For all the complaints we see I really enjoy watching the Rangers these days. People are forgetting about the years when we had Hank and could not buy a timely goal to save our lives. This team has a bunch of guys on it who can get hot and make a play and that was true before we got Tarasenko and Kane. Hopefully we get hot in the playoffs this year.
Oh come on! It's not like we KNEW he would score a minute later! Again, couldn't agree more with this. For a coach who like to mix and match the lines every game, he is maddingly stubborn with the defensive pairings.
I think the pairing of Trouba and Miller is partly because GG would really like to see Miller pick up some of Trouba's habits. It's also obviously about Fox and Lindgren knowing each other as well as they do. They both get a premium on playing with a guy they've played with at different levels over the years.
If the playoffs started tomorrow, this team is a first round exit. Luckily, they have 16 more games to figure out their lines. They can’t generate anything at 5v5 the last two games.
The defense is a tremendous problem right now, and it has nothing to do with "Gelling". It has to do with lack of depth. You can not expect much success with only two legitimate defensemen.
I think the real problem is too many forwards who don't forecheck or backcheck and allow way too many transition chances.
We can’t generate any offense consistently. Way more concerned with our lack of scoring right now. The forward lines look like shit.
The one thing I just don't understand about Gallant is that he has no problem changing the lines every single goddamn night, but god forbid he should change the defensive pairings!?!?
I still think our defensive problem is because we don't have enough good defensive forwards. Panarin, Tarasenko, and Kane all blow chunks defensively. When Panarin and Kane are on the ice, it's an absolute nightmare. Those 3 all need to be on separate lines, or pair Panarin and Tarasenko with Zibanejad. I'd roll out something like this. Panarin - Zibanejad - Tarasenko --> This line gives Panarin two guys that want to rip pucks at the net, as well as a defensively responsible center. Kreider - Trocheck - Kane --> Kane can set up Kreider and Trocheck net front, and has two defensively responsible players on the line. Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko Vesey - Goodrow - Motte
Despite all the added scoring punch I think we're going to go exactly as far as Shesterkin takes us. It's a flashier lineup than last year but we're still completely dependent on our goalie.
