By Jordan Laroche

The New York Rangers have had a great start to the season, however, the revolving door of right-wingers in the top-six needs to stop and the fix may not be that complicated. The right-wing position has been an issue since the Pavel Buchnevich trade, but one of the top prospects of the last few years, Alexis Lafreniere, is rotting away on the third line.

The first line is not the issue as Kaapo Kakko looks to be a much more competent player than in his first two years in the league. His two-way game has earned him some respect in the league, but he needs to find more consistent production to beef-up the top line. With 10 points through 26 games, Kakko has shown he can keep up with linemates Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, he just needs to be more involved in the offense.

However, the biggest gap on this team right now is the second line spot that is currently held by Dryden Hunt. Hunt joined the Rangers this offseason after appearing in 26 games for the Arizona Coyotes last season, and through 30 games this year he looks out of place in the top-six.

The 26-year-old signed a two-year deal with the Blueshirts, and Gerard Gallant has given him numerous chances to succeed, but the experiment needs to end. His style of play could benefit the bottom six and could make an effective third line and the penalty kill, but Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin are adept playmakers and need someone with a finishing touch to skate with them.

In Panarin’s short absence Filip Chytil has moved from the third line center into his left-wing spot, but Panarin is expected in the lineup after the break and the Rangers should move Alexis Lafreniere or Chytil to the right-wing.

Lafreniere has struggled this year with eight points, but he hasn’t had consistent teammates. He’s had games with Chytil and Julien Gauthier, but neither of them are proven scorers and are having struggles of their own. Then putting someone with massive potential with grinder Barclay Goodrow just doesn’t make sense. This forces Lafreniere to be a checking player, which is a role he has never played and is handicapping his development.

Putting Lafreniere with Panarin and Strome will give him the best chance to develop but forcing him out of the top-six is only going to hurt his chances at becoming a star. The whole argument of wingers not being able to switch between the wings is a bit of a joke, they’re the same position and I’m sure Lafreniere can play on the right-wing.

All of this is tough to say with Sammy Blais out for the season with an ACL injury as he was putting up decent numbers at the start of the year. But the Rangers need to either put Lafreniere in that spot or trade him and acquire a right-winger for the top-six.

Some of the options linked to the Rangers thus far include Phil Kessel, and David Perron. Either would make the Panarin-Strome line an elite force moving forward. Both Kessel and Perron are in the last year of their contracts, and both have been putting up consistent numbers, either player would be a great choice.

By Neil Becker

 As COVID numbers continue to rapidly rise at an escalating pace, it’s no surprise that the situation has played direct havoc with the NHL schedule.

Naturally, safety is the NHL’s biggest priority so as a result, the league took swift action on Friday by postponing games for the teams with the largest number of COVID omicron variant outbreaks which include the Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, and Florida Panthers who won’t be playing until after Christmas break which runs until Boxing Day.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the league took another step in its battle against COVID, by postponing cross-boarder NHL games. This means that six Canadian teams consisting of the Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, and Vancouver Canucks have had their games postponed until after the December 24-26 break.  

Heading into action last Saturday, 27 games have already been postponed this year due to COVID, and it’s now not a sure thing that the NHL players will participate in the upcoming Feb 2022 Beijing Olympics.

On what was the final Saturday before the Christmas break, the league postponed a handful of games which included an original six classic featuring the Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens.. Other Saturday night games postponed included Florida vs. Minnesota Wild, Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Vancouver Canucks, Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Colorado Avalanche, and the Columbus Blue Jackets vs. the Calgary Flames. The Bruins have had several players in COVID protocol which is why their game against Montreal was canceled. No date on when after the holidays these games will be made up.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, who are tied with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division, have gone 7-2-1 in their past 10 games. Unfortunately for Leafs fans that momentum was stopped last weekend as they made the move in putting head coach Sheldon Keefe, assistant coach Spencer Carbery along with goalie Jack Campbell, defenceman T.J. Brodie, and Travis Dermott in COVID protocol.

Road games starting last Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks, followed on Sunday by a game in Seattle against the Kraken and a home game this week against the St. Louis Blues have all been postponed. No makeup dates have yet to be announced.

Toronto also had their road game from last Thursday against the Calgary Flames postponed as the Flames have had COVID-19 problems.

