Anaheim, California – He has been on 1-1 in combat drills and in full-wiss scrimmage for five seasons in the league.
However, Alexis Lafreniere has never appeared with Jacob Truba before. That changes when the Blues Shirt faces the duck and its former captain here on Friday.
“I know he's physical. I know he likes to play hard, so if you're against him, if you need to know all the time,” Issue 13 told the Post following Thursday's practice in LA before the match. “You don't want to put yourself in a bad place.
“I'm playing my game and I'm ready to do it.”
Tolba, who was traded for ducks for defender Urhova Kanainen in the fourth round on December 6th, shared dinner with many of his former teammates on Thursday, Post learned. The former captain was extremely popular with his teammates during his tenure in five seasons that began in 2019-20.
“He was great for me from the second I came to the team,” said 2020-21 rookie Rafreniere, following his first selection in the previous draft. “He was one of the older guys who took me a bit under his wings and helped me on and off the ice.
“He was like that, like we were together for the four years he was great for me. Certainly, we miss him, but it's good to meet him and play against him.
“Strange,” said No. 13. “surely.”
Rangers have lost four people in the last five regulations. They are 3-6-2 in the past 11 contests. Anaheim is out of the playoff race, but is only four points behind the blues shirt, who is holding the match in the overall ranking. The ducks are 21-20-5 in the lineup, while Truba is 21-22-5 since trade.
The ducks hit the Bruins 6-2 on Wednesday, earning two of their last three, making it 3-2-1 in the last six. If the Rangers had that recent record, they would become playoff teams.
“We played hard the other day, but I think everyone was disappointed that we didn't win a hockey game,” coach Peter Laviolet said, referring to his defeat to the King on Tuesday, 3-1 empty net. “But we talked about today about this about our own business and the need to take care of our own things.
“It was our chance to move. [into a playoff spot] But here we are still outside. everyone [Montreal and the Islanders] You've lost it, right? If the Flyers defeat Montreal [Thursday] And we win [in Anaheim]we've returned to the top of the line. We're there.
“That's the message. We have to help ourselves first. You look at the rankings, you see it right, but we have to help ourselves.”
Laviolet inherited Truba as captain a year ago. The coaches never said anything bad about the defensive man, even after the captain-organization relationship deteriorated.
“For me, it was a relationship where I saw him constantly learn both at Link and off Link and how to become the best leader for the New York Rangers,” the head coach said. “Our team has had a lot of success last year, and he was a big part of it in what he did for us.
“It's hard for players to leave and go in different directions, but that's sometimes the nature of this business. But my time and experience with Jacob has been a success.”
The Trouba, wearing No. 65, is lined up on the right with Olen Zellweger. He will likely match either the practice line with JT Miller on the right on Thursday, or the Rafreniere with either the practice line with JT Miller on the right, or with Artemi Panarin who skated with Vincent Trokek and Brennan Osman.
Of course, Panarin fought against Truba for four seasons before joining forces on Broadway for more than five seasons.
“You have to be able to see the ice with such a physical person,” Panarin said. “Look your head up, do you know? I don't have anything special to him because maybe 40% of the team have that kind of person.”
The follow-up question was whether Truba has something special for Panarin.
“I understand,” said No. 10.
