Split the Adam
Fox on cusp of breakthrough — when Rangers D needs him most
Out of the rubble of Tuesday’s dispiriting 7-3 defeat to the Maple Leafs at the Garden, Adam Fox’s best performance since returning on Nov. 29 from a 10game absence was the hidden nugget.
And if the perennial Norris Trophy contender is finding his ‘A’ game following an initial sixgame period of reindoctrination, this would be a pretty good time for it with the Blueshirts defense in a particular state of flux given K’Andre Miller’s uncertain status added onto the club’s recent decline heading into Friday’s Garden meeting with Anaheim.
“For the first time missing that span of games, I kind of just wanted to come back and almost blend in, get reacquainted with making reads and not ruin a rhythm that’s going on,” No. 23 told The Post. “The other night I felt that I was able to get back into the reads and go at the right times and play more instinctively as opposed to playing it safe and not being the one to pinch at the wrong time or make that mistake. “You don’t want to be that guy.” But of course, alternate meaning, the Rangers need Fox to be that guy. They need Fox to be that guy who won the Norris in his 2020-21 sophomore season, placed runner-up last season and was on pace to contend for the designation as the NHL’s best defenseman before he went down with the leg-on-leg hit from Sebastian Aho on Nov. 2 in the year’s 10th game.
The Rangers were scrambly, disconnected and not especially difficult to play against Tuesday, but Fox — paired with trusty companion Ryan Lindgren — dominated his matchup against the up-tempo, attack-oriented Noah Gregor-Auston MatthewsWilliam Nylander line.
Used as a matchup tandem given Miller’s absence from the lineup, the Fox-Lindgren pair had a 14-2 edge in shot attempts (87.5 percent), an 8-0 edge in shots, a 1-0 goal differential, an 11-2 advantage in scoring chances and an 8-1 edge in high-danger chances in 13:06 of five-on-five play.
Remarkably, somehow, the Blake Wheeler score from the left circle at 5:42 of the first period that at the time brought the club within 2-1 marked only the second goal in 210:30 all season for which the Fox-Lindgren pair has been on the ice. They’ve been on together for four goals against.
“We’re down the other night after the first period, we’ve talked about that, but that’s when we need to push and creative players need to push and do their thing — and that’s when I saw the offensive instincts get better and better,” said head coach Peter Laviolette, who was uncertain whether Miller would be available Friday.
“He sees the game incredibly. His ability to find the plays or make the plays are at an elite level. So I hope that he can push from that last game.”
Erik Gustafsson skated in Miller’s reserved spot on Jacob Trouba’s left at practice just as he did in Tuesday’s match, when the tandem essentially had a saw-off with their matchup against the Leafs.
Zac Jones and Braden Schneider formed the third pair on Thursday, just as on Tuesday and just as for the 11 games earlier, including the 10 in which Fox was sidelined, and Gustafsson — generally Schneider’s third-pair partner — moved up to skate with Lindgren.
The Jones-Schneider duo was on for two goals against (none for) in 10:39 against the Maple Leafs despite decent peripheral numbers. That has been the story of the season, though, for the two lads.
“I think at times there are some tough bounces for them,” Laviolette said. “I think they move the puck well, I think they’re a good pair and I think Jonesy skates pretty well, moves the puck pretty well and does some good things for us even after he’s been off for a while.”