Thursday, the Rangers made a trade with St. Louis to bring Vladimir Tarasenko to New York along with defender Niko Mikkola. Tarasenko, who is averaging 2.62 points including just under a goal per 60 minutes of play is expected to bring a scoring punch to the Rangers top six and power play. The 31-year-old could be even more dangerous if he sees time with talented playmaker, and this year's All-Star for New York, Artemi Panarin.
The trade was made to boost offense for a team that has been strong defensively all season. They rank top five in the league in limiting opponents' rebound chances, overall shot attempts, overall shot quality and ultimately goals. This isn't just due to the team's designated defenders. Igor Shesterkin won the Vezina Award last season for the best NHL goaltender and this season has 20 quality starts and three steals.
All that being said, the Kraken did beat the Rangers in their only meeting this year. Jared McCann and Justin Schultz scored in regulation before Schultz scored again in overtime to win the game. Martin Jones had 28 saves on 30 shots.
##### Two: Keep It Up
Although the Kraken didn't get the result they wanted against New Jersey, the group was buoyed by a return to form that had the group generating the majority of chances while playing solid defensively and limiting opportunities by their opponent with smart and mostly mistake-free hockey. Adam Larsson said he thought his team was a lot better than the game against the Islanders. He liked the scoring chances they created and credited the group's skating and ability to counter with speed.
As far as the head coach is concerned, if the Kraken can keep that up and continue to return to form against New York it will be a good thing.
"Little things show up in a big way in games in terms of your play with the puck and how efficient you are," Dave Hakstol said. "When you break a lot of these things down, a lot of transition, a lot of opportunities for the opposition are going to come off of turnovers. Off failed puck play. We didn't have a ton of that (versus New Jersey). There was a little bit of that in a second period. Some of (the Devils') opportunities came off of that, so we need to clean that up and be a little bit cleaner as these games get tighter and tighter."
##### Three: Turn the Page
And that brings us to the big question: what is the message when your team does a lot of things right but doesn't get the result they wanted, or perhaps more so, deserved? Hakstol was confident in the approach.
"Turn the page," Hakstol said. "For me we play (Friday) night. We have to get right back to it. You have to wash away any disappointment that you have from this one and get focused as we look towards Rangers game."
