Just a few days ago, Peter Laviolette talked about taking the Rangers lineup for a true test drive and giving it a chance to mesh.
In other words, the head coach insinuated that he doesn’t plan to have a quick trigger finger for making drastic changes to the team’s personnel and configuration after, say, one bad game.
Well, Thursday night’s 4-1 loss to the Predators at Madison Square Garden was one of those performances that will put that assertion to the test.
Of the small sample size of games the Blueshirts have had, this one could prompt a coach to reevaluate some things.
Whether or not Laviolette will, however, is yet to be seen.
“I don’t think you just put it out there and let it go, you have to evaluate it,” Laviolette said of the lineup before the Rangers lost for the second time this season. “I do think you have to give it a little bit of time, but there are situations, winning and losing factors into it, health factors into it. An opponent may factor in to what you think might be good for a line or good for somebody on a line, or a D pair, giving them a responsibility.
“Right now, I think just being patient, looking to see where we’re at. I think that could be positive because it could be a little bit of chemistry starting to develop.”
There wasn’t a whole lot of open ice in this game, but the Predators found the holes, bulldozed their way into tight spaces and capitalized.
Nashville broke open the scoring with the game’s first four goals, two from Cole Smith in the opening 20 minutes and two on the power play, for a 4-0 lead by the 13:51 mark of the second period.
It was at that point Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who gave up the four tallies on 18 shots, was pulled in favor of backup Jonathan Quick.
The Rangers found themselves pinned in their zone for long stretches, over which the Predators constantly threatened around the net.
If the puck wasn’t in the Rangers’ zone, it was getting picked off in the neutral zone and hammered back into their zone.
The visitors got to the middle of the ice often because that’s where the Rangers were leaving the puck.
The Rangers’ top-nine have remained the same since the start of the season, while the defensive pairs have only been switched up due to Ryan Lindgren’s upper-body injury that sidelined him in the second game of the season in Columbus.
The only non-injury personnel decision that has been made is the alternating of Jimmy Vesey and Tyler Pitlick through the first four contests.
Vesey drew back into the lineup Thursday night, giving both players two games each so far this season.
For the players, knowing that one bad game isn’t going to lead to the whole lineup getting turned upside down is comforting.
Operating under such circumstances can be disruptive to a lineup’s ability to develop chemistry.
Someone like Alexis Lafreniere, who has played on every single line at least once since his NHL debut, can get accustomed to playing on his offside with a new combination of linemates — Filip Chytil and Artemi Panarin — instead of starting over every handful of games.
Mid-game line changes can spark a lineup, and that’s what Laviolette tried to do Thursday night by switching Panarin and Blake Wheeler.
Panarin lined up next to Vincent Trocheck, who recorded the Rangers’ third disallowed goal of the season due to the play being offside in the third period.
Even before Thursday night’s loss, the Rangers had parts of their game they needed to work through.
It’ll be up to Laviolette whether they’ll get to do so in the same alignment or a new one.