Rangers, Canadiens clash after recent lineup changes
Big changes made during the game by coach Peter Laviolette hardly produced the desired results for the New York Rangers on Friday.
Still trying to find a spark, the Rangers will try to stop their first five-game losing streak in more than three years on Saturday afternoon when they host the Montreal Canadiens.
The Rangers will play their next five games at home, as they return from playing six of their previous seven on the road.
Since a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 19, New York has been outscored 21-10 in its first five-game losing streak, when it was outscored 21-5 from April 29 to May 6, 2021. The Rangers fired then-general manager Jeff Gorton and team president John Davidson after three games of that streak.
New York’s last loss was a 3-1 setback to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday afternoon. The Rangers trailed by two goals 4:24 into the game and were outshot 15-4 in the opening period. After the disastrous start, Laviolette changed each of the four offensive lines and two of the three defensive pairings.
«We left the game in the first period,» Laviolette said. «That can’t happen. For a team that’s here looking for ways to win hockey games, the work in the first period was not good.»
The changes resulted in Artemi Panarin moving to a line with Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuylle, and rookie Brett Berard doing the same with Alexis Lafreniere and Vincent Trocheck. On defense, Laviolette moved captain Jacob Trouba to the third line with Zac Jones and placed Braden Schneider with K’Andre Miller.
Trocheck scored the team’s only goal midway through the second period, but the Rangers were outshot 35-23. During their skid, they have been outshot 198-137.
«It’s not good enough,» Trouba said. «I think everybody knows that. Nobody needs to announce it or yell or kick or scream. As a group, as professionals, I think you know when it’s not good enough. That certainly wasn’t a good start.»
Chris Kreider missed his third straight game due to back spasms and could be sidelined again as New York tries to avoid losing six straight for the first time since going 0-2-4 from Feb. 24-March 7, 2019. The last time New York lost six straight in regulation during a season was when it didn’t get a point in the first six of a seven-game skid (0-6-1) from Feb. 13-25, 2018.
The Rangers earned a 7-2 win in Montreal on Oct. 22, but are 7-9-0 since that game.
The Canadiens have allowed 19 goals in three straight losses to the Rangers dating back to last season, but are showing some improvement of late. Montreal is 4-2-1 in its last seven games since allowing 29 goals in a six-game losing streak from Oct. 29-Nov. 9.
The Canadiens, who have scored 23 goals in their last seven games, avoided a third straight loss when Nick Suzuki scored 44 seconds into overtime for a 4-3 road win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
Montreal is on the rise despite averaging just 21.4 shots on goal in its last seven games. The Canadiens took 23 shots on goal on Wednesday. Juraj Slafkovsky, recently demoted to the fourth line, scored in the win.
«We’re just fighting for consistency,» Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher said. «Next game we drop the puck, we’ve got to try to keep scoring points and get back up. We enjoyed it a little bit, but we moved on pretty quickly.»
–Field-level media