Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

After alternating wins and losses through the first five games of the season, the Rangers have now won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.

1. It’s rare when anything good comes from a Rangers West Coast or Western Canada road trip, but after beating the Kraken 4-1 in Seattle on Saturday, the Rangers followed that victory with a 3-1 win over the Flames in Calgary on Tuesday. It was their first win in Calgary in nearly six years (Mar. 2, 2018).

“I kind of thought of that coming in,” Chris Kreider said. “I didn’t want to say it out loud, but it’s been rough sledding for us.”

2. It looked like the winless streak on the road against the Flames may continue early on. After being pulled in his most recent start last Thursday against Nashville, Igor Shesterkin was beat from right slot by Blake Coleman just 75 seconds into this one. A turnover in the neutral zone by Filip Chytil gave the Flames possession, and then a poor defensive decision by Chytil to join Adam Fox below the goal line in pursuit of the puck allowed Coleman to become wide open in the slot. But following the early goal, Shesterkin was perfect for the remainder of the game, shutting out the Flames for the remaining 58:45, and turning away 23 of 24 shots overall.

3. The first period was a slog. The Rangers had just three shots in the first 14 minutes and it wasn’t until the last five minutes of the period that they started to generate offense. Still looking for his first goal of the season, Mika Zibanejad missed the net on a breakaway, and seconds later got stopped by Jacob Markstrom on a 2-on-0 with Kreider below the hashmarks. Chytil had a contested breakaway chance that he was unable to convert with 10 seconds left in the period, and just before time expired, Braden Schneider hit the post.

The Rangers were able to build off their play near the end of first period for almost the entirety of the second period. The second period ending up being the only period the Rangers they played a complete, 200-foot game, and unsurprisingly, it was the one period they did all their scoring in.

4. The Flames entered the game having killed off 21 of 22 power plays this season, but their 95 percent success rate took a dip thanks to the Rangers’ first and second power-play units.

On their first power play of the game, it was the second unit that got the Rangers on the board and tied the game at 1 at 7:38 in the second. Kaapo Kakko was able to keep the puck in the zone on a failed clear attempt by Elias Lindholm, and as a result of Kakko’s play at the left blue line, the second unit was eventually able to set up on the opposite side. Alexis Lafreniere passed it off to Chytil who went to Erik Gustafsson at the point with it. Gustafsson threw a shot into traffic and Lafreniere, who had worked his way down low, deflected Gustafsson’s shot for his third goal of the season.

“We work a lot in practices at trying to get a stick on it, and we have really good (defensemen) who can find lanes,” Lafreniere said. “If you can get to the front, things will happen.”

5. Lafreniere is currently on pace for a 41-goal season. It’s unlikely he will keep that pace up, but for a player who has averaged .20 goals per game in his 216-game career, the early-season total is exciting. League history has endless examples of high first-round picks who found their game for good in their fourth season, and you don’t have to look any farther than Zibanejad for comparison. Zibanejad was the sixth overall pick in 2011, and it wasn’t until his fourth season in the league when he put together his first 20-goal campaign after a 16-goal campaign in his third season. Lafreniere’s third-season goal total? 16.

6. About five minutes of play later, the Rangers got their second power play of the night. Peter Laviolette opted to start the man-advantage with the second unit, but this time it would be the first unit that would come through. With 10 seconds left on the power play, Artemi Panarin, holding the puck at the top of the zone, fed Kreider the perfect pass at the goal line to deflect by Markstrom to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. The power-play goal was the Rangers’ sixth in six games, as Panarin kept his every-game-of-the-season point streak alive.

7. Less than three minutes later, on a 4-on-4, Chytil weaved his way through the offensive zone and ripped a shot from the top of the circles on goal. Markstrom squeezed his pads together, but the puck squeaked through his legs. Much like Kakko’s goal against Phillip Grubauer in Seattle, Gustafsson skated in and banged in the loose puck in the crease to make it 3-1.

8. The third period was played much like the first: a slog.

“I don’t think that we were full tilt tonight,” Laviolette said. “I thought we defended too much.”

The Rangers produced just one shot on goal in the first 10 minutes of the third, couldn’t generate any real scoring chances or create sustained pressure. They seemed content with running out the clock on their two-goal lead much to the chagrin of their head coach.

