Discussion of the Day: 10/13/23
Hello everyone, and happy Friday. The New York Rangers won their season opener on Thursday vs. the Buffalo Sabres, and it was nice to see the team playing competitive hockey that meant something. The Blueshirts came out flying and succeeded in just about every facet of play, and there’s a lot of positives to take from the game. It is important not to get too ahead of ourselves though, lest we forget that the team looked pretty good on opening night 2022 too. Today’s prompt, sorry for another break in coverage… have had some craziness behind the scenes, is pretty straightforward.
What was your biggest takeaway(s) from the season opener vs. Buffalo?
I have takeaway(s) as an option in the event you have a few things that stood out for you, but in an ideal world we can isolate the No. 1 thing of note. My big takeaway was how solid the line of Lafrenière-Chytil-Panarin looked from the jump.
The line scored a goal on its 2nd shift of the game, and was dominant the whole night. What stood out to me was how in sync they were in terms of positioning and feeding off where each other was on the ice, generating some chances, and rotating well. It wasn’t a case where a new line tried to do too much resulting in turnovers and broken plays, it looked like a line that had spent significant time together with success.
The key moment for the line was Lafrenière goal, and the elements of the goal are what can make the team successful this season. For starters, the team made a play in the neutral zone on defense, and used it as a springboard to move back up ice. It resulted on a shot on goal, and a rebound, which Panarin collected. Lafrenière went hard to the net, and got to an area where he’s going to have success if he shoots the puck, and he was able to do that because Panarin is a dual-threat forward that commanded the respect of the Sabres, and he beat them with a pass when it would have been just as easy for him to take his own rebound to the net again. All of these elements individually are important for the Rangers, and when you stack them together it is going to result in some good moments.
That said, I am interested in what you think, and hope you have a great rest of the day. Rangers hockey is back!