It’s only 1 game, but the new Rangers lines showing great chemistry

Sometimes, structure is all you need. But most of the time, that structure is combined with new Rangers lines to get the most out of the team. The NY Rangers dominated the Buffalo Sabres two nights ago, completely shutting down one of the top offensive teams in the league last season. The new Rangers lines against Buffalo were shuffled from last year’s iterations, and it’s already looking like they belong together.

For those that may have missed it, Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil were moved up to play with Artemi Panarin, while Kaapo Kakko played on the top line. Vincent Trocheck and Blake Wheeler were bringing up Will Cuylle, while the shutdown line was comprised of the players who belong on a shutdown line. Everything clicked, and everything worked. At least through one game.

To give you an idea of how dominant the new Rangers lines were (numbers per Natural Stat Trick):

• Panarin-Chytil-Lafreniere: 14 shot attempts for, 5 against, 3 high danger chances for, none against
• Kreider-Zibanejad-Kakko: 7 shot attempts for, 8 against, 3 high danger chances for, 1 against
• Cuylle-Trocheck-Wheeler: 11 shot attempts for, 9 against, 2 high danger chances for, 2 against
• Goodrow-Bonino-Pitlick: 7 shot attempts for, 9 against, 2 high danger chances for, 1 against

The newly minted second line was absolutely dominant and spent most of the game in the offensive zone. The other three lines weren’t nearly as dominant, but the key is that all four lines limited Buffalo to just 4 high danger chances at even strength for the entire game.

To expect the new Rangers lines to do this every game is silly and unrealistic. What we saw in Buffalo was likely the best case scenario for the first few months of the seasons as the Rangers continue to learn and adjust to Peter Laviolette’s system. What we should be looking for is an overall body of work and consistency with the number of mistakes decreasing throughout the season.

Thursday night in Buffalo was a start, and one game does not tell the story of a full season. The Rangers have a light schedule to start the season, with just three games against playoff teams from last season. It’s the perfect soft landing for a team that will likely have some struggles and inconsistencies to start the season. No better way to adjust than to build confidence with learning the new system.

So far, so good for the new Rangers lines. Let’s hope it wasn’t a fluke, and they continue to dominate in all three zones.