The Rangers have hardly been an offensive juggernaut through their otherwise encouraging first week, but you wouldn’t know that by the advanced analytics measuring the first three games.
The third period in Columbus, in which the Blueshirts out-attempted the Blue Jackets by an astounding 39-6 — that translates to two shot attempts per minute — and 24-6 at five-on-five in the 5-3 defeat skews matters a bit, but still, it is all but impossible to remember amid all the fancy stats this team has posted.
Following Monday’s 2-1 victory over the Coyotes in a home opener where chances and open ice were difficult to come by, the Rangers ranked third in the NHL in shot-attempt percentage at 59.49, second in expected-goals-for percentage at 62.82 and first in the league in creating high-danger chances.
Of course, this represents a teeny sample size, but over the two years of Gerard Gallant’s tenure behind the bench, the Blueshirts ranked 22nd in shot-attempt percentage (48.45); 22nd in xGF% (48.11) and 16th in generating high-danger chances at five-on-five.
Again, the season is only three games old and the Rangers’ three opponents — the Sabres, Jackets and Coyotes — all missed the playoffs last season.
It remains to be seen how the Blueshirts will hold up playing more highly regarded opposition, though if there is any time of the year where there is no form, it is in the first week or two of the season.
But the numbers are encouraging. They are, in fact, as encouraging as the team’s commitment to buy into a trap system that is antithetical to the way the Rangers have played not only for years, but for decades. This is alien to just about every single one of them.
As I said on our “Up in the Blue Seats” podcast, with Brian Boyle making his debut as co-host, the most encouraging aspect of the first week is that the players have taken their words from last spring’s exit meetings and put them into action five months later. The team that wanted to be coached up is responding to being coached up.
And these numbers (courtesy of Natural Stat Trick) demonstrate that yes, indeed, offense can be created off strict defensive-zone structure.
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Return on investment
I asked Vincent Trocheck after the opening night victory in Buffalo whether early success would be of benefit in convincing players to buy in.
No. 16 shook his head.
“There’s no convincing,” he said. “And the buy-in comes first, not after.”
You can’t score if you don’t shoot
Artemi Panarin and Erik Gustafsson lead the Rangers with 15 shot attempts apiece at five-on-five, with Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere and Jacob Trouba chipping in with 12 each.
The Panarin-Filip Chytil-Lafreniere unit has a 69.84 percent Corsi rating (a measure of shot attempt share at even strength) that leads the club’s top three lines, with the Will Cuylle-Trocheck-Blake Wheeler trio in at 64.81 percent and the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Kaapo Kakko triumvirate at 61.82 percent.
Trocheck’s line has an xGF of 73.37 percent with Zibanejad’s line at 68.40 percent and Chytil’s at 60.06 percent.
Again, it’s only been three games, but those are not typos.
Lafreniere making the most of his minutes
Lafreniere’s feistiness thus far reminds me of the way the winger played against the Penguins and ‘Canes in the 2022 playoffs. He is more engaged.
By the way: No one out there seems to have an issue with the fact that Lafreniere got only 14:37 of ice time against Arizona on Monday. It’s not necessarily the time on ice that counts, but how a player uses it.
Filip back on faceoffs
After being sheltered from the faceoff dots in the first two games after returning from the unidentified upper body issue that sidelined him for nearly two weeks in camp, Chytil took eight draws against the Coyotes, winning four of the chances.
Fourth-line blues
If there are concerns, they would be that the veteran fourth line consisting of Barclay Goodrow, Nick Bonino and Tyler Pitlick doesn’t have the speed to keep up with younger fourth units around the league.
Jimmy Vesey would add some speed to that unit, but No. 26 is going to need to make an impact next time he gets in after serving as a healthy scratch twice.
Wheeler, too, may be having issues with pace, which is not a comforting assessment after just one week of the season.
If Brennan Othmann, who had an explosive opener while scoring twice for the AHL Wolf Pack, can keep it up, I envision the winger being in New York by Thanksgiving.
Final notes
• Wheeler, at least temporarily, has been taken off the second power-play unit. The Blueshirts on Monday went with defensemen K’Andre Miller and Gustafsson at the points with Kid Linemates Lafreniere, Chytil and Kakko up front.
• In starting the first three games of the season, Igor Shesterkin became the first Rangers netminder to do that since Henrik Lundqvist got the call in the first five games of the 2017-18 season.
• One would figure Jonathan Quick will make his Blueshirts debut either Thursday at home against Nashville or Saturday in Seattle in the first game of a five-game trip that also includes stops in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg.
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