Just four defense pairs in the NHL have been on the ice for at least 3,600 minutes at five-on-five over the four seasons beginning in 2020-21. Two of them belong to the Rangers, who have been a study in stability on the back end.
Pretty much from the moment K’Andre Miller left Wisconsin to turn pro in 2020-21 under then-head coach David Quinn, the top four has been inviolate except to accommodate injuries. Miller has skated on the left with Jacob Trouba while Adam Fox has been on the right with Ryan Lindgren. They have been the equivalent of 1A/1B matchup pairs.
Carolina’s Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce tandem (first) and the Kings’ Drew Doughty-Mikey Andersson duo joined the two Rangers pairs with that threshold of ice time, according to Natural Stat Trick.
But partially because of the preseason upper-body injury sustained by Lindgren in the second exhibition game that landed No. 55 on IR and partially because head coach Peter Laviolette wanted to see a different look, the Blueshirts have gone with three brand new pairs for the first two games of the season.
The first pair features Miller on the left with Fox in which the club’s two most mobile and offensively gifted defensemen have been united. There has been talk about this look for a couple of years, and before Wednesday the young defensemen had been on for 337:34 at five-on-five the previous four seasons but had only started as a pair in five previous games.
The second pair had Trouba on the right side but with righty Braden Schneider moving to his off side for the first time in a 207-game NHL career that began midway through 2021-22. The move surely was prompted by the head coach wanting his four top defensemen to comprise the top-four but the ascension of rookie righty — or righty rookie? — Victor Mancini was also a significant factor in the decision.
The 21-year-old entered rookie camp with a sum of 17 pro hockey games on his résumé, seven in the regular season and 10 in the playoffs last season after leaving Nebraska-Omaha. He made an immediate impression that stuck. He and Zac Jones comprise the young, third pair.
But while the remade defense operated like clockwork in Wednesday’s 6-0 demolition of the Penguins in Wednesday’s opener in Pittsburgh, the club’s buttoned-down approach went haywire in Saturday night’s 6-5 overtime defeat to Utah in the Garden opener.
The game was played at a frenetic pace. There were chances galore on both sides in this chaotic display of pond hockey in which the Blueshirts rallied from 4-2 and 5-3 down only to lose when the Yoots won a 2-on-1 battle behind the net off which Clayton Keller beat Igor Shesterkin at 4:05 of OT.
The Rangers have had games like this in the past with their standard pairs. But the Blueshirts ceded large chunks of prime ice in the defensive zone when there seemed confusion on coverage. The defense cannot be blamed for the fact that the home team could not contain their hyper opponents through the neutral zone while backing in repeatedly.
And Fox, who logged 23:34 of ice, wasn’t buying the proposition that unfamiliarity bred breakdowns.
“I don’t know, you could use that as kind of a copout,” Fox said. “But it’s still early season and miscues happen for both teams.”
The analytics look pretty good, the Miller-Fox pair establishing a 90.36 xGF in 16:27 while on for two goals scored and none against — and one gimme that Miller sent into the sky instead of the net.
The Schneider-Trouba pair had its breakdowns, the captain sliding to no-man’s land on Utah’s opening goal, but the tandem recorded a 54.8 xGF while on for one goal scored and two against.
Of course, Schneider did take advantage of being on the off side in the defensive zone, attacking from the left before beating Connor Ingram at 17:59 of the second to narrow the margin to 5-4.
The Jones-Mancini pair had a 51.72 xGF in 13:00 and did not look out of place in this up-and-down affair that at times resembled 1980s hockey. Get this: The Yoots scored on five of their first 14 shots.
Lindgren continues to skate with the team, albeit wearing a non-contact jersey and a full visor. The hierarchy will face a roster decision when No. 55 is cleared to play ahead of the coaching staff’s lineup decisions. The Blueshirts have the Red Wings at home on Monday before a three-game trip to Detroit, Toronto and Montreal.
The club is currently carrying seven defensemen with Chad Ruhwedel as the spare. He requires waivers. Mancini does not. But if the rookie remains on track, there is no reason to dispatch him to the AHL.
And if Schneider is comfortable and effective on his off-side, Lindgren could slide in on Mancini’s left on the third pair, thus bumping Zac Jones to the stands.
This could be the start of something new.
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