This COVID outbreak has also affected Leafs forwards Jason Spezza, Alex Kerfoot, Wayne Simmonds, and captain John Tavares who last Friday were all put in COVID protocol.

The Vegas Golden Knights came into tonight’s game on a roll winning three in a row, the last two on the road. Having beaten the New Jersey Devils 5-3 on Thursday night in an emotional game that saw several scraps between the teams, but they continued the momentum into tonight.

The game would be close off the start, both teams having numerous chances throughout the first period. None better than Mika Zibanejad narrowly missing the net on a breakaway. However, ex-Ranger Brett Howden who would open the scoring on his revenge tour as he managed to bury a rebound off of Alexander Georgiev.

Howden was sent to the Golden Knights during the offseason for a 2021 4^th round pick and prospect Nick Desimone in a move to get Howden off the books. In three seasons with the Blueshirts, Howden tallied 49 points in 172 games, the young forward just didn’t seem to pan out during his time there.

The Rangers seemed to up their performance in the second period scoring immediately, as Mika Zibanejad would score on a shot through the legs of Zach Whitecloud, beating Laurent Brossoit just 17 seconds into the period. Chris Krieder would score his 11^th powerplay goal later in the period, tying his career high in powerplay goals.

The third period was a very different game as Vegas dominated. Georgiev had to stand on his head numerous times until he was eventually beat by Dylan Coghland, assisted by Howden. With the game tied 2-2 at the end of regulation we got to see some overtime.

The overtime period was some of the most entertaining hockey in recent memory, there were breakaways after breakaways on both sides, with teams making some potentially costly errors. Both Georgiev and Brossoit stood tall as the game headed to a shootout.

Jonathan Marchessault scored the lone goal in the shootout to secure the win for the Golden Knights 3-2, securing the revenge win for Brett Howden.

Box score:

1^st Period:

G: Brett Howden (3) A: Will Carrier (4) Keegan Kolesar (9)

2^nd Period:

G: Mika Zibanejad (7) A: Chris Krieder (8) K’Andre Miller (3)

G: Chris Krieder (18) A: Mika Zibanejad (18) Ryan Strome (15)

3^rd Period:

G: Dylan Coghlan (3) A: Nicolas Hague (10) Brett Howden (5)

Shootout:

• Nicolas Roy (VGK) Save
• Kaapo Kakko (NYR) Save
• Evgenii Dadonov (VGK) Save
• Mika Zibanejad (NYR) Save
• Jonathan Marchessault (VGK) Goal
• Ryan Strome (NYR) Save

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By Neil Becker

Costly turnovers proved to be the Leafs Achilles heel in a 5-3 Thursday night loss at Scotiabank Arena against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Leafs, who two nights earlier surrendered three straight third period goals in a 5-4 win at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets, faced a crucial measuring stick against a red-hot Lightning team.

Tampa, who in early November dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Toronto, came into action sporting a 7-2-1 record in their last ten games and two points behind the Leafs for second in the Atlantic Division.

Both teams were missing some key players due to injury and suspension. Toronto had to play without veteran forward Jason Spezza who was serving the second game of his six-game suspension along with injured star forward Mitch Marner who will be out for three to four weeks after getting hurt in practice. On the blueline, Toronto was missing Rasmus Sandin who is nursing a knee injury, and defenceman Travis Dermott who has an injured shoulder.

Meanwhile, the Bolts played without power forwards Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and defenceman Erik Cernak.   

Leafs forward Ondrej Kase, who had four shots on goal, scored his seventh on the power play 1:44 into regulation for a 1-0 lead.

A little over eight minutes later Tampa made it a brand-new game when veteran forward Corey Perry set up Pierre- Edouard Bellemare in the slot for his second of the season. 

Veteran Lightning captain Steve Stamkos, who had a four-point game followed up by scoring his 13^th goal, which came on the power play and gave the Bolts what turned out to be a temporary lead.

Late in the first Toronto was pressing on the power play when with only seven seconds left, forward William Nylander scored his 12^th goal to make it a brand- new game at 2-2 heading to the second period.

Tampa’s Ondrej Palat, who was picked as the third star, put the Bolts ahead to stay when in the second, he scored his first of two and eighth of the season just past the four-minute mark.

Minutes later Palat, who had a three-point game drew an assist as forward Taylor Raddysh scored his third and a huge insurance marker as Tampa seemed to have the momentum with a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes of regulation.