“I’d rather not sit back and try to hang on to that 3-1 lead,” Laviolette said. “I’d rather go down and press on the forecheck and fire 25, 30 attempts and 15 shots on net. But that didn’t happen.”

It didn’t happen against the inferior Flames, and it didn’t need to. Against a much better opponent, that kind of third period will likely get the Rangers in serious trouble. But with Shesterkin playing the way he did, showing up for one of three periods was enough. (Clear Sight Analytics Hockey had the Flames winning in expected goals 4.29 to 2.45.)

9. “We’re happy that we got the two points,” Chytil said, “but I think we set the bar a little higher than how we played tonight.”

The standard of play for the Rangers this season remains opening night in Buffalo, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if that level of effort and domination isn’t matched again by the Rangers this season. That’s how nearly flawless they were in that game. Their next-best game came in Seattle. The win over the Flames wasn’t to the level of either of those two games, but like Chytil said, they got two points nonetheless.

10. “Every game can’t be an ‘A-plus’ game,” Laviolette said. “You want it to be, and then if it’s not, you try to fix it and correct it, so it is an ‘A’ game.

The Rangers have played one ‘A-plus’ game this season (Buffalo) and one ‘A’ game (Seattle). Despite their at times inconsistent play, they have still managed to win four of six, including their first two on their season-long, five-game West Coast and Western Canada road trip, proving even their ‘B’ or ‘C’ game is enough to get two points. It would be less stressful if every game were an ‘A’ or ‘A-plus’ effort, especially if one of those games were to happen in Edmonton on Thursday night.

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

After a disappointing effort against Nashville in New York, the Rangers began their season-long, five-game road trip with their second-best effort of the season against in Seattle.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.

1. I used to love the oddity of a Rangers West Coast road trip and the unusual start times. Now with two toddlers that wake up just a few hours after the end of a West Coast game, not so much.

The late-night starts are bad enough, but to have to endure four of them in a row in the second week of the season makes it even worse. Then add in a lighting delay a minute into the first of these games, and you have the scene from Saturday night in Seattle.

Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena underwent a $1.15 billion renovation prior to the Kraken beginning play in the NHL, yet somehow all of that money couldn’t prevent a bank of lights from going out midgame. About a minute into play, the Rangers and Kraken were forced to sit around after a dim landscape fell over the Rangers’ zone. Following a lengthy delay, the game was resumed under the agreement the teams would switch sides halfway through each period, so each team would have to defend the dim zone an equal amount.

2. The Kraken scored the game’s opening goal on a Justin Schultz one-timer just before the teams were to switch sides for the first time (8:41). Jonathan Quick slid too far to his right on the Schultz blast, and whether the goal was a result of the lightning issue or just a mistimed slide by Quick, the Rangers trailed 1-0 and it began to feel like the bank of lights would regain their power just as the Kraken were supposed to defend the dim zone.

3. Thankfully, the lights didn’t regain their power prior to the switch (and didn’t regain their power for the entirety of the game), and Artemi Panarin tied the game at 1 at 12:15 in the first.

As the first man in the zone on the forecheck, Alexis Lafreniere created pressure on Vince Dunn below the goal line and Dunn hastily threw the puck up the boards where Filip Chytil was waiting. Chytil immediately found Panarin all alone on the opposite side of the zone, fed him the puck, and Panarin ripped it shortside past Philipp Grubauer.

4. Early in the second, Jacob Trouba was called for boarding for a hit on Andre Burakovsky. It was a late hit by Trouba, but wasn’t vicious. In the moment, it was hard to believe the relative lack of force of by Trouba on the hit could even knock over Burakovsky. The Kraken forward’s awkward fall led to him leaving the game. Burakovsky had to undergo surgery for whatever happened to him on the play that will keep him out six to eight weeks. What the surgery was on or for is unclear as his absence has always been labeled an upper-body injury in the NHL’s continued silly characterization of injuries.

