We’d say the last time something like this happened was when John Tortorella put Marian Gaborik on the bench in the third period of Game 5 of the Rangers 2012 conference final against the Devils, except that something like that was pretty much standard for the coach . .
Hence, there is no shock value there.
However, this was different on Thursday night in Newark. This was different with David Quinn, who for the first time in his three seasons behind the bench took down the hammer on one of the Rangers’ marquee players by drastically reducing Mika Zibanejad’s Ice Age in the first period before joining him for the first. 10 put down: 46 from the second.
Finally, after weeks of giving Zibanejad the benefit of the doubt that last season he had earned not only throughout the trajectory, but also through the center’s entire work under Quinn, the coach had seen enough, following another spell in which The Swede was a secret. on the ice.
And so he put it down. Sat after a team-wide desultory opening 20 minutes, in which the Devils were only able to build a 1-0 lead thanks to Igor Shesterkin’s exceptional play in nets, and sent him through the middle of the second, by which time the Blueshirts had tied the 1 -1 on Chris Kreider’s power play goal.
Shock value here, okay.
“I didn’t like his game, I didn’t like what we saw – I didn’t like our first period much – but he’s clearly had a rough start to the season and maybe he would sit with him for a while. Little shock and give our team a little shock, “said Quinn after the Blueshirts stormed back for a 6-1 win.” I liked what I saw when he came out again.
“I just wanted to see how he played, how he was competing, how he was skating. If I thought I saw an improvement in his game I would keep playing him and if not he would stay put. That’s really what it boiled down to. “
This was a headline game. Kreider, settle for one of his patented Did. See you. Chris! streaks, recorded his second hat-trick in five games, netting nine goals in the past six games. Shesterkin, who has improved his game in the past two weeks, was forced to leave with 5:52 to go after sustaining an obvious right leg injury that could force him to miss a time. If so, it will have significant implications for this 9-9-3 team that has gone 5-2 in the past seven.
But Zibanejad’s benching will resound. You never know how a player as proud as Zibanejad will react to something like this. You also don’t know how his teammates and best summits will react. Let’s not forget. He was one of the best players in the world last season. He was one of the top centers in the competition the year before. And he was sitting on the couch.
“I think the statistics and all the pressure slow him down a bit,” Quinn said. ‘I think it affects him.
“This is a man who has been a fearless player, he has been a brave player and he is still a man in the fray, but something is just missing. We’ve definitely kept trying to get him through it, he definitely deserved that chance, but at this point we have to continue to play the guys who play well. “
Zibanejad played with purpose during his last 13 shifts and 9:05 on ice, continuing to excel on the penalty-kill unit hitting 4-for-4 in this one. He was involved, hopping on a free puck to set up Alexis Lafreniere for the dart that made the last six games of the third at 6:27 PM to 6-1 for the freshman’s sixth run (3-3).
(And, what a boy, Quinn has suddenly gotten so much better at developing youngsters, correct?)
Zibanejad’s downfall is shrouded in mystery. The long-distance, big ramifications are grim. But the small photo repercussions of this benching will also be stark. There’s no question his friends have his back, with Kreider giving unsolicited a captain-like testimony in support of his beleaguered friend and colleague. You could almost hear Mark Messier standing up for Brian Leetch. Almost.
This was an important night for the Rangers and for Quinn, who put a star on the bench and whose team responded with 40 dominant minutes in his wake.
“I think every time you sit one of your top players, everyone is sure to wake up and I thought we got better as the game went on,” said the coach. “If that had anything to do with it, I don’t know.”
The Rangers and Quinn had been waiting for Zibanejad for 20 games. The coach did not wait for 21. Now we all wait to see how the deputy captain reacts to this.