A slow start doomed the New York Rangers on Sunday in their 4-1 loss to the Oilers. Down 1-0 on a Connor McDavid highlight-reel tally, the Blueshirts fell behind 3-0 midway through the second period before scoring. The defeat dropped New York to 1-5-1 in their last seven contests, evening their season record at 7-7-1. New York is home to face St. Louis on Tuesday.
Rangers Game Recap:
A few thoughts:
1) Line changes: Below are the lines that started the contest Sunday, followed by the units in practice Monday.
Rangers lines vs. Oilers:
Dorofeyev-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Kartye-Miller-Bjorkstrand
Cuylle-Laba-Perreault
Tolvanen-Glendening-Raddysh
Gavrikov-Fox
Pettersson-Schneider
Šmits-Morrow
Garand
Reimer
Lines in practice Monday:
Dorofeyev-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Kartye-Miller-Perreault
Tolvanen-Cuylle-Bjorkstrand
Raddysh-Laba-Rempe
Glendening
During Sunday’s game, Gabe Perreault moved up to the second line, and Oliver Bjorkstrand slid down. That change remained in place on Monday. Coach Mike Sullivan is searching for any combination that works as the team’s offense has dried up. Part of the hot start on offense was driven by the defensive structure creating turnovers and counter opportunities. New York has completely lost its defensive identity, leaving its netminders out to dry and resulting in fewer positive odd-man rushes.
Noah Laba has been scuffling for a while as the third-line center. The lack of center options following Joe Veleno’s injury results in a kind of Hail Mary move by shifting Will Cuylle to center, a position he has never played. Cuylle has historically played wing, where his physical style can wreak havoc in corners without requiring him to be responsible for setting up others. Now, he will have additional defensive responsibilities and the task of creating offense for his linemates.
After practice, Taylor Raddysh was sent down to Hartford, and Jaroslav Chmelar was recalled. Raddysh wasn’t providing much, and the hope is that Chmelar can provide some of the energy he brought last season after his promotion. Maybe he and Matt Rempe can inject some of the lacking presence. Eventually, Liam Greentree, who is excelling for the Wolf Pack, will get a look. If that happens, look for Greentree to center the third line.
2. Dylan Garand’s accountability was displayed again after the game. While Garand took on the lion’s share of the blame for the loss, it’s unfair for him to be in that position. If you want to pin Colton Dach’s goal on him, that’s more than fair. But he was not to blame for McDavid’s tally, nor was he really at fault on Evan Bouchard’s power-play goal.
Garand is tasked with replacing an elite netminder this season. Early on in his tenure, the Rangers’ defensive structure made life a little easier. In the last few weeks, New York has completely lost or abandoned that attention to detail, as I noted above. As a result, Garand has seen more high-danger chances, leading to more goals against. The mental and physical wear and tear on Garand is also evident. The impending return of Joonas Korpisalo should ease some of the burden in Garand, though remains to be seen if that benefits the Rangers.
