dylan mcilrath

McIlrath

The Rangers showed some moxy last night, erasing a 2-0 lead in the third period on goals from Dan Girardi and Chris Kreider to force overtime. Then it was the Keith Yandle show, as he forced a turnover, turned that into a penalty shot, then scored on the penalty shot to give the Rangers a win. It was definitely a nice win, even if it was preseason.

  • Dylan McIlrath is going to force a Kevin Klein trade at some point. I only caught the second half of the game, but what I saw was a poised defensemen who was calm with the puck. He’s not perfect, but he’s not the kid that runs everyone over and hangsĀ his partner out to dry. If he can do what Klein does –I think he can do more– at less than half the cost, then it’s worth trading him for futures.
  • Keith Yandle is really, really good.
  • It was nice seeing the crowd that into it for a playoff game. Crowds like that all season long would be a refreshing change.
  • Dan Girardi giveth, Dan Girardi taketh. Girardi did a nice job finding open space for the first goal, but he also lost Wayne Simmonds on Philly’s second goal. Worth noting that the goal came on a Jarret Stoll faceoff loss.
  • Why is it important to note the faceoff loss? Because everyone seems to think Stoll is a god-send because of faceoffs. He loses some too, you know.

  • I don’t think Emerson Etem, or anyone from the fourth line, got a shift in the third period. It’s the preseason, so there are no shift charts, but I didn’t see them out there, which surprises me because it’s preseason. Roll all four lines?
  • Rick Nash got away with a slew foot. But I think that’s the first slew foot I’ve seen the Rangers commit. Usually they just run over goalies.
  • Speaking of running over goalies, what was Viktor Stalberg supposed to do on that play? He was on one foot, trying to stop, and got shoved into Steve Mason. NHL refs, man.
  • Back to McIlrath, if he didn’t solidify a spot in the lineup, I don’t know what else he needs to do. Klein will probably play against Boston on Wednesday to close out the preseason, and it’s basically a competition between those two. But as I said above, if you can get the cheaper guy to produce like the more expensive guy, you trade the more expensive guy.

Sure has been an interesting preseason. One more game, followed by a few cuts. The season starts a week from Wednesday. Hope you are all ready.

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