5. With the Rangers attacking the lit zone in the first half of the second period, Mika Zibanejad cleanly won a draw in the right circle back straight back to K’Andre Miller, and Miller set up Trouba for a one-timer from he point. Trouba’s shot squeaked threw the legs of Grubauer, and Kaapo Kakko outmuscled Brian Dumoulin to get behind the Kraken defenseman and bang in the puck sitting behind Grubauer in the crease for a 2-1 lead.

A little less than five minutes later, Lafreniere forced another turnover at the goal line, passed it off to Chytil who skated elegantly around the right circle. Chytil weaved through Dumoulin and Jaden Schwartz and flicked a backhand pass to Lafreniere who had positioned himself in the slot after forcing the turnover. Lafreniere deflected the puck over the shoulder of Grubauer, and the Rangers had a 3-1 lead.

6. With the Rangers attacking the dim zone to begin the third, Miller skated the puck up the ice and went untouched through the neutral zone with the Kraken choosing to not put a stick or body on the Rangers defenseman. Miller crossed the blue line and gave the puck up to Chytil who then gave it to Panarin streaking down the middle. Chytil’s pass was deflected into the air, but Panarin was able to glove it down to the ice. The puck never settled, and yet, Panarin was able to snap the bouncing puck past Grubauer for his second of the game to give the Rangers a three-goal lead.

Both of Panarin’s goals came in the dim zone (as did three of the game’s five goals). As the Rangers’ most productive player this season, he now has three goals and four assists on the year, having produced at least one point in all five games.

“For me, I want it darker, so it’s harder for goalies,” Panarin said. “That’s why I scored two.”

7. Chytil hasn’t found the back oft he net through five games, but his play is noticeable and his game has taken another positive step from the player he was a year ago. His three assists were a career best in a single game as he led all Rangers forwards in ice time with 19:14. It was his quick decision making that led to the Rangers’ first and third goals, and his pass with a little luck that led to the fourth goal.

“We had a tough last game,” Chytil said. “We just had to bounce back and this was the best scenario for what could happen.”

8. Nearly halfway through the third, the game got chippy with Yanni Gourde finding himself tangled up with Chris Kreider in front of the Rangers’ bench in what resulted in matching roughing penalties. A little over a minute later, Vincent Trocheck dropped the gloves with Jared McCann off a faceoff. It was just Trocheck’s sixth career fight (third with the Rangers), but you wouldn’t have guessed it with the way he used and landed both rights and lefts on McCann.

9. “I liked the way we skated and competed right from the drop of the puck,” Peter Laviolette said of the 4-1 win. “Pretty consistent for 60 minutes.”

It was easily the Rangers’ best game played and best effort since opening night in Buffalo, which continues to be the standard for how their play is evaluated. 

The Rangers may only be 3-2 on the season, but in terms of expected goals, they have outplayed their opponent in every game except for the ugly, shockingly bad game against Nashville. Courtesy of Clear Sight Analytics Hockey, here is the expected goals total for each of the Rangers’ five games.

Rangers 3.50, Sabres 1.41

Rangers 3.38, Blue Jackets 3.13

Rangers 3.25, Coyotes 2.59

Predators 3.48, Rangers 1.29

Rangers 4.78, Kraken 1.31

10. Coming off a disappointing effort against the Nashville, I wasn’t sure which version of the Rangers would take the ice in Seattle. But knowing what Laviolette is capable of as a head coach and what the roster is capable of as a team, it seemed unlikely they would lay two eggs in a row.

“Five games on the road is a long time,” Kakko said. “First win feels good.”

One down and four to go for the season’s longest road trip, with all four remaining games in Western Canada. If the Rangers play in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg like they did in Seattle, the lengthy road trip won’t feel so long.

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

The Rangers no-showed at home on Thursday against Nashville and lost 4-1. At 2-2, they now head out on their longest road trip of the season.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.

1. It’s hard to believe the Rangers team that played a near-flawless game in Buffalo last Thursday is the same Rangers team that played the Predators this Thursday. In a week’s time the Rangers went from looking like a team ready to take the next step in their quest for a championship to looking like a team that’s on their third head coach in four seasons for a reason.

“It was definitely our worst game of the season so far,” Jacob Trouba said. “We got outworked. We got out-battled. We got out-competed. We got beat.”

