Rangers observations: The 1-3-1 is back, Zac Jones wants to play, Matt Rempe needs to be smart

LAS VEGAS This version of the New York Rangers hasnt been very good at preventing rush chances.

Going back to David Quinn and Gerard Gallant, they rank in the bottom third of the league every year; last season, Peter Laviolettes first as coach, the Rangers played Laviolettes 1-3-1 neutral-zone system in a partial attempt to contain opposing teams off the rush.

Advertisement It actually wasnt very successful.

Clear Sight Analytics had the 2023-24 Rangers ranked 28th in the league in expected goals off the rush and 26th in expected goals off odd-man rushes.

So Laviolette tweaked the system this season after the Rangers started with a solid record but allowed too much off the rush.

We wanted to get more pressure, be a bit more aggressive up the ice, Braden Schneider said.

That, along with everything else the Rangers tried, didnt work.

With the team in some sort of fugue state after the Jacob Trouba and Kaapo Kakko moves, plus the threat of other changes, there was no cohesion anywhere on the ice.

So, at the turn of the calendar, Laviolette went back to the 1-3-1.

The result: A 4-1-1 run, four games with two goals or fewer allowed and rush chances cut down by almost one high-danger chance per game, moving the Rangers from 28th heading into New Years Day to 12th since then, according to Clear Sight.

That can eliminate some things, Mika Zibanejad said.

Weve been better, too, with guys coming back, being more aware of the rush, especially playing some teams that are good on the rush.

That helps keep teams from flying past the Rangers with speed the Rangers havent gotten faster with their changes, so they have to find a way to hold up teams like the New Jersey Devils , who feasted on them in the two games in December but were a bit more contained on Thursday in the Rangers overtime win.

The 1-3-1, played right, also allows the defense to make plays without forwards flying in to disrupt simple D-to-D passes or rim-arounds from behind the net.

The Rangers have incorporated Will Borgen and Urho Vaakanainen into the defense corps over the last month, so keeping them cleaner on dump-ins has allowed them to get comfortable with their new team.

Advertisement Wed kind of shoot ourselves in the foot where wed turn it over at the blue line (exiting the zone), have guys leaving and wanting offense and itd come back and bite us in the butt, Schneider said.

Weve done a much better job of managing pucks, killing plays quicker and just taking whats given in all three zones.

Its just muddier, its harder to get through us when were using (the 1-3-1) ...

You know youre getting to the puck first as a D-man.

You know where your guys are going.

You have your first read and you have the time to go, OK, thats not there, take the second one.

If the formula for the Rangers is cut down on five-on-five chances, play high-level special teams and rely on Igor Shesterkin , the middle one is finally back on track.

Over an 11-game stretch, the power play had gone 1-for-30 over an 11-game to drop to the bottom third in the league; with Vincent Trocheck s power-play goal on Saturday, the power play is 4-for-6 in the last three games.

The penalty kill gave one up and is still not quite at the league-best level it was at for much of the season, but its ranked seventh.

Zac Jones has had an eventful week for a guy who was a healthy scratch for an eighth straight game on Saturday.

He had some strong comments about not being able to crack a six-man defense thats been as bad as the Rangers group had been for a long stretch, and then there was a report that Jones representative hes repped by the same agency Trouba uses had permission to facilitate a trade.

Nothing appears imminent on the trade front, so Jones has to stay working hard and waiting while the whole world, and his teammates, know hes asked out.

Im still committed to this team, Jones told The Athletic on Saturday.

I said what I said last week and I dont regret anything I said.

Im still a Ranger and I want to help this team win any way I can.

Advertisement Jones understands how some people on the outside might view him speaking out and seeking a move.

I feel like I was worried about how people would take it, he said.

But honestly, I dont really care what other people think.

The guys in here know what I mean, the staff knows.

Thats all that matters.

I could care less what a random fan says about it.

I wasnt trying to call anyone out.

It was frustration with not playing, thats all.

If people take it differently, I cant change that.

The 24-year-old had to wait his turn last season but it did come in a couple of bursts, with an early-season injury to Adam Fox and a late-season injury to Trouba.

Jones played 31 games in 2023-24 and has played 26 of 42 this season, but now hes clearly not an option ahead of Vaakanainen.

I know I could be traded tomorrow or I could be in the lineup tomorrow.

You have no idea whats going to happen, Jones said.

Just having that mindset of being prepared to play no matter the circumstances, thats where Im at right now.

Im not going to worry about all the other s.

Sam Carrick said he could only recall one other overtime shift hes gotten in his 282-game NHL career.

I think I went on for a faceoff, he said.

It was like, get on, win the draw, go straight off.

So his first-ever overtime goal on Thursday may have been a surprise to him.

But Carrick, who was bumped up as the third-line center between Jimmy Vesey and Arthur Kaliyev on Saturday, is figuring prominently in the Rangers recent resurgence.

He played 16:52 at even strength against Vegas , more than every forward except Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle ; if the Rangers are going to become harder to play against and more defensively responsible to turn this season back around, Carrick may find himself in the mix even more.

Advertisement I think you lean on those times when you were able to persevere in the past and you can think, in the back of your mind, you know youre going to get out of it, Carrick said.

Ive been through it in Anaheim.

In New York, its a little more magnified but you just lean on your experience.

Weve all been through stretches like we had.

Kaliyev might have grown up on Staten Island and went to Madison Square Garden as a kid his favorite Rangers player was Rick Nash but hes still getting his bearings at the arena.

When he walked off the ice the morning of his first game with the Rangers, he turned the wrong way trying to get to the locker room.

In his first comments since serving his eight-game suspension for a dangerous hit on Miro Heiskanen , Matt Rempe said he had no intent to injure but acknowledged it was not a good hit.

I was coming in with too much speed, he said.

Im too big of a guy to come in with that much speed.

Ive gotta be a lot smarter.

Rempe was not surprised at the length of his suspension.

He mentioned he talked over the summer with George Paros, the head of the NHLs department of player safety, about the types of hits that were good versus problematic.

The 6-foot-8 Rempe has now been suspended twice in his NHL career.

He also served a four-game suspension for elbowing New Jerseys Jonas Siegenthaler in March.

Hes well aware his past punishments and reputation will factor into future league discipline.

Ive got to still play my game, but it cant happen again or its going to be a huge suspension, he said.

I dont have to make every hit, if that makes sense.

...

If Im going to make every hit, some of them are risky.

Guys are trying to duck out of the way at the last second, and Im so big that if I catch a piece or something like that, Im gone 20 games.

I cant let anything like that happen.

Advertisement Rempe said most of his issues have come in the neutral zone with players against the walls.

He now wants to only make those hits if hes positive they will be clean.

If its any way in doubt, I feel like I err on the side of caution right now, Rempe said.

Im a marked man right now.

(Top photo of Zac Jones: Danny Wild / Imagn Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.