Hot Rangers starting to score goals in bunches
Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers scores the winning overtime shootout goal against Alexander Georgiev of the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 9, 2022. Credit: Getty Images/Jack Dempsey
CHICAGO — The Rangers enjoyed a day off on Monday and carry a seven-game winning streak into their Tuesday night game in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.
In the immediate aftermath of Sunday night’s 7-1 shellacking of Chicago at United Center, the Rangers were understandably joyful.
But captain Jacob Trouba — one of seven Rangers to score a goal — said the margin of victory and winning streak are not going to the players’ heads.
“Not much,” Trouba said when asked what the victory meant. “I think you take it as it’s good for guys to score, guys feel good, but turn the page pretty quick. No different than if you lose a game like that. You’ve got to turn the page and move on to the next one. We’ve got a big test [Tuesday night] and want to finish this road trip off right.”
The Rangers won on back-to-back nights in Philadelphia and Chicago and scored 13 goals. The Penguins are a tougher test, but the Rangers know they have started to unlock their offensive potential.
“We get on a little roll and things have been good,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “We weren’t getting [many] pucks across the first part of the season and now we’re getting a lot more of it . . . But obviously the defense has been very good. The goaltending has been excellent.”
The Rangers haven’t lost since a 5-2 home defeat against Chicago on Dec. 3.
“I’d say [we have] a little more confidence, a little more feel-good in our game,” Trouba said. “I think we know what we’re capable of. If we play the game we played [against Chicago] . . . kind of just rolling them over . . . we know how good of a team we can be. I think that’s been the difference the last couple or three weeks here.”
Chicago, which has lost seven in a row, outplayed the Rangers early (winning the first eight faceoffs, for example).
“We were flat the first seven, eight minutes, which we expect [in the second of] back-to-back games,” Gallant said. “Usually, the first 10 minutes is the toughest part to get going. After that, I thought we played really good.”
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead at 11:04 of the first period on a goal by Filip Chytil, who later left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return. Gallant said Chytil is day-to-day.
The loss of Chytil led to Gallant playing around with his line combinations. He put Vitali Kravtsov in with Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, and Kravtsov scored his second goal of the season on a breakaway at 8:56 of the third.
“He made me look good,” Gallant said. “When we lost Chytil there in the game, we started mixing and matching some lines and different things. So it was good for him to get that goal.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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