2. The Predators were playing an oddly scheduled, mid-week game in New York City sandwiched between four home games, and yet they never for a second of play looked like the visiting team that had the opportunity to explore everything the city has to offer the night before. Everything about the 4-1 loss was ugly, leaving nothing positive to take away from the fourth game and second loss of the season.

3. The Rangers were sloppy in all three zones, missing passes, overskating the puck and turning it over whenever pressured. Their defense lacked structure and organization, leading to costly mistakes and high-quality scoring chances for the Predators throughout the game.

“We gave up eight odd-man rushes and two breakaways,” Peter Laviolette said. “You’re just not going to find success unless you button that up.”

4. The first of those two breakaways gave the Predators a 2-0 lead when Cole Smith (who scored the Predators’ first goal on a rebound off a Tyson Barrie shot) hopped out of the penalty box to receive the gift of all gifts. A K’Andre Miller D-to-D saucer pass sauced right over Erik Gustafsson blade’s and landed on Smith’s tape, fleeing him for a breakaway opportunity that he successfully converted with 3:38 left in the first.

Just 3:22 into the second, the Predators extended their lead with a Ryan O’Reilly power-play goal, and 10 minutes later, they put the game away. Filip Forsberg carried the puck inside the Rangers’ zone, briefly fell to his knees, maintained possession, skated the puck to the right hash and blasted a slap shot over the left shoulder of Igor Shesterkin, ending Shesterkin’s night and essentially the game.

5. The remaining 26 minutes were nothing more than a formailty. There would be no Rangers Classic, game-of-the-year-type comeback. The only goal the Rangers were able to muster came on a 5-on-3 when an Adam Fox pass through the crease was deflected in by Ryan McDonagh. I can only imagine McDonagh was trying to pay homage to his former Rangers D partner Dan Girardi by inexplicably lying down in the crease to inadvertently score on his own goal. It was a beautiful tribute and one that likely conjured up some dark memories for Henrik Lundqvist.

6. Fox’s game on Thursday night summed up just how bad the Rangers were. Despite the fortunate, deflected goal, Fox had arguably the worst game of his career. He took two hooking penalties in the first 23 minutes of the game, misplayed the puck several times, couldn’t maintain his handle on the puck in the neutral zone on a 6-on-5 delayed penalty call and looked lost the entire night. Aspects of the game that come so easy to Fox, qualities that make him one of the best defensemen in the league vanished against the Predators and he spent the entire night fighting the play.

It’s not like Fox isn’t entitled to an off-night and it’s not as though he was even close to being the Rangers’ biggest issue in the loss, but it was startling to see him not be himself for an entire game. I guess if he were going to pick a night to play the way he did, he picked a good one, since the rest of the team played the same way.

7. Most offensive zone entries were met with a turnover, and in the rare instances when the Rangers were able to gain entry, their opportunities were one-and-done. There were no second chances and there wasn’t any sustained pressure for the entire game.

“Slow” would be the best way to summarize the Rangers’ effort. After the second period, Stephen Valiquette opined on MSG that he “anticipated the Rangers tonight looking like they did in Buffalo” and instead “It looks like they’re playing in quicksand a little bit.”

8. So far the Rangers have played four very different games. They have been at their absolute best (Buffalo), they have played well and lost (Columbus), they have played well and relied on their goaltending when they couldn’t find the back of the net (Arizona) and they have also not shown up (Nashville). As difficult as it is to remember a game in the last few seasons when the Rangers looked as good as they did against the Sabres, it’s equally as difficult to remember a game when they looked as bad as they did against the Predators.

9. This sporadic type of play was to be expected early in the season with a new head coach, a new system, a quarter of a new roster and new line combinations. The Buffalo game immediately set a standard for what the Rangers are capable of when everything goes right, but expecting that kind of game and effort each game was never realistic. Even still, I thought we may see it more nights than not.

That hasn’t happened. It doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It’s possible that version of this team (the very best version of this team) will be the team that takes the ice in Seattle on Saturday night. Given the way this team has historically played on the West Coast and in Western Canada, it’s not easy to envision.

10. About to embark on their longest road trip of the season, a five-game stretch in Seattle, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg, I think everyone expected a better all-around game for the home team that won’t play at home again until November 2. Rather than head out on the road on a high note, they leave having scored three goals in two home games, while committing 10 penalties. They leave with a 2-2 record against four teams that all missed the postseason a year ago, and will likely all miss it this season as well.

