Bantering Points: 2/6/19
Here are today’s news and links:
Rangers News:
- Colin Stephenson notes that Neal Pionk’s first time as a healthy scratch could be a motivating point moving forward (Newsday)
- Brett Cyrgalis discusses how David Quinn finally reached his breaking point with Neal Pionk’s poor play as of late (NY Post)
- Cyrgalis also believes that tonight’s start against the Boston Bruins could mean the start of more regular game reps for Alexandar Georgiev (NY Post)
- Dave Shapiro argues that New York’s rebuild means they’ll need to be more reliant on their offensive depth for scoring (Blue Seat Blogs)
- Nicholas Zararis writes that even with a recent uptick in play, Mats Zuccarello’s fate with the team is all but sealed (Blue Line Station)
- Zararis also gave his State of the Union-equivalent regarding the Rangers (Blue Line Station)
- Steve Paulus ponders why the Blueshirts’ top line seems to be the only source of offense as of late (Blue Line Station)/
Around the NHL:
- Katya Knappe relays word that the Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to a five year, $58.17 million contract with forward Auston Matthews (Pension Plan Puppets)
- Washington Capitals’ forward Alexander Ovechkin became the all-time leading scorer among Russians after recording an assist on T.J. Oshie’s ice-breaking goal against the Vancouver Canucks last night (TSN)
- Elliotte Friedman authored another edition of 31 Thoughts (Sportsnet)
- James O’Brien relays word that in recognition of Patrice Bergeron’s 1,000th NHL game, the Boston Bruins had the 6x Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots drop a ceremonial puck, led by Super Bowl LIII MVP Julian Edelman (NBC Sports)/