Rangers

The New York Rangers best young players are really starting to make an impact and it is a game changer for the short term and long term for them.

The first is that it is giving the Rangers a chance to win it all this season. They have shown flashes of the potential that made them such high picks, but it has not always come together at the same time. At the time, I wrote that it made players like Lafrenière and Kappo (and especially Lafrenière) major X-factors for the Rangers this season. If your team is to have any chance of winning a Stanley Cup it is going to need three or four lines that can all score. It is starting to click for them. Not every top pick immediately enters the NHL and becomes a superstar from the first day. But when you consider what the rest of the Rangers’ lines have looked liked during 5-on-5 play you get a sense for just how important they have been for the team. That means it can come down to whose third and fourth lines can make a difference. So far this postseason that trio has spent 115 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey together as a line, and it has been one of the Rangers’ best. When The Kid Line is sitting on the bench, the Rangers’ expected goal share at 5-on-5 drops down to just 37 percent, while their shot attempt and scoring chance share all sit in the 30-38 percent range. They were the Rangers’ best line in the First Round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and have progressively gotten better each game. But there is another factor at play, and it is perhaps the most encouraging for the Rangers’ long-term outlook.

The Rangers have just skated passed this commentary as they have skated passed the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes. They have taken everything in ...

They were to be competitive in their first playoff action, check. The Rangers have just skated passed this commentary as they have skated passed the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes. They have taken everything in stride, learned, adapted and overcome. They were to make the playoffs as a bubble team, check.

The Carolina Hurricanes had their season ended shorter than they had hope. What went wrong? And how should the fans react to this disappointing end?

There were a lot of positives to this season, but the team must be better in the playoffs. It would not be a big deal for a $1 million defenseman usually but considering who he was brought in to replace, yeah that is unacceptable. Why did the Hurricanes lose 4 of 5 against a team who is behind them in their development curve? Antti Raanta is the only reason the team stayed in game 1 and a late goal by Sebastian Aho set up Ian Cole’s overtime goal which was easily the best moment of the series for Carolina. Beating Boston in the first round ultimately felt good but there was no reason for that series to go on as long as it did. Let me start this by saying that as bitter as the end to this season feels, it is a thousand times better than missing the playoffs for nine consecutive seasons.

Artemi Panarin put forth a solid theory to explain why the Rangers seemed to generate offense differently in Game 1 of the conference final against Tampa ...

That’s more goals than they scored in the first five games against Carolina. Much of their offense in that second-round series came on the rush, and via north-south hockey. Breaking down the Hurricanes — a hard-forechecking team with a top-tier penalty kill — was different than countering Tampa Bay. It took the Rangers until deep into the previous series before they could do it.

If ESPN didn't know before the seven-game Rangers-Hurricanes Stanley Cup playoff series, it had to know after Game 3. And it had to remember it as its top ...

Except it wasn’t a home run and Seigler was thrown out at second to end the game. That’s why pitches often had to be chased toward the backstop. He was called out at third after over-sliding the bag when he reasonably should have pulled up at third, standing. Giants’ manager Gabe Kapler will no longer show himself in or near the dugout during the national anthem to protest mass shootings. If ESPN didn’t know before the seven-game Rangers-Hurricanes Stanley Cup playoff series, it had to know after Game 3. I supported losing “Redskins” as an NFL team nickname as it directly appropriated a race. Throughout Games 3, 4 and 6, all at the Garden, ex-Ranger defenseman Tony DeAngelo was booed, en masse, every time he played the puck. Eliminating chief in titles is absurd. Again, if ESPN entered this series not knowing this, it couldn’t have claimed ignorance after Game 3. Recently, several municipalities and states determined that they will no longer use the word “chief,” as in Chief of Police and Chief Executive Officer, as “chief” is disrespectful to native Americans. That chief comes from the French word “chef,” for leader, doesn’t matter. At this point we should be grateful for what ESPN is not. And it had to remember it as its top priority come the series-concluding handshake line.

Filip Chytil's amazing technicolor breakout through this tournament could change the dynamic of the Rangers' offseason just as dramatically as it has ...