We know what the Rangers’ best looks like (Buffalo). We hopefully now know what their worst looks like (Nashville). Which version of the Rangers will show up on the West Coast and in Western Canada? I wish I knew.

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

The Rangers followed up a tough weekend loss in Columbus with a tough home-opening win over Arizona.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.

1. I knew the Rangers’ effort produced in the season opener in Buffalo wasn’t going to be something to expect night in and night out for 82 games, but I didn’t think it would evade them so quickly. Certainly not two nights later against the Blue Jackets.

“Tough game, tough game,” Peter Laviolette said of the 5-3 loss in Columbus. “Funny game, tough game.”

The Saturday night loss to the Blue Jackets was a letdown. After the Rangers took an early 1-0 lead (50 seconds in) on a lucky bounce/redirect off a skate, I think everyone thought the Rangers would run away with the game. Joe Micheletti mentioned how a young Blue Jackets team that had a tough season a year ago and a tough opening night could easily let the game get away from them if the Rangers could extend their first-period lead, and the Rangers nearly did so … twice.

2. A pair of first-period goals by the Rangers were called back after Blue Jackets challenges for offside. Both plays were barely off (which is why they weren’t called off in real time), but off nonetheless. Once those goals were called back, a feeling of impending doom for how the game would play out began to settle in. That feeling proved right.

After the two non-goals, Elvis Merzlikins turned into a brick wall and once he left the game with an injury, backup Spencer Martin played the same. On top of the Blue Jackets getting surprising all-world goaltending, every extended shift for the Rangers in the Blue Jackets’ zone was immediately met with a Blue Jackets goal.

“There were some odd-man rushes I didn’t like,” Laviolette said, “there wasn’t overwhelming amounts of it, but the ones we didn’t take charge of, they came back the other way and bit us.”

3. Ryan Lindgren’s absence due to an upper-body injury had a distinct impact on the loss as the Braden Schneider-Zac Jones pairing had a rough game. Even still, the Rangers had opportunities to take the lead and then to tie the game and then to get back in the game, but nearly every time, Merzlikins and Martin made spectacular saves.

“Offensively I felt we pushed the entire game, especially in the third,” Laviolette said, “we just couldn’t seem to get it in.”

4. Monday night’s home opener was a different story. The Rangers didn’t provide the type of stunning, nearly flawless effort from Buffalo, but they managed to beat Arizona 2-1. Laviolette called it a “hard-fought win” and “gusty effort” and that’s putting it mildly.

The Rangers were up against it all game with Connor Ingram continuing the trend started by Merzlikins and Martin in Columbus of the Rangers getting the absolute best from the opposing goalie. Thankfully, the Coyotes got the absolute best from their opposing goalie as well.

5. After being barely challenged in Buffalo, Igor Shesterkin had an off-night in Columbus. He bounced back on Monday and gave the Rangers their first “Igor” game of the season. They desperately needed it.

Through the first two periods, the Coyotes were granted five man-advantages to the Rangers’ two. Two of the Coyotes’ five came at the same (18;41 of the second) with Alexis Lafreniere going off for a soft slashing call and Lindgren joining him in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct for shooting the puck at the boards after the call on Lafreniere. After scoring the game-tying goal earlier in the second on the power play, the Coyotes would have full, two-minute 5-on-3 power play. The Rangers managed to kill off the entire two-man advantage with blocked shots from their triangle and saves from Shesterkin.

6. “Theres nothing that goes up on the scoreboard from a 5-on-3 kill,” Laviolette said, “but I do think that everyone else feeds off of that.”

The Garden showered the Rangers with appreciation for the two-minute, two-man kill, and when the Rangers finally received a power play o their own a few minutes later, they took the lead. Vincent Trocheck did his best Chris Kreider impression and deflected home an Artemi Panarin shot into traffic.

With the Rangers unable to extend their lead, and clinging to their 2-1 advantage, Barclay Goodrow held on to Jason Zucker on a breakaway and the new Coyote was awarded a penalty shot.

