Zach Jones was attacking with the puck on his stick. So in the Garden's 6-1 loss to the Sabers on Thursday, a game in which ennui was the club's most notable emotion, he became the Rangers' exception to the rule.
Head coach Peter Laviolette noticed that.
“I thought he was really good,” Laviolette said Friday before boarding a plane to Detroit for Saturday's third and final game of the season against the Red Wings. “He was trying to have a positive impact on some guys. The puck was on his stick, he was trying to dictate the game, he was trying to impose his will on the game.”
The 24-year-old is competing for a regular spot in the lineup in his fifth year since leaving the University of Massachusetts for the final 10 games of the coronavirus-impacted 2020-21 season, when he joined the Rangers. It was. The defense was weakened by injuries.
Jones started the first four games alongside Victor Mancini, but missed five of the next six games, largely due to the return of Ryan Lindgren to the active roster.
However, the No. 6 has played in the past two games with Braden Schneider and will be the third pairing in Detroit.
On Thursday, his drive from the slot off the rush was deflected by Will Quill, who scored the club's only goal. Jones also aggressively scored on the second power play unit with 2:45 left on the man advantage.
The Jones-Schneider pair had an 81.88 expected goal share in 12 minutes, 12 seconds of ice time, with the tandem of K'Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba at a near-impossible 1.36xGF at minus-3, and Ryan Lindgren at minus-3. On a night when he scored a point, he recorded a plus-one point.・The Adam Fox combination had an xGF of 65.68 but was -2.
“They were okay last night,” Laviolette said of the pairing. “I think they played a decent game.”
This is a very high rating compared to everyone else.
But Lindgren missed most of training camp and the first few weeks of the season with a jaw injury that required surgery after a Sept. 24 game against Scott Mayfield, and continued to struggle in his seventh game back.
Since his return, the belligerent No. 55 has been wearing a bubble mask reminiscent of the Apollo astronauts. John Glenn, Alan Shepherd, Gord Cooper.
“After last night's game, and after several games over the last few weeks, I think it's hard to isolate someone and talk about it,” Laviolette said. “This is a big bus that we can all get on and say there is not enough.
“I think he’s still working his way back and dealing with the cage on his face. Coping with the way you play can also be a bit of a hindrance at times.
“But he's worked through it and he's been working on it and he's giving us the best he can. He's going to keep doing that and ultimately get to where he wants to be and where he needs to be. It will speed things up.”
Laviolette re-assembled the Quill-Sitil-Kakko unit after the line was in disarray on Thursday, with Alexis Lafreniere, Philippe Sitil and Kaapo Kakko left on the bench for much of the third period (102 9 points in minutes 40 seconds, no goals conceded, 62.80xGF) at Friday's practice.
Mika Zibanejad slid between Artemi Panarin and Lafreniere, Chris Kreider moved to the left side of the line, Vincent Trocheck in the middle and Riley Smith on the right.
The units of Adam Edstrom, Sam Carrick, and Jimmy Vesey remained unharmed.
