The New York Rangers notched a 4-3 overtime win over the Boston Bruins. On an evening where New York honored recent Legendary Blueshirts, including several members of the 1994 Cup winning team, the home team notched their sixth win of the season at MSG. Jonathan Quick ended a 12-game losing streak while Matthew Robertson posted the game-winning tally on a beautiful move. In addition, Carson Soucy was officially traded to the Islanders, who the Blueshirts face on Wednesday and Thursday.
Game recap:
Rangers lines vs. Bruins:
Miller-Zibanejad-Perreault
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere
Cuylle-Laba-Othmann
Raddysh-Carrick-Rempe
Gavrikov-Schneider
Robertson-Borgen
Vaakanainen-Morrow
Quick
Martin
Scratches: Soucy (roster management), Brodzinski, Blidh, Mackey
IR: Shesterkin(lower-body injury)
LTIR: Edström(lower-body injury), Sheary (lower-body injury), Fox (lower-body injury)
A few thoughts:
1) Legendary Blueshirts: great to see Darren Turcotte and others. The 94 team was well-represented with 13 members of the team as well as GM and President Neil Smith in attendance. The good old days.
2) Kids lead the way: as the Blueshirts transition to and further incorporate youth in the lineup, kids lead the way. Will Cuyyle notched the team’s first of the game, deflecting Urho Vaakanainen’s shot. The line of Cuylle-Noah Laba-Brennan Othmannn played a strong overall contest, even beyond the goal. Despite their strong play, as Vince Mercogliano noted, the trio was limited to just 8:07 together for the entire game — despite an 87.68 percent expected goals rate, according to Natural Stat Trick. If the plan is to build for the future, then coach Mike Sullivan has to utilize those players more.
Gabe Perreault set up JT Miller, who struggled again with turnovers, which has been the case all too often this season, for the second goal of the game with a beautiful cross-ice feed. Perreault has looked vastly more confident recently, in all aspects, and it has shown offensively. The assist shwed vision, skill, patience and anticipation, all of which are hallmarks of how Perreault’s game was advertised when he was drafted. Maybe it’s time to use Perreault on PP1, which should be the case when Artemi Panarin is dealt.
Robertson’s game-winner arose from recognizing the situation and reacting immediately. He saw how much room up ice he had and made a quick decision to head up ice. Robertson punctuated the play with a quick move to the ice and shot past Joonas Korpisalo. In this wasteland of a season, Robertson has made the most of his opportunity, showing he can be a third-pair blueliner.
3) Soucy trade: the fourth trade in history between the two teams and first since 2010 (so wish the Ziggy Palffy deal had been approved by the league) nets the Rangers a third-round pick this year. Soucy, acquired for a third-round pick from Vancouver last season, has an expiring contract that pays $3.25 million. The Blueshirts did not retain salary in this deal, allowing the team to do so three times moving forward.
Soucy will likely be used as third-pair, left-side blueliner for the Islanders. He gives the team depth with Alexander Romanov sidelined. Interesting that Soucy could face his former team immediately on back to back nights.
The trade is fine, the Rangers dealt a third-round pick last to acquire Soucy, who had an extra year left on his contract. The Blueshirts received a third-rounder back this season. You can certainly argue what was the rush in dealing Soucy, but GM Chris Drury did him a solid by keeping him local as his wife recently gave birth and Soucy remaining in the area makes it easier on his family. Plus, it’s unlikely the return would have been greater nearer the trade deadline, so Drury had at least improved in player relationships compared to the recent past.
A true re-tool won’t happen if only expiring contracts for those players who are slated to be UFAs are dealt. If Drury only moves Artmei Panarin and Soucy, the use of the term re-tool is a vast misnomer. Drury must deal from “the core,” if a re-tool is truly to occur rather than updating around the edges.
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