Zucker came down the right side and rather than deke, tried to beat Shesterkin with a shot past his blocker.

7. “On the penalty shot, it is more like mind games,” Shesterkin said. “So when Zucker moved on the right side, I was looking for the shot on the blocker side.”

Shesterkin kept his perfect “mind games” record in tact with the save, improving to 4-for-4 in stopping penalty shots in his career.

After that, it was all about the Rangers holding on for dear life over the final 4:48, which they did.

8. The Rangers power play scored for a third straight game to open the season, and Kreider has now scored in a ll three games as well. The Panarin-Filip Chytil-Lafereniere line has been superb to begin the season, but the Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Kaapo Kakko line has been every bit as good, if not better. The Rangers finally have a true, defeined top six.

“To me, it’s been a really good line,” Laviolette said of the Zibanejad line, which provided the game’s first goal on a 2-on-1. “(Kreider) has been a noticeable impact player for us.”

9. The Rangers have looked extremely different in all three games this season. In Buffalo, they looked like the best team in the league. In Columbus, they fought the game and bad bounces with nothing coming easy after the two disallowed goals. At the Garden, they had to rely on their goaltending.

“I think that you’re going to have to figure out how to win a lot of different ways,” Laviolette said of his team’s effort after the home opener.

10. The Rangers became too reliant on Shesterkin under Gerard Gallant, and when Shesterkin didn’t provide a historic effort (like he did for all of 2021-22), it was challenging for them to win. That’s no longer the case. Sure, there will be times when Shesterkin will get them two points on his own, but it won’t be a nearly-every-game necessity.

“It’s a long road,” Laviolette said about his team’s varying performance through the first three games. “We don’t have to be perfect or perfectly ready tonight.”

The Rangers have been mostly good through three games, and for one of those three nights they were almost perfect. Over time, they won’t need to be to win games. Not with this coach and this roster.

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

Vintage Ice Hockey is the only company that sells premium-quality jerseys, apparel and team merchandise for defunct minor league hockey franchises. It’s a family-run, hockey fan-driven company that’s committed to celebrating and preserving the legacies of defunct minor league hockey franchises. Check out their collection spanning over 100 years of minor league hockey and use code KTTC for 15% off your order!

The Rangers opened the 2023-24 against the Sabres on Thursday night in Buffalo with a dominating 5-1 win in Peter Laviolette’s debut as head coach.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.

1. What team am I watching? That’s what I asked myself as the final seconds of the season-opening first period wound down in Buffalo.

“This has been a nearly flawless period for the Rangers,” Joe Micheletti said at that moment as if he were reading my mind.

After 20 minutes, the Rangers had a 2-0 lead, had the shot advantage with 12 to just seven, had won 64 percent of the faceoffs, had converted their only power-play opportunity and had thoroughly dominated play. It was hard not to be overly excited and ecstatic about this Rangers team after just one of 246 periods.

2. With the hype and anticipation of a new season, the hiring of a new head coach, the implementation of a new system and 25 percent turnover rate in the opening night lineup, it would have been understandable for the Rangers to struggle out of the gate. Add in opening the season on the road against a tough opponent in the young-and-hungry Sabres team that missed the postseason by a single point, and it would have been painful but acceptable for the Rangers to look flat early on. The opposite happened.

“We were ready to skate, ready to compete,” Peter Laviolette said. “It kind of stayed that way the whole game.”

3. After creating some opportunities within the first two minutes of play, Artemi Panarin drove the net to secure his own rebound on a wrist shot from the slot, and without ever looking to his left, slid the puck meticulously across the crease for Alexis Lafreniere to bang it into an open net for the game’s first goal.

It would be hard to find any Rangers fan who, if given the chance, wouldn’t have picked Lafreniere to score the team’s first goal of the season in the first game of the season, let alone in the first 3:47 of the first game of the season. After the overpublicized frustrating preseason Lafreniere endured and the criticism he drew over the last month, he put it all to rest quickly in the first game that matters, reminding everyone that preseason play is meaningless.

4. It was Lafreniere’s defensive play that sparked a turnover with just under eight minutes in the second that led to a Panarin goal, though somehow Lafreniere wasn’t credited with an assist on the play. The fourth-year, former No. 1 overall pick was outstanding in the season opener and rewarded his new head coach for believing in him, actually coaching him up over the last two weeks and not shying away from keeping in the team’s top six.

