Anniversary party
AV’s resurgent Rangers host Bruins 42 yrs. after Espo deal
REGARDING the Rangers, who meet the Bruins at the Garden on Wednesday, 42 years and a day after Jean Ratelle, Brad Park, Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais exchanged places:
1. What would be closest to an equivalent? Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan McDonagh skating onto the ice wearing the spoked-B while Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron came on in Blueshirts?
2. The four straight victories that have boosted the Rangers to 7-7-2 have removed Alain Vigneault from the watch list ownership and management were reluctant to place him on in the first place, but the coach sure has shortened his bench quickly in almost Tortorellaesque fashion following the deep dive out of the gate.
Monday’s 5-3 victory over John Tortorella’s Blue Jackets, in which Vigneault went with three lines for the entire third period while sitting Jimmy Vesey, David Desharnais and Paul Carey, was only the most extreme example.
Vesey, receiving the same kind of tough love Vigneault lavished on es- sentially all young players, sat for the final 25:25 in Montreal on Oct. 28 and the final 9:18 against Vegas on Oct. 31 while getting just three shifts in the third period of the 6-4 victory over the Golden Knights.
And Desharnais, set to be a healthy scratch Thursday at Tampa Bay before Boo Nieves contracted the flu, sat for the final 14:56 in that one and the final 9:18 against Vegas.
Hence, with Kevin Hayes shuttling between roles as a top-six and a defensive center — No. 13, still not on the second man-advantage unit, centers a checking trio between Jesper Fast and Michael Grabner following unsuccessful power plays — management likely has shifted its focus to available third-line-type pivots so that Vigneault doesn’t have to move J.T. Miller into the middle as he did through Monday’s third period.
3. The Rangers signed Grabner to a two-year free-agent deal worth $1.65 million in July 2016 to fill the void in disruptive speed created by Carl Hagelin’s trade the previous summer. And while Grabner doesn’t have quite the complete game of No. 62, the winger who wears No. 40 is a better finisher than his predecessor.
Grabner, whose seven goals in 16 games has him on pace to eclipse last year’s wholly unanticipated 27goal output (and he hasn’t even gotten one yet on a breakaway), has produced .37 goals-per-game in 92 games for the Rangers whereas Hagelin recorded .22 per in 266 games for the team.
The Austrian Express, who has shown better hands not only than the Swede, but also than he showed last season, is surely among the club’s best bang-for-the-buck freeagent signings since the 2005 inception of the cap. Indeed, here is our ranking:
1. Brendan Shanahan, 2006; 2. Anton Stralman, 2011; 3. Michael Rozsival, 2005; 4. Marian Gaborik, 2009; 5. Vinny Prospal, 2009; 6. Martin Straka, 2005; 7. Marek Malik, 2005; 8. Martin Rucinsky, 2005; 9. Dominic Moore, 2013; 10. Grabner.
4. The white-hot power play, which scored three times within 6:17 of the third period on Monday and is 7-for-19 in the past five games, clocks in at 24.2 percent, sixth in the league as of Tuesday morning. The Rangers last finished with a higher mark in 1983-84 at 25.1.
Mika Zibanejad (five goals, five assists) and Kevin Shattenkirk (two goals, six assists) lead the man-up scoring parade, but both have a way to go to approach Brian Leetch’s franchise record 53 points (17-36) in 1993-94.