Toronto seemed on its way to another comeback when Kase scored his eighth and second of the game which with a little over 10 remaining setting the stage for a frantic finish.

Despite getting several quality opportunities, the Leafs came up empty before Palat iced the victory by scoring with 29 seconds left in regulation into an open net.

Defensive lapses and giveaways were the main problems for the Leafs on this night.

These two teams who are sure to be battling all season along with the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division will next meet on April 4, 2022.

The Leafs, who have now lost two of their last three games, are back at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night for a 7 p.m. puck drop against the Chicago Blackhawks.

  SCORING SUMMARY

   1^st period

  1:44 PPG-Ondrej Kase (7),

                    John Tavares (16), Morgan Rielly (20)               TB- TOR

9:57   Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (2)                                         1-   1

          Corey Perry (5)

12:16 PPG- Steve Stamkos (13)                                              2-  1

       Alex Killorn 14)

19:53 PPG- William Nylander (12)                                          2-  2

     Austin Matthews (12)

2^nd period                                                                            TB- TOR

4:02   Ondrej Palat (8)                                                         3-   2

  Steve Stamkos (17), Taylor Raddysh (4)               

9:11 Taylor Raddysh (3)                                                    4-  2

Ondrej Palat (9), Steve Stamkos (18)                                

3^rd period

 9:36 Ondrej Kase (8)                                               TB-  TOR

Jake Muzzin (8), John Tavares (17)                            4-    3

19:31  Ondrej Palat (9)

Steve Stamkos (19), Alex Kilorn (15)                           5-  3

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Artemi Panarin registers 500^th career point in New York Rangers win

By Jordan Laroche

The New York Rangers came into tonight on a six game win streak, beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Saturday. Igor Shesterkin was still on the Injured Reserve and will likely be back next week, the team recalled 2015 7^th round pick Adam Huska from the Hartford Wolf Pack to back up for Alexander Georgiev.

While the Chicago Blackhawks struggled earlier in the season, they have since been 8-4 with interim head coach Derek King going into tonight.

The scoring started early with Artemi Panarin making a graceful zone entry, holding several Blackhawk players away from the puck before finding Jacob Trouba open on the point just one minute into the first period. This marked Artemi Panarin’s 500^th NHL point against his former club, a strange coincidence that his first NHL point came in October 2015 against the New York Rangers.

The Blackhawks would rebound right away as Erik Gustafsson would score from the point off a deflection from Rangers forward Julien Gauthier just 30 seconds later. However, the Rangers would dominate most of the period with seven shots through the first six minutes.

A goal by Kirby Dach seven minutes into the first would give the Blackhawks some life as they crawled back in the shot count to tie the shots at nine for the period.

The second period remained a pretty tight contest as both Alexander Georgiev and Marc-Andre Fleury would make several key saves to keep the game at 2-1. That was until Artemi Panarin pounced on a loose puck in the slot for his eighth goal of the season to make it a 2-2 game.

The Rangers’ leading goal scorer, Chris Krieder, would put the Blueshirts up 3-2 five minutes into the third period scoring his ninth powerplay goal of the season. Krieder would also move back into third in the NHL’s scoring leaders as he ties Andrew Mangiapane and Auston Matthews with 17 goals this season.

The Rangers would continue to have the majority of the chances during the third period and would capitalize three more times en route to a 6-2 win. This improves the Rangers win streak to seven games, and moves them into first place in the Metropolitan Division and 2^nd place in the league standings with 39 points on a 17-4-3 record.

Box Score:

1^st period

G: NYR Jacob Trouba (5) A: Artemi Panarin (20) Ryan Strome (13)

G: CHI Erik Gustafsson (1)

G: CHI Kirby Dach (4) A: Alex DeBrincat (6) Dylan Strome (3)

2^nd period

G: NYR Artemi Panarin (8) A: Mika Zibanejad (15) Chris Krieder (4)

3^rd period

G: NYR Chris Krieder (17) A: Adam Fox (21) Artemi Panarin (21)

G: NYR Kevin Rooney (6) A: Adam Fox (22) Ryan Reaves (4)

G: NYR Artemi Panarin (9) (EN) A: Mika Zibanejad (16) Jacob Trouba (7)

G: NYR Barclay Goodrow (4) A: Ryan Reaves (5) Kevin Rooney (1)