When figuring out a new system, coach, locker room, and roster, wins aren’t always pretty. The Rangers got better as the game went on in Buffalo, but were still clearly adjusting. Banking points against beatable opponents is critical, and sometimes you just need the win. The Buffalo Sabres played a good game and had some good chances, but like the Rangers the other night in their opener, the goalie was the star of the night. As we said the other night, the Rangers will need to be carried by Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox early on as they adjust, and they did just that.
Igor Shesterkin is simply the best at what he does. Much to the chagrin of many crab people, he is compensated accordingly for that skillset. This obviously will not sustain, but a .985 save percentage in 2 games is a helluva way to start a season for the former Vezina winner.
After a pretty down year statistically, it’s clear Shesterkin wanted to get this year off on the right foot. The team in front of him will defend better with time, but it’s clear what the coaching staff is trying to accomplish. Your goalie probably shouldn’t see more than 30 shots in a game, but we know Igor is on record saying he loves lots of shots, and for all intents and purposes he’s getting clean looks at the shots. A shutout last night and one goal against in the opener do wonders for confidence levels.
Alexis Lafreniere loves playing the Sabres. A few years ago, he scored the first goal of the season in Buffalo off a great pass from Artemi Panarin. This year, Lafreniere scored the first goal of the season in Buffalo off of a rebound created by Panarin. Lafreniere has come out firing in the first two games, recording 12 shots on goal while averaging over 15 minutes of ice time.
It’s clear this was something Lafreniere decided to work on in his offseason training, because I can’t recall a season ago him looking this locked in and wanting to shoot the puck this much. Lafreniere’s tenure as a Ranger has been a highly debated one amongst the fanbase, but if this is an early indication into the type of year he could have, he will silence many critics.
Amongst the many different storylines for this season, another one that got conjured up thanks to this game was the Rangers center depth. Vincent Trocheck was removed from the game because of an upper body injury in the second period. At the time of this writing, all Sullivan provided was that they were evaluating him for the injury and nothing more.
We know there’s some young center depth still developing in Hartford, but another possibility if Trocheck has to miss any time is Zibanejad will move down to the to play center with Panarin and Lafreniere. This isn’t the most ideal scenario, as Zibanejad has also looked great to start the season on JT Miller’s wing. But he switched to center and still looked good last night. Best case, Trocheck’s injury is minor and the coaching staff simply took extra precaution because he was already playing with the full shield.
The first few weeks of the season will be rather inconsistent, but the boring hockey is a Mike Sullivan staple. Sometimes boring is good. In this case, the shots the team is allowing are mostly low danger. That’s a sign of good defense, even if the offense is still struggling a bit for consistency. Patience is a virtue.
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