The New York Rangers concluded exhibition play at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, October 4th, where they lost to the Boston Bruins 3-1.
New York City, N.Y- Full lineups were on display Thursday night as the New York Rangers took on the Boston Bruins in their preseason finale.
Kaapo Kakko was featured on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Kakko scored his second game-opening goal of the preseason halfway through the first frame. With lofty expectations this season, he is impressed in the team's 6 exhibition games.
The 22-year-old feels comfortable on the top line, "We played together last season and before that, we played some real good games last year. I felt good with them. Still need to be better but [it was] our first game together."
The team had a better start overall, a trend that Peter Laviolette wanted to see change from previous matches. The Rangers entered the match 1-4 in "games that don't count" in part because of slow starts.
Following a 1-0 first period, the second period saw Charlie Coyle tie the contest on the powerplay. The Rangers would have a four-minute powerplay but couldn't convert.
The Bruins opened the scoring in the third frame on a goal from Matt Poitras, who was left unmarked in front of the Ranger's cage 1:33 into the period. Within the last minute, A.J. Greer potted an empty netter to seal a Bruins victory. The Rangers lost 3-1.
Following the game Peter Laviolette provided a reason why the penalty kill is struggling to adapt, "There's work to be done on everything from 5 on 5, the offense, cranking that up. In the first part of camp you focus on 5 on 5, not as much as you do the powerplay and penalty kill. The guys [on the powerplay] have been together more so there's a bit more rhythm where the penalty kill is a bit new, a bit different."
Jacob Trouba addressed the adjustments to a new system "You're not gonna flip a switch and it's gonna be magic. I think it takes time to build that trust and those reads... the communications a bit different, but I think it's trending in the right direction for us."
He also noted the difficulties of practicing the penalty kill in camp, which surrendered 3 goals on 5 opportunities against New Jersey on Wednesday and 1 on 3 plays tonight, "It's been a little more tough with that many people in camp and obviously trying to get a new system down."
Luckily, the team will have a week until its opening game to continue installing the Laviolette playbook.
The Blueshirts have had a difficult time getting the engine going from puck drop, and Laviolette spoke to that, "Defensively I thought it was excellent, offensively I thought we needed more."
Kakko acknowledged the team's tip-off is refining, " I feel we started the game way better than yesterday. Yesterday was a bad start. So not bad, not the best, also better than yesterday." He continued, "There are some games [where] it doesn't matter what you do before the game, warmups, everything you do, that happens. Today felt better."
The roster is solidifying itself. With Pitlick and Chytil out day-to-day, Cuylle and Othmann continue to get looks from the A team. Both contribute to every shift. The youngsters may very well be on the opening night roster barring the two NHL regulars' returns timetable.
Blake Wheeler appeared to have more of a jump to his game. He's a straight-line skater and hit the gas on Thursday. The longtime Winnipeg Jet skated in 14:08 of ice time against his former club.
On the back end, Gustafsson continues to impress as a mobile and highly skilled third-pairing rearguard. The staples in Fox, Lindgren, Miller, and Trouba provided a standard performance.
Exactly a decade ago, the Rangers went 1-5 in the preseason learning a new system under Alain Vigneault. The growing pains for that team continued into the second half of the regular season before they turned things around. That team advanced to the Stanley Cup Final...
The season opener will take place at KeyBank Center against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, October 12th at 7:00 PM.
Lines:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Kakko
Panarin-Goodrow-Lafreniere
Cuylle-Trocheck-Wheeler
Vesey-Bonino-Othmann
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Gustafsson-Jones
Shesterkin (Starter)
PP1: Zibanejad, Kreider, Trocheck, Fox, Panarin
PP2: Miller, Wheeler, Cuylle, kakko, Lafreniere
Penalty Kill: Trocheck, Kreider, Goodrow, Vesey, Bonino, and Zibanejad