Gerard Gallant recently acknowledged just how much more familiar he is with his Rangers players after the first quarter of his first season with the club, but the one skater the head coach has been sure about how to use since Day 1 is Barclay Goodrow.
When the Rangers need a boost or to change things up, like they did in the 4-3 shootout win over the Lightning on Friday night, Gallant has taken to plugging Goodrow throughout the forward lines wherever he sees fit.
That’s exactly what Gallant did in the first game of the home-and-home series with Tampa Bay on Friday — and it paid off.
After flipping Goodrow to the second line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome and bumping Dryden Hunt early in the middle frame, the Rangers got a big-time goal from Goodrow and that new unit in the third period to take a 3-2 lead. Strome won the faceoff and Goodrow cut to the net, as did the Rangers’ second-line center. Panarin then made a deceiving backhanded pass at the top of the zone to K’Andre Miller, who put it on net for Goodrow to tip in at 13:35.
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Julien Gauthier, Gerard Gallant, Barclay GoodrowAP (2), Getty ImagesJumbling the lines a bit may be something Gallant considers when the Lightning venture to Madison Square Garden for an afternoon matinee on Sunday, especially after the Rangers’ lackluster performance in the first period Friday. It’s also become evident that the coach hasn’t been a fan of his third line recently.
Following the 4-3 loss to the Panthers on Wednesday, Gallant said he didn’t get enough out of the Alexis Lafreniere-Filip Chytil-Julien Gauthier line. And he must have felt the same way early on in the Tampa game. In the first period, Gauthier logged a mere 1:59 and Chytil saw just 2:59, while Lafreniere led his unit with 3:22.
Gauthier finished the night with a team-low 6:04 of total ice time, which was well over two minutes less than the next lowest ice time. His linemates weren’t too far behind, at 8:47 and 8:39, respectively.
The third line did score a goal, which was put into motion by Gauthier’s pressure on Lightning goaltender Brian Elliott behind the net and scored by Lafreniere. That goal, however, was a belated Christmas gift from Elliott.
All in all, in recent games, the aforementioned trio hasn’t brought much.
“I thought they played hard, I thought our team played hard,” Gallant said after the win, keeping the positivity. “I mean, I can’t say this line was better than that like [Friday night]. I liked the way everybody came ready to play and compete.”
Hunt finished Friday night on the fourth line with Greg McKegg and Ryan Reaves, logging 5:03 together. If Gallant wants to keep Hunt in the top six, and he hasn’t indicated anything to the contrary, the coach could be leaning toward taking Gauthier out of the lineup.
With forwards Morgan Barron and Tim Gettinger recently called up from the taxi squad, Gallant would have to choose between the two green 23-year-old’s. Throwing either of the two into the fire for their season debut against a high-powered Lightning squad could be a risk, but since the Rangers haven’t really been able to roll all four lines, it may be one worth taking.