“If I were at training camp with him, I’d tell the coach to put me on a line with the kid,” said New Jersey’s 2000 Conn Smythe winner. “He can get through holes on the ice that others can’t,” Claude Lemieux said in a phone conversation that followed the text exchange. “They’ve had a huge impact since the start of the playoffs,” said the coach. Too many rushes wound up with Chytil carrying the puck into a crowd. It looked to me that it took a while for Filip to be comfortable, but now that he is, you can see special qualities. At this moment, the 22-year-old Czech seems to be a significant part of both. There’s a special combination of strength and skill.” He is not a classic dispatcher in the middle, indeed preferring to hang onto the puck rather than moving it quickly. Lemieux, who is an agent, spent a fair amount of time at the practice rink when his son, Brendan, played for the Blueshirts from the 2018 deadline through late last season. “It takes time for players to be comfortable. He has seven goals in 15 playoff contests. Head coach Gerard Gallant is focused on Friday’s first shift, then the next, and then the next after that.

Lafrenière has nine points (two goals, seven assists), Chytil eight (seven goals, one assist) and Kakko four (one goal, three assists) this postseason. In the ...

The youngsters have helped the Rangers move ahead in a series for the first time. “You don’t win two Stanley Cups and not be ready to play at this time of year. Tampa Bay came out a little sluggish to start the series after having last played nine days earlier when they finished their second-round sweep of Florida on May 23. “We take it one game at a time,” Gallant said. "He can shoot, so for me it’s just try to find him on the ice and give him the puck in good spots. I think he really stepped up his game in the last couple of weeks so it’s really good to see." In the last three games — all Rangers wins — Chytil has five goals, and Lafrenière and Kakko each have two assists. Lafrenière, the No. 1 overall selection in 2020, had 19 goals and 12 assists this season. He is the third-longest tenured player on the team behind Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. Kakko, the second overall pick in the 2019 draft, had seven goals and three assists during the season. I think we’re playing as a unit and using our skills.” “They’ve had a huge impact since the playoffs started,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said Thursday. “We broke them up a few times because of different matchups but overall they’ve been outstanding. Now they'll look to keep it going when the Rangers host the Lightning in Game 2 on Friday night (8 p.m. EDT, ESPN).

You wondered whether Rangers center Mika Zibanejad could be a true superstar center, and through five playoff games, he was giving you an answer.

But it was Zibanejad who edged Kreider’s 77 regular-season points with 81, and it’s Zibanejad who has stepped into the spotlight this postseason. Even when Zibanejad put up a point per game this season, it was Chris Kreider’s 52 goals next to him that got the attention. He saw a player who excelled in the small areas. Zibanejad, a soft-spoken player who carries a big stick, joked following Game 1 that he needed four attempts at a one-timer before one went in, elevating the Rangers’ lead to 6-2 in the third. The Rangers were on the brink of elimination, heading back to Pittsburgh down 3-2, and Zibanejad had yet to score in the series. I think one of the best in the league.”

Get a recap of the Tampa Bay Rays vs. Texas Rangers baseball game.

The first left on was Josh Smith, who doubled leading off the first but never advanced. He hit 45 last season for Toronto, the most ever for a primary second baseman in the majors. “We had a chance early on … couldn’t find a way to get him across. Brujan, in his second major league season, made his first big league start at shortstop, with Wander Franco on the injured list. Five consecutive Rays reached base in a two-run third inning during which Hearn walked three. Taylor Hearn (3-4) allowed all three Rays runs on six hits and four walks.

The New York Rangers' third line has been making valuable contributions all season, and the trio's success in Game 1 against Tampa Bay is a big reason the ...

“We take it one game at a time,” Gallant said. The youngsters have helped the Rangers move ahead in a series for the first time. I think he really stepped up his game in the last couple of weeks so it’s really good to see.” “He can shoot, so for me it’s just try to find him on the ice and give him the puck in good spots. In the last three games — all Rangers wins — Chytil has five goals, and Lafrenière and Kakko each have two assists. “They’ve had a huge impact since the playoffs started,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said Thursday. “We broke them up a few times because of different matchups but overall they’ve been outstanding.