Rangers vs. Panthers: Fun and Agony
Another win they probably shouldn't have. The kids are doing the thing—for better or worse.
- Well, they did it again.
- The New York Rangers continued to win games they shouldn't, this time against the two-time defending champ Florida Panthers in a 3-1 contest at home. This one had the flavor of another one of those "the kids are doing the thing" wins, but it was also a meh game overall.
- The Rangers were outshot 15-4 in the first period and it was only a series of Igor Shesterkin saves that kept things even. Gabe Perreault and Alexis Lafrenière were held pointless, Conor Sheary continues to hurt the Rangers by scoring a goal to help win a game and hurt lottery chances, and Adam Fox added the other goal mentioned so far.
- Which is sort of not the way you want to win. The Rangers need to be way focused on the future, and Sheary scoring goals to help this team win doesn't do anything positive.
- I also want to mention, it's not about the Rangers winning the lottery so much as protecting themselves from falling too far in the draft order. As currently ranked the Rangers sit with the third highest odds for the lottery, which would permit them to drop as low as fifth in the event that another set of ping pong balls come up for other teams. In a two-winger draft, that is sort of a nightmare.
- It also doesn't help to have Shesterkin do Shesterkin things right now. I know how stupid all this sounds, but I am King Draft Pick at this current moment.
- The one good thing about Sunday afternoon was Adam Sykora. He scored his second goal in three games and continues to be an infectious ball of energy both on the ice and on the bench. I can't hate him proving that he belongs on this team, and there really is something about the vibes that a kid being allowed to be a kid does. Mike Sullivan has done a good job with this in a few places—although I still think Scott Morrow is a major blind spot of his.
