AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
The Rangers opened the preseason in emphatic fashion, dominating the Islanders in a 5-2 win. The Isles had a split squad, so the domination should be taken with a grain of salt, but there were a ton of positives to take away from this game. The goalies looked good, the offense and powerplay were clicking, and the defense –while it had its breakdowns– looked better than most of last year.
This was just the first preseason game, but it looks like the offseason moves are already paying dividends. Goal breakdowns aren’t as useful in the preseason, so here’s bullet points on what I observed throughout the game:
- The PK and the defense opened the game like they closed out last season: Lost. They left a few guys open in front, leading to a prime chance and the eventual Jason Chimera goal.
- The powerplay though, wow. That’s why they got Mika Zibanejad. He can really fire the puck. Adam Clendening looked at home up top too. Pavel Buchnevich drew attention in the high slot of the 1-3-1, and Brandon Pirri showed he could move the puck. Just a great powerplay.
- More on Clendening: He can really move the puck. I got asked on Twitter why he may have been available, and I think it’s a combination of poor talent evaluation and being blocked. He was blocked in Pittsburgh and Chicago, and Vancouver and Edmonton are terrible at analyzing their own talent.
- Zibanejad just looks to fire away on the powerplay. It’s so refreshing to see a shoot-first righty on the team. He will thrive in this role.
- I’m aware I’m gushing over the Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich line and the play of Clendening. But grain of salt time: It was one preseason game against a split squad. But they have turned heads and forced another look at the line combo. Clendening has forced the team to give him a much longer look than any fans have really given him credit for, including myself.
- Would have liked to see more of Josh Jooris, but he left in the first period with a groin injury. He didn’t return. Tough timing for an injury. If it’s long term, it may cost him a roster spot.
- Magnus Hellberg looked calm and collected in net. Nothing fancy, no sudden movements, just overall controlled and smooth. That was the analysis last year too.
- Brady Skjei had a rough game, and it was independent of Dan Girardi. He looked a little lost, took a bad penalty, committed a bad turnover in which Hellberg had to bail him out. Hopefully it’s just some rust. He looked better in the third until the late penalty.
- Speaking of Girardi, he took a shot off the knee. Hopefully it wasn’t the one that he fractured last year. He looked ok in the third though.
- I didn’t hear much of Maxim Lapierre or Tanner Glass. Could just be that the game had a lot of special teams work.
- Nicklas Jensen was mostly quiet, and I think he was outplayed by Marek Hrivik. They are probably battling with each other for a 13/14F spot, so both are worth keeping your eyes on.
- There was one play in the third that I wanted to highlight and close with. It was a breakout play that started with Clendening, and ended with a Robin Kovacs controlled zone exit:
https://twitter.com/BlueSeatBlogs/status/780941772830740481
And here’s one last gif of Zibanejad, who was happy about something. You tell me:
All in all, a good start to the preseason for the Rangers. There are going to be a lot of tough decisions come October.
Share:
More About:Uncategorized