingren’s play down as well.
I’ve advocated in the past moving Fox before the NMC kicks in, still think that is the way to go and this may be the last best chance to get a good return in a trade. Send him out west.
I agree on fox get him out of here before that nmc kicks in because it’s bad enough Igor’s contract but fox is slow, non physical and has declined offensively.
I only saw the new post when I hit the send button. This is a repost from It’s go time. I agree Fox should be moved. He is Dan Boyle with a better temperament now. I think Igor is a head case. The bold move would be moving him and Fox.
Drury is locked into Igor and Fox after July 1 for $21MM through 28-29. He has to think long and hard about whether he wants to take on these two anchors. Throw in Mika and he may have $29.5 of underperforming assets on the roster that will be immovable and buyout proof. That’s 2 McDavids worth of cap hit. Unfortunately Fox and Igor have diminished their market value by their play this year, but the league may think they are just having bad years. The decline in Mika is more obviously long term. He’ll be hard to move and the best approach may to be to hold on to him for a year or two where he may be able to contribute in a lesser role and eventually agree to move. They will still have to retain salary for a couple of years to get someone to take on his contract.
Drury will also have $16.5 MM of cap hit and all 3 salary retentions available at the deadline and could increase that by moving Lindgren, Vesey and Smith. He has to use that to facilitate trades that others want to make at the deadline to pick up a couple of picks. He needs to get into the the first and/or second round this year.
He has an opportunity to reshape the roster for next season and restock the feeder system. Move out the finesse players and bring in players who are hard to play against. He should also move out Lavy and Housley and give either Muse or Peca a shot at running the team for the rest of the season. If they need another assistant bring up Paul Mara form Hartford to help out for the rest of the season and see where it goes. He is also going to have to sell what he is doing to the fan base who are beginning to really hate him. He is really bad at that. Hire a GM to be the face the public sees who shares his vision of what he wants the team to be like. He should be good at the PR part of the job where Drury isn’t. There will be a lot of silence and booing at home games the rest of this season. They will need to turn that around.
Beezle-
I really like your first line. It could become a very hard line to play against and it keeps Cuylle and LAF away from Panarin and Mika. Putting Mika on the third line is telling Mika where is future is. He can either own it or move on. He is 3rd line, PK and maybe second PP going forward. He’s sensitive. Lower the expectations and stress level and you may get more out of him. The contract is a sunk cost now. They need to get more value out of him so that someone will consider taking him at half his salary.
Fox is what he is; having Lindy stapled to him only highlights his Dzone limitations along with playing him on pk??? Have always advocated on getting rid of him, contract bug mistake as Dreary once again both gives away high salary, long term and then contract protection as well. Since he is USA, never going to happen.
Since he is most likely staying, they need to get his Beukaboom type partner like Leetch had.
The last two national tv games with mess and pk fox has made gaffes that have absolutely gotten him roasted by those two (and Ferraro who causally sucks up to stars) And they watch a lot of rangers games. Pk said he goes to most MSG games
Fox should be embarrassed with his defensive effort. And now being called out on it.
Last time I think it was against the caps where Fox “went for a skate” and let his man get to the high slot
Usually not causally
Bread-JTM-Laffy
Kreider-Tro-Cuylle
VC-Meeka-Smitty
Force line stays
Have a vet checking line finally to play against others top lines
PP1 – Bread-JTM-Laffy w 20 in front and Fox on point; tell Bread to stay on left dot and give Foxy the point; don’t need useless Tro now that JTM can win draws
Beezle
Thanks for the post game write up you’re the bomb as my former boss would say.
You’re 10:57 I agree 100%. I actually have been suggesting uniting the yoots till I’m blue in the face. Definitely get Busto away from the Russian Sidewinder. It’s the only way to get Busto to the next level, if there is such a thing.
Drury must move Igor and Fox asap. Miller, Zibanejad, Panarin, Smith and Lindgren at the deadline. The Rangers are not making the playoffs, unless they go on an incredible tear, which I have already posted.
I’m afraid Drury will fail again to do the right thing, he is obstinate and fearful of Dolan.
Fox is not a leader. We lost our leader on D this summer with Drury alienating Trouba
Need to fill the void !
Minx I agree that playing with Bread does not give the best example to Laffy. I do think putting Cuylle and JT with him could really develop into a very difficult line for opponents to stop.
I think we are stuck with Igor – much like Trouba, its more about the contract $ and how that sucks money away from other areas. Fox its just my gut feeling there is only one direction for his play and it is not up. I’d trade half his assists for top notch defense.
Corporal they need a steady, hard nosed but younger guy to lead that defense. Someone say 25-27 ish that is hitting their stride as a defender. And they shouldn’t be one that is all about offense. Great if they can chip a few in but please, play defense first.
Love Lindgren’s heart, but he’s also cooked, and he and Fox bring each other down.
Beezle good point JT would be a much better influence on Lafreniere then Panarin. If Drury had the nerve I believe he could find a way to move Twerkin.
