Takeaways from the New York Ranger's dominant victory over the Edmonton Oilers on October 26th, 2023.
The New York Rangers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 at Rogers Place. Johnathan Quick earned a shutout, and the "French Toast Line" continued to garner five-star ratings. The "Quick" hits here...
The Big C: It began with buy-in. When the skaters bought in, they built a trust with Peter Laviolette. Laviolette granted the team consistent lines, chemistry led to successful habits, and a synchronized structure. Habits and structure led to detailed play, and detailed play led to goals. It all culminated in confidence, the single and most important characteristic of a championship-caliber team. The Rangers have it. This halo effect harkens back to the Rangers 7 game-win streak from November 21st-December 7th, 2021. The team was winning in every way imaginable because of their confidence. I spoke about the necessity for confidence on PuckTalkCS on Wednesday, October 25th.
Johnny B. Quick: Johnathan Quick is righting the ship. He's allowed one goal in two starts, that's 56 saves on 57 shots faced and earned a 982 SV%, and a GSAx of +4.9. That means he's saved 5 sure goals in the 57 shots faced in the Seattle Kraken and Edmonton Oilers contests. Last week Laviolette said we'd see Quick start one game on the road trip, he's played 2 of the team's 3 games. I'm intrigued to see how he rides the 37-year-old, rejuvenated backup, as we saw Laviolette double-shift Panarin against Seattle as a reward for effort. Benoit Allaire also has his hand in the turnaround, he is the Bill Bellicheck of NHL goaltending. His list of projects has allowed New York to never have a problem in the net. Lundqvist, Valiquette, Weekes, Biron, Talbot, Skapski, Raanta, Georgiev, Shesterkin, Halak, Quick...the mastermind is at it again.
The French Toast Line: There are a few lines that come to mind in terms of dominance for the Rangers in the last decade. Truly dominant, not we-wished-they-were dominant. Combinations like "KZB", the Pouliout-Brassard-Zuccarello (seriously, still no name for them?), and the "Kid Line" stand out the most.
In the last three matches they have completely taken over the game, shift by shift. Panarin has 28 shots on goal in 7 games and has 19 70-80 MPH shots on goal putting him the the 99th percentile in shot speed. The line has also spent 52.4% of their ice time in the offensive zone, and 30.4% in the defensive end. Chytil looks like a bonafide 2C, skating even better than last season. Lafreniere also tallied a nasty one-timer off a feed from Panarin and dangled a rearguard out of his skates in a move on goal off the rush. Three of the most criticized Rangers from the offseason are playing possessed.
Draft Siblings: Braden Schneider scored an off-the-rush, secondary offense goal with a lethal snipe and Alexis Lafreniere scored next. The 2020 first-overall pick, and the 20th overall pick (who the Rangers traded up for) notched professional-grade goals back to back.
McDavid Looking Like the U.S.S Gerald Ford: He is absolutly a carrier and it is going to take a lot of convincing from this middling Oilers squad to reverse that narrative. The team has zero depth and doesn't have the Chich to the Chong right now to get the job done. Teams that win the games they should are playoff teams, the Blueshirts did just that.
With McDavid likely healthy in the next matchup on December 23rd at Madison Square Garden, it will be a different story. For now, the Rangers blanked a struggling, McDavid-less club.
The New York Rangers take on the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday, October 28th at 10:00 PM (ET). The Hockey News will have previews for the match and takeaways following the match.
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