5 Takeaways From Thursdays 3-2 Preseason Loss

Gustafsson Dances with the Devil:

Erik Gustafsson's offensive zone play is smooth, he has a solid shot and can create plays off the wall. He loves to disco. At the halfway mark of the second, he sent Alex Belzile on a breakaway with a jiggy head fake. He then inked his name on the stat sheet with a goal in the second period.

He impressed in practice this morning and continued to in this match. The Swede is deft at launching crafty zone exits, loves to head fake and shimmy away from defenders, and his wrist shot accuracy stands out. 

A 38-point season under Peter Laviolette in the nation's capital a season ago is no fluke, Laviolette stating,  "I think Gus has looked good in the preseason games he's skated in and in scrimmages... He's a skater, he's a puck mover he's constantly looking to jump and create. He looked comfortable."

His defensive zone play remains to be seen against a fully loaded NHL roster. Defense is an art, and he will need steady play from a defensive partner to levy that.  

Will Cuylle is Multidimensional:

Will Cuylle played on the first powerplay unit as the bumper killed penalties, and played 4-on-4 with Kakko. He played in 14:39 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey and 2:39 of powerplay ice time in this match. 

The 21-year-old  registered an assist on the Gustafsson goal as well. The details in his game are what stand out the most, such as positioning, the way he battles for pucks, and his physical presence. The Toronto native's stock continues to rise.

Peter Laviolette commented about Cuylle and Othmann's play, "I noticed them quite a bit... Cuylle got better as the game went on." 

Following the game Cuylle spoke about his experience in the preseason, "It's great that I'm getting lots of opportunities to show what I can do and show that I'm more than a one-dimensional kind of player." 

System's Loading:

In the 1st frame, the Rangers skated half the period without generating a shot on goal. A Zibanejad penalty did not help swing momentum in their favor. 

The Rangers are still able to lean on structure as opposed to pure talent, but the slow start was reminiscent of the last matchup they played against their foe.

Laviolette acknowledged the wrinkly start," Coming out of the gate we were a little bit slow, we didn't have the pop...more reactive than anything else... I really liked the second period I thought we played a much better brand of hockey." 

The second period saw the Rangers nearly double their shot totals from the first period, and didn't fold in on Shesterkin as they previously had.  

The Rangers did improve over the course of the night in all three zones and in all situations, but Laviolette alluded to work on special teams as the Rangers are 0/10 on the man advantage, "For playing the penalty kill, it's something we are starting to hit on in practices...After game five and six we have a lot of time to practice a lot of special teams inside those seven or eight days."

The week following the last preseason game will allow a more sculpted roster to thread the special teams' systems. 

Three-Headed Monster: 

One Hughes wasn't enough for New Jersey. Luke Hughes commanded the point on a unit that featured Jack and Tyler Toffoli. The triangular passing and possession between the three will not disappear when these two clubs clash in November. Add Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton, and Jesper Bratt into that unit...

Oh and behind that elite unit are Simon Nemec, Seamus Casey, and Ethan Edwards. The Devils have a deep prospect pool and their leadoff hitter from that group Luke Hughes made an impact on Thursday. 

Ah Shcmid:

Akira Schmid, who needs no introduction to the New York faithful, stopped all 21 shots he faced in the 1.5 periods he played in. It is the preseason, but a goal might alleviate the narrative that the club can't score on the 23-year-old netminder. 

The New York Rangers are 1-2-0 in the preseason and have three games remaining in the exhibition schedule. 

The urbanites take on the suburbanites at UBS Arena on September 29th at 7:00 PM.