Jonny Lazarus and Matthew Mugno share their thoughts from the Rangers loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
The New York Rangers lost to the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 on home ice last night. It was the clubs 4th regulation loss of the season. They boast a 15-4-1 record as a top team in the NHL. Our takeaways from last night-
Jonny Lazarus: Have to credit the Sabres and how they played last night. They came out hard, took away the walls on the forecheck which forced the Rangers to throw pucks into the middle, leading to a ton of defensive zone turnovers. It's very difficult to break the puck out when the walls are being sealed by the opposition. Right from the first shift, you could tell the Rangers just didn't seem as locked in as previous games.
Matthew Mugno: I don't have the record book in front of me, but this has to be the Rangers first time 20+ games into the season since it's turbo rebuild that they are a first place team in the entire NHL. The Sabres brought the heat all night. The Rangers had some moments but lost the hockey game.
JL: A positive from last night's game is seeing Mika Zibanejad score his second power play goal of the season. Zibanejad is now on a four-game point streak (3 goals, 2 assists) and the Rangers needed him to get going. I thought Zibanejad, Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin were still very noticeable and strong. They had chances, but credit to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen who was outstanding all night.
MM: Vincent Trochecks facoeff numbers are overlooked. He went 16/17 in the faceoff dot last night (94%). That is the highest by a Ranger skater who took 17 draws in a night since 1997-1998 when the NHL began tracking the statistic. Trocheck is currently 2nd in the NHL with a 63.4 FOW%. The Rangers notoriously have struggled in the faceoff circle, so this is a major plus for the club.
JL: Jimmy Vesey has been buzzing as of late. He was arguably the most noticeable forward for the Rangers last night. He was causing turnovers and generating scoring chances. Unfortunately, he got robbed on that wide open net in the third period, but I wouldn't be surprised if Vesey gets a look on the first line with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, especially now that Kaapo Kakko is injured.
MM: Vesey has arguably been one of the best all-around skaters for the club this season. With the way the Rangers are playing, I second Jonny. Keep an eye out for Vesey on the top line. He played well on the opposite wing of Panarin last year pre-Kane/Tarasenko.
JL: I feel so bad for Kakko. It seemed like this year couldn't get any worse for the Finnish Phenom, but man, what a horrific looking injury that was.
MM: Jonny Brodzinski has been called up in the wake of the injury. We may learn what Kakkos condition is at todays morning skate.
JL: These kinds of games happen. It was the team's fourth game in six days. They were coming off of an emotional win against the Bruins and had a day off on Sunday. That will be a loss to get them re-engaged.
MM: Exactly. The biggest concern is not this one loss. First and foremost it is the health of Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. That is most important.
In terms of hockey, the Rangers have already dealt with number of injuries and succeeded, but the more players that are sidelined exposes the lack of organizational depth.
Brodzinski leads the AHL in scoring and has always been a servicable call up. Adam Edstrom was also called up. If another forward has a substantial injury, is the next man up Brennan Othmann? The organization is certainly not burning his ELC on that. Outside of the NHL roster, the dropoff is steep and uncharted.
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