IDLE HANDS ...
Off layoff, Blueshirts worked over by Devils
It might have been the first step, but the redefining of a rivalry will have to wait.
After all the hype and hoopla, Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko faced off the first time as members of the Devils and Rangers, respectively, but the top two picks in June’s draft hardly stole the show during New Jersey’s 5-2 win in Newark on Thursday night.
Both 18-yearolds are supremely talented, and they might revive the Hudson River Rivalry someday soon. It’s just not right now — not with the Devils (14-2) having just collected their first victory of the season, seemingly cooling the seat of coach John Hynes, while the Rangers (2-2-0) have resumed the part of their schedule with actual games in it after playing just three in the 13 days since opening night.
“We want to play hockey games,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “That’s the only way you can really get better in this league.”
That’s exactly what can be said about the two young studs, who were rated far and above the rest of the draft board this summer. There was a lot of debate whether the Devils would actually stick with Hughes, the diminutive playmaking American long thought to be the top pick; or go with Kakko, the man-sized Finn who had been playing pro hockey and was a key contributor to his team’s gold medal in the World Championships in May.
Whether the Devils chose wisely with Hughes is something that will be determined a long time down the road, but the crafty center did finally pick up his first career point, a deft tip that ended up going in off the butt of teammate Miles Wood and beat goalie Alexandar Georgiev midway through the second period. The goal gave his team a 3-1 lead, and would stand as the game-winner.
Meanwhile, Kakko’s first career goal Saturday seemed like a distant memory, as he got 16:13 of ice time in this one, registering two shots on net in three attempts. But he played only 3:58 of the team’s 10:36 of power-play time, as the once-hot man-advantage went 0-for-6 and struggled to maintain any momentum.
“The power play has to be better and we have to capitalize on the opportunities that we had,” Quinn said, “because we had plenty.”
It’s still hard for the Rangers to jump to any conclusions at this point, with their schedule being so bizarre as to limit any sort of clear-cut tendencies. This was the start of three games in less than four days, continuing with Friday night’s road contest against the Capitals, followed by a Garden matinee Sunday against the Canucks.
It seems like Quinn is doing what he can to show some patience with the mistakes that have been allowed to fester with all the time off. But it’s hard to swallow turnovers like the one Adam Fox made in the neutral zone midway through the first period resulted in a Blake Coleman goal that made it 1-1 at 12:58, equalizing the opener from Tony DeAngelo.
“Sometimes our makeup hurts us,” Quinn said. “We think we have to make plays all the time.”
Georgiev was solid while making 33 stops in his second start of the season, but he had little chance on Kyle Palmieri’s power-play goal at 2:18 of the second, and Nikita Gusev also beat him with a hard, low shot at 12:21 of the third that made it 4-2 before P.K. Subban ended it with an empty-netter.
“We have to understand situational hockey,” Quinn said. “The good news is we get to play more hockey and emulate it better.”
Just as Hughes and Kakko will get to play more hockey against each other going forward, and this rivalry has more time to grow.