“(Lafreniere) took a step from those practices and brought it into the game,” Laviolette said. “I thought the line was excellent.”

5. The Panarin-Filip Chytil-Lafreniere line was wildly impressive. They generated high-quality chances right from their first shift and produced the Rangers’ first and third goals, playing with a level of chemistry as if they have been a line for years. As a line, they outshot the Sabres 8-0 in the first period.

They weren’t the only ones with a big night. Chris Kreider scored his first of the season on a tip-in on the power play that gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead and added a shorthanded goal in the third to extend the Rangers’ lead to 4-1. That shorthanded goal came at the perfect time as it started to feel like the Sabres were about to break through.

6. Down 3-0, the Sabres scored with 1:30 left in the second when a shot blocked by Jacob Trouba unfortunately landed right on the stick of JJ Petrka. With 37 seconds left in the period, the Sabres got their first power play of the game (it would have been their second if not for Jordan Greenway retaliating on Kreider immediately following a boarding call) after a soft interference call on Erik Gustafsson (who made some key defensive plays in his Rangers debut). The Sabres didn’t score on that power play that carried over into third, but at 8:51 of the third, Chytil was called for tripping and less than two minutes later, Trocheck went off tripping as well. The Sabres were getting man advantages left and right, but the Rangers’ penalty kill prevented them from getting on the board.

“The penalty kill was absolutely courageous the way they defended,” Laviolette said, “and the way they blocked shots.”

Seconds after Jeff Skinner clanged a shot off the crossbar that would have made it a one-goal game, Mika Zibanejad recorded his second of three assists on the night on the all-important, game-ending Kreider shorty. With 1:29 left, Jacob Trouba scored a full-ice empty netter, and the Rangers went on to win 5-1.

7. It’s crazy to think I haven’t mentioned Igor Shesterkin yet, given that he turned away 24 of 25 shots faced. Shesterkin wasn’t challenged in the first period, but needed to make some keys saves at the end of the second and moments before Kreider’s shorthanded goal in the third. He came up big when he needed (which he always seems to) and earned his 100th career win in the process. The fact I didn’t mention him in these Thoughts until now is a testament to how great he is in that a one-goal-against performance against the third-highest scoring team from a season ago isn’t unordinary, for as silly as that sounds.

8. I wanted Peter Laviolette to replace Gerard Gallant. I was in the minority of wanting Laviolette’s sixth head coaching job in the league to be with the Rangers, but after more than two decades of watching him succeed everywhere he has been, if the Rangers were going to go with someone with NHL experience, I wanted it to be Laviolette.

This isn’t one-game sample size praise either. I believe in Laviolette and trust him as Rangers coach. You won’t find me jumping off his bandwagon if the Rangers falter or slide. Likely because I don’t think they will do either under him. (Sure, I could do without Vincent Trocheck leading all Rangers forwards in ice time by nearly three minutes, but it’s acceptable after last night’s overall performance.)

9. The differences in just one game between Laviolette’s plan his predecessor were stark. The Rangers forced turnovers and won 1-on-1 battles all over the ice, dominated the neutral zone, and rather than give the first power-play unit the entirety of each man-advantage, the second unit was given ample time to set up and create opportunities. Given the team’s play, preparation, chemistry and game plan, it’s almost as if I was watching a completely different franchise from last season.

10. “It’s one win, Laviolette said, “but it’s a good start.”

Not just a “good start,” a great start. A dominating start. A you-can’t-ask-for-a-better-first-game start. It was the kind of full-game effort we have so infrequently seen from these Rangers. In recent seasons, the first-period effort would have waned in the second and the two-goal lead would have been erased. On Thursday, the effort was maintained and the lead was extended. It was a refreshing and satisfying performance. The kind of performance that not only wins in the regular season, but the kind that wins in April, May and June.

Maybe it was just one of 82 and the Rangers will lay an egg in Columbus on Saturday night. I don’t think it was and I don’t think they will. I think it was a sign that these Rangers have taken the next step with the right head coach behind the bench to guide them.

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