1-1-1
Not the kind of start you want for a season. Soundly beaten by Washington, a dumb overtime loss to Dallas, and a closer than necessary win against Montreal.
It felt like there was a lot of wind in the Rangers sails coming into the season and getting a 5-1 drubbing by Washington stopped those good vibes. The first half was competitive, and then it all fell apart. The seasons long problem of too many penalties reared its head and you can’t do that against Washington. Georgiev getting worked like that isn’t going to help him get out of last season’s rut and made the whole team look bad.
The Dallas game was a better contest that slipped away, another old problem where the Rangers can’t close out a game. They did rally to push it to overtime so the effort was there at least. That game was more a letdown than a second crushing blow.
Montreal had a lot to prove last night, the first home game in more than a year and the added pressure of not going 0-3 to start the season. So they came out hot as anticipated and the Rangers handled it well. Penalty kill teams did their job at the start and then Montreal went nuts on the penalties, which the Rangers turned into a goal. Good for this to happen in favor of the Rangers instead of the other way around for once. Montreal did keep it close and this was largely a contest of goaltending. Plenty of robberies on both sides and Shesterkin was the one who managed to keep it on lockdown. Lafreniere got the bonus of his family being in the stands for his game-winning goal. Brilliant rush and pass from Mika made for a hell of a highlight-reel goal.
It feels like after this game the team is starting to gel better. Kreider has 3 goals in 3 games, which is incredible. Very few are as good at deflecting in goals as he is. If he can keep this up–and not disappear like he usually does for giant stretches of time–he’ll continue to be a huge PITA in front of the net and slap away any discussion that he got too generous of a contract extension.
Mika has been more noticeable than Panarin so far. Mika is an all-star and now he has an all-star contract. He’s making waves on assists, he almost had a breakaway goal with 2 guys chasing after him. He’s just goal-shy now, whiffing on an odd amount of one-timer shots. That’s weird to see. Last year he was doing that because it took him weeks to shake off the effects of covid. Now we’re just waiting on Panarin to hit his stride.
Of the new players on the team, I’m most impressed with Ryan Reaves. He’s incredibly fast for his size, he hits anything that moves, and he pounces on every opportunity to be a playmaker. Kakko and Lafreniere have been moved up on the lines and getting a lot more ice time. Kakko looks much stronger, he had a productive off-season. He got hurt last night with an upper body injury and he’ll be off the ice for a week. Hopefully no longer than that. We’ll see if Morgan Barron can get some traction in his absence.
A bumpy start for sure but nothing to panic over. Still a lot of promise.