27-42 — Ryan McDonagh – Brendan Smith
One game into his Rangers career and Brendan Smith already looks like a revelation. A play against Boston stands out in particular and it happened right after Smith took a nasty cheap shot, blade to the neck from David Pastrnak.Smith, clearly feeling some pain after briefly lying on the ice, proceeded to level the closest Bruins player as he skated back towards the bench. Smith plays with aggression and grit. He’s also the Ranger who stood out as the man to usually clear bodies out of the crease away from the King. While it’s, undoubtedly, a small sample size, 42’s first game was a success, as he played with the exact type of physicality the Rangers have been missing all season.
It’s obvious that playing alongside the steadying presence of the captain will help raise almost anyone’s game, but no one has been able to fill those skates to this point. Plus, the Rