SEATTLE — Peter Laviolette got the response from the Rangers that he was looking for, in more ways than one, after the head coach stayed true to his word and deployed the same skaters in the club’s 4-1 win over the Kraken Saturday night.
From top to bottom, the effort was there, the physicality was there and the Rangers took care of the puck on both sides of it.
The Blueshirts are a team that has proven to be capable of drastic responses following lackluster performances, but this was the first time Laviolette saw it in action.
“I think the guys talked about [how] it wasn’t what we were looking for the other night, we were all disappointed by it,” Laviolette said, referring to the Rangers’ uninspired 4-1 loss to the Predators at Madison Square Garden. “From there, you look for a response and it was a really, really strong response. It’s a good way to start the road trip. A lot of work to do here on the trip, but it’s nice to get that first one.”
After an apparent lack of physical response in the Nashville game, the Rangers packed a punch Saturday night.
Seattle forward Yanni Gourde laid a massive high hit on Filip Chytil and Adam Fox came flying in to reciprocate.
Fox cross-checked Gourde, and then so did Chris Kreider, which led to a melee in front of the Rangers’ bench.
Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle got somewhat involved from the bench, as well.
“Again, the other night there was a lot of things that were off,” Laviolette said. “Just the engagement of physicality comes in different ways. It can be just a face-off battle, or it can be a puck battle. It can be hitting somebody, it can be sticking up for your teammate. There’s a lot of ways that physicality comes into the game. And [Saturday night], I thought we were much more physical in a variety of different ways, and that’s something that we talked about. If you’re not skating and you’re not competing, you’re not working, you’re going to lose and that’s it. Unless your goaltender stands on their head.
“The guys I thought really responded the right way from a game where we didn’t play our best.”
In Saturday’s victory, Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere and Chytil each recorded a point for the 24th time.
The Rangers now own a staggering record of 22-0-2 in games when all three notch a point.
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