I remember a debate / argument with wickey about the better defensive defender / physical Dman….Leech or Fox. Wacky thought Fox was the better, I stated Leetch by a mile. I don’t think wacky was even close to being correct.
Marchand laughed in fox’s face during their “scrum” in the third. Poor dude prolly got beat up a lot in junior high.
E3 – 13:44. – !
…no rush, but can we get the old listing of who up-votes, etc.?
Igordinary.
#23. – “Who needs this chit? I can make $250 thou a year as a Doctor.”
14:23 – E3, reminds me of Torts’ tete a tete with Brooksie re: the lunch money and the bus stop. 🙂
One of the Rangers best performing lines this season was Chityl, Kakko and Cuyllie. Two thirds of that line that at least hustled are now gone. The worst performers when it comes to effort, Zbad, Kreider, Miller, Lindgren, Fox, Laf are all still here and rewarded with the most ice time. Does anyone else here see a problem with that? Drury and Lav need to go, along with the ice gliders!!!
I would love to have Torts back as the coach, many of these players would have been given seats in the stands, not rewarded with unearned ice time.
I wouldn’t mind Torts over Lavy but i would like to see some new blood in their coaching. Torts-like perhaps would be good.
Must have 4 balanced lines where they’re working together makes sense: Here we go
50-8-22/34 similar styles
10-16-13 were successful for sometime
20-93-91 can play better and will
84-39-34/73 need grittier play.
Arriving with 4 lines that make sence can make the total difference
MKH I think they need someone in between Torts and Lavi and a little better able to deal with vets than DQ.
E3 if Fox and Marshrat had gone at it Hockeyfights would have just titled it “Chin vs Nose”
I agree with a lot of you guys about players who should be traded. Also the coach and GM have not done a great job. But.
You all know most of the sane things we say will never happen because the people who run this team are Much smarter then we boneheads. That is pretty much a fact.
Hate to say it but Miller, Fox Bread, Kreider and Zib will probably be here after the trade deadline and we will all be as angry as hell.
Wish it weren’t so. Just don’t have any faith in this bunch.
LGR
I’d like to see drury gone before next season
He’s mortgaged future in big way
My fear is we lose next years pick they could easily be top 5-10
I think we’ll keep this years since it will be top 13
I’d rather lose this years then the unprotected next years
Kooz – I don’t understand how anyone thinks Fox was better than Leetch in any aspect of hockey.
Beezle Totally agree with you on Fox. His ability has declined too much. He had to be badly injured at some point last year. He needs to take more heavy shots from the blue line. He’s not helping the Rangers. Too slow. prince KAM has to stop playing behind the opposing goal and his dump ass back down to help Shesterken. KAM what a shame; he definitely has talent his brain doesn’t know about. To be more pessimistic laffy seems to be at the end of the road doesn’t look too happy & is becoming very stale. Beezle what’s your take.
Who’s the brain-addled curmudgeon down-voting my 15:00 and so many other reasonable comments? STAND UP.
I’ve said before with KAM – its either him or coaching and hard to believe the past two coaching staffs haven’t worked with him on his decision making. Needs to me more physical with his size advantage, clearly knows how to use the reach. Skates well for most part. But hard to justify paying more $ for the same mistakes over and over.
Laffy I think is a little lazy. He’s that know it all high schooler who gets to college and thinks he’s real bright so coasts a bit, then gets his grades and realizes its a different level and he’s going to have to work for it. He’s got all the talent in the world but has to get the mental part down and really just bust his *ss a lot more.
I’ll look around this week for any other plug-in for voting.
I thought the anonymous nature of it might encourage the timid but also the ability to down/frown might reduce some of the… hmm how to say… more personal negative replies?
Our coach looks like he would rather be anyplace except answering the same questions about a bunch of sherkers.
It would be nice if the Rangers brought in a new and younger coach,not a retread like they always do. A crap how did I forget David Quinn. Young,new ideas and not a retread. Oh well my bad. Nevermind.
Thanx Beez. At your leisure.
At least college coach Quinn had somewhat of an excuse.
The Go Time is in the queue for 5:55 PM. Don’t be late, call 976-WAKE. (Does that even exist anymore?)
LaFrench is way lazy. His problem was having a man’s body playing against kids. Dude probably had a beard in 5th grade. Now that he’s with other man bodies he not such a standout.
If anybody wants to see what my weather is like turn on the PGA pro am in pebble beach …
Jeff
I respectfully disagree, everyone on this blog is smarter than Drury.
Busto’s problem boils done to one skill, foot speed.
I’m on my way to the Panthers-Islanders game and I’m torn. Do I root for the Panthers against the Islanders or do I consider this season lost and root for everyone to stay ahead of us?
Converse amongst yourselves.
Agree with some others that Laffy needs to be separated from Panarin. It seems like he signed his contract, kicked back and relaxed. Very little urgency or compete in his game and he makes almost no effort in the defensive zone, much like Panarin. Young players need to bust their butts and earn their ice time and he seems entitled with his new contract in place.
Need to separate everyone from everyone. They should roll 12 lines and 6 defenseman one at a time.