Two of the first three games of the year against a division rival make us smile at the hockey planners. It makes for an easy storyline, especially considering how flat the Rangers looked on opening night. It’s safe to say the Rangers retaliated with six goals, while once again holding the Penguins to just one goal. For those keeping track, that’s just two goals Igor Shesterkin has allowed in the first three games. This time it was the defense that shined, holding the Penguins to 19 shots on goal. A full team is winning up and down the lineup, despite injuries to Vincent Trocheck and mid-game injuries to Carson Soucy.
Shesterkin was simply incredible in his first three games of action. Only two goals allowed and a SV% of 0.976 through three games shows us how important he is to the Rangers. There is real hype about what he can do this season with a defensively healthy team in front of him. Rangers haven’t had great defense in the last decade, so this is all new for us and Shesterkin. A big reason for his raw stats last season was how poorly the team defended in front of him. I don’t think that will be much of a storyline this year.
Zibanejad is not off to a slow start this year
Mika Zibanejad has been an absolute force since the puck dropped on opening night. He hasn’t hesitated to shoot, and this is the longest stretch he’s been involved in the game for seemingly forever. He even got into the middle of some scrums when Bryan Rust took a shot at Vlad Gavrikov while covering a puck near the goal area.
It’s no secret that Mika occasionally comes under fire from the Rangers fanbase for seeming disinterested in what they are trying to achieve, but I would argue that these assumptions from the fanbase are completely false on their face. He scored his first goal of the season tonight after a beautiful feed from Sam Carrick, he was ecstatic when he scored and his play from 60 yards was really noticeable.
If this is the Mika Zibanejad we get this season, I think he’s going to be one of this franchise’s biggest scorers. The goal he scored in this match was his 251st as a Ranger, which is 8th all-time. There’s plenty of time given his contract status and the rest of the games to really climb the franchise ladder.
Noah Laba has arrived
Noah Laba has arrived to the tune of a multi-assist game. This boy is an animal on the forelimb. His first assist came on a good pass during the power play to Conor Sheary, who executed a perfect shot pass to Will Cuylle, who tapped him for the first power play goal of the season.
As an aside, it is objectively hilarious that the second power play unit, with its eclectic personnel, scored the first power play goal of the season. Laba was a big reason for that because he really helped distribute the puck well when they were on the ice. His level of quality play is also evident at 5-on-5 when he played great in the neutral zone, beating fellow Pittsburgh rookie Harrison Brunicke with a wall play that he picked up, entered the zone and advanced the puck to a streaking Taylor Raddysh, who scored his first goal as a Ranger.
Laba has made it clear through 3 games that he not only belongs, but can also produce if given the right role. As Rob said on BlueskyIf Noah Laba is the Rangers version of Florida’s Anton Lundell, this team is going places.
The Rangers took four of six points in the first three games, with a chance to make it six of eight against Washington tonight. The schedule will start to ramp up after today, competing with last year’s playoff teams all week. If the Rangers think they are a playoff team, this is their time to prove it. Will they answer the call and pick up some really tough points and wins, or will they flounder and look like the Rangers of old?
#Rangers #Summary #Steel #City #Revenge