KING AND A MISS
Rangers get nothing going in LA with much of regular lineup absent
LOS ANGELES — There was an air of familiarity for the Rangers and Kris Knoblauch when the coach of the AHL Wolf Pack stepped behind the New York bench here on Monday in relief of COVID-positive Gerard Gallant.
For not only had Knoblauch led the Blueshirts to a 4-2 record last March on a similar interim basis when he was summoned to stand in for the stricken thenhead coach David Quinn, the Rangers’ entire, current fourth line consisting of Tim Gettinger, Morgan Barron and Jonny Brodzinski was in Hartford not more than two weeks ago.
“It’s exciting for me, obviously,” said Knoblauch, who has led the Wolf Pack to a 15-9-2-2 mark despite the bulk loss of players to the Rangers. “Whether you’re a player or a coach you want to be in the National Hockey League. Last year I was not sure what to expect, but this year I know a little bit what to expect, I know the players a little bit better, and again, excited to be here and hopefully the team plays as well as last year.”
The problem is that the Rangers did not play as well as they did last year with Knoblauch behind the bench. The problem is that the Rangers did not play as well as they have most of this season under Gallant.
Hence, 3-1 for the Kings in this one in which the Rangers were kept to the outside most of the match, didn’t defend the front of the net well enough and were no better than blah from start to finish while dropping their second of three games on this road trip with confrontations against the Sharks and Flyers still to come.
The Kings capitalized on Rangers errors to score twice from in front within the opening 3:41 of the second period. First, K’Andre Miller turned it over in the neutral zone to Trevor Moore, who then beat No. 79 to the net. Alex Georgiev made the save but Miller failed to mark Phillip Danault, who drove to the net and banged home the rebound.
The 2-0 goal also came off a rebound, Blake Lizotte coming up with loose change at 3:41 after third-pair partners Patrik Nemeth and Jarred Tinordi both chased Moore behind the net on the right side. After Moore’s no-angle chip banked off Georgiev’s chest, Lizotte put it home without opposition.
The Blueshirts, who had generated very little offense through most of the match while kept to the perimeter by a Kings team that trapped and clogged the middle, did come within 2-1 when Mika Zibanejad redirected a Filip Chytil feed for his eighth goal in the last nine games at 11:27 of the third.
There was one glorious opportunity to tie it but Brodzinski could not convert from the right porch before the Kings salted it on Adrian Kempe’s empty-netter.
Knoblauch was greeted by scads of familiar faces from Hartford, Keith Kinkaid is the backup goaltender. Defensemen Zac Jones and Tarmo Reunanen are on the taxi squad and so is forward Lauri Pajuniemi. Greg McKegg was in Hartford early in the season. Tinordi and Libor Hajek played for the Wolf Pack on conditioning assignments. Anthony Greco was added to the varsity roster prior to the game and served as a healthy scratch.
That last move was a function of the Blueshirts adding Barclay Goodrow to the COVID restricted list, where the winger joined Gallant, Igor Shesterkin, Julien Gauthier and Ryan Reaves. It has been a steady drip for the Blueshirts since chartering to Vegas last Tuesday to start this five-game trip. Georgiev, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome, Ryan Lindgren, Kevin Rooney, Greg McKegg and Tinordi have previously been under COVID protocol.
Knoblauch will be behind the New York bench through at least Thursday’s match in San Jose after Gallant entered the NHL’s five-day isolation period following Sunday’s positive test.
Goodrow’s absence meant that Alexis Lafreniere remained in the top six, shifting to the right for this one on the line with Strome and Panarin, the latter rejoining the club after being sidelined the previous four games while under COVID protocols.
Knoblauch said he would follow Gallant’s game plan just as he had followed Quinn’s a year ago. There is little chance he is going rogue.
“Things have been going very well for the Rangers and obviously Turk has been doing a heck of a job,” Knoblauch said in using Gallant’s commonly applied nickname. “I don’t want to disrupt that at all.”
The coach will get another chance at that on Thursday. So will the Blueshirts.