We would say the last time something like this happened was when John Tortorella occupied Marian Gaborik in the third period of Game 5 of the Rangers’ 2012 final against the Devils, besides doing something like that was very standard for the coach. .
Therefore, there is no shock value.
However, it was different in Newark on Thursday night. It was different with David Quinn, who for the first time in his three seasons behind the bench dropped the hammer on one of the Rangers’ party players by dramatically reducing Mika Zibanejad’s ice time in the first period before hitting him for the first time. 10 sat: 46 of the second.
Finally, after giving Zibanejad the benefit of the doubt for weeks, not only last season, but through all the work of the center under Quinn, the coach saw enough, after another period in which the Swede ‘ a cipher was. on the ice.
And so he sat him down. Put him through to a team-wide 20-minute opening, in which the Devils could only build up a 1-0 lead, thanks to Igor Shesterkin’s exceptional play in nets, and put him through the center of the second, on which the Blueshirts drew it was 1-1 on Chris Kreider’s power goal.
Shock value here, right.
“I did not like his game, I did not like what we saw – I did not like our first period very much – but of course he had a difficult start to the season and maybe he would have a sit for a while if he jerks him a little and give our team a little while, ‘Quinn said after the Blueshirts stormed back for a 6-1 victory. “I liked what I saw when he came back.
‘I just went to see how he plays, how he competes, how he skates. If I thought I saw an excitement in his play, I would continue to play him and if not, he would keep sitting. That’s really what it’s all about. ‘
It was an essential game. Kreider, on one of his patented Done. You. See. Chris! streaks, scored his second hat-trick in five games, giving him nine goals in the last six games. Shesterkin, who increased his game over the two weeks, had to stay with 5:52 left after suffering an apparent right leg injury that could force him to miss time. If so, it will have significant consequences for this 9-9-3 team that settled 5-2 in the last seven.
But the standardization of Zibanejad will resound. You never know how a player as proud as Zibanejad will react to such a thing. You also do not know how his teammates and best buttons will react. Let us not forget. He was one of the best players in the world last season. He was one of the best centers in the league the year before. And he’s banked.
“I think he’s slowing down the stats and all the pressure a little bit,” Quinn said. “I think it comes to him.
‘It’s a man who was a fearless player, a brave player and still a man who ends up in the fight, but something is just missing. We definitely kept trying to get him to play through it, he definitely deserved the opportunity, but now we have to play the guys who play well. ”
Zibanejad played with opinion through his last 13 innings and 9:05 ice, and continued to excel on the penalty kill unit that was 4-for-4 in this one. He was involved, jumped on a free kick to set up Alexis Lafreniere for the darts that scored the first six-man point (3-3) at 18:27 on 18:27 from third place in the last six games 6- 1 made.
(And who boy, Quinn suddenly got so much better at developing young people, right?)
Zibanejad’s decline was covered by the secret. The long-distance big-picture consequences of that are strong. But the conclusions on this small picture will also be strong. There is no doubt that his accomplices have his back, and Kreider has issued an unsolicited captaincy-like testimony in support of his beleagured friend and colleague. You could almost hear Mark Messier standing up for Brian Leetch. Almost.
It was a night of great importance for the Rangers and for Quinn, who picked a star and whose team responded 40 dominant minutes thereafter.
“I think every time you put one of your top players on, it’s going to wake up a little bit for everyone, and I just thought we got better as the game went on,” the coach said. “If it had anything to do with it, I do not know.”
The Rangers and Quinn waited 20 games for Zibanejad. The coach did not wait for 21.. Now we are all waiting to see how the alternate captain responds to this.