Barclay Goodrow has been quietly solid so far through 2 games

As the Rangers shift to our nation’s capital for Games 3 and 4 of this series, it’s easy to point to players like Mika Zibanejad, Matt Rempe, Igor Shesterkin, and others as the reasons why they are up 2-0. They’ve been the spotlight stealers, but it’s a team effort. It’s also players like Barclay Goodrow, who has been quietly solid through 2 games, doing their jobs to keep the Rangers in it and/or ahead.

It’s easy to hate on Barclay Goodrow. He was pretty rough at 5v5 this year, putting it mildly. His contract is pretty bad, and there’s been strong arguments for playing kids like Rempe and Adam Edstrom. Simply put: There were better ways to spend $3.64 million in the regular season.

Of course, the counter arguments were about his playoff experience and leadership. He’s a 16 game player, not an 82 game player. It’s easy to write that off as an excuse, since the numbers don’t lie.

There are faults to both arguments, with the hate forgetting that Goodrow is actually a solid penalty killer, and the love forgetting that replacing Goodrow in the aggregate is a better solution.

These are all moot points right now. The Rangers need to find a way to win 14 more games, and Barclay Goodrow will be leaned upon for this. Through the first two games against Washington, he’s proven the haters wrong, at least in terms of effective fourth line play.

Goodrow’s two assists are nice to haves, and it’s his overall solid defensive play that has turned him back into perhaps what he was with Tampa. Through two games, he’s been 50/50 in terms of shot attempts (23 for and against) and high danger (3 for and against) shot attempts. What’s more impressive is his 71% xG share, due to limiting opponents to mostly low danger (11) and medium danger (5) chances.

On the penalty kill, where Goodrow has excelled most of the season, he’s been on for 5:22 TOI and has allowed just 3 high danger chances against. Even though two have been goals, it’s a stat line you like to see. Grain of salt required since it’s only 2 games against a far inferior opponent, but he’s still doing his job.

Hopefully Goodrow’s impacts remain positive if/when he’s moved to the wing when Filip Chytil returns. We’ve been adamant about Goodrow being better on the wing, especially if he’s adding Alex Wennberg to his shutdown role with one of Rempe or Jimmy Vesey.

This is what you want from a fourth line in the playoffs. They won’t score much, but they can and will if given the chance. Their main role is to limit the opposition’s ability to create offense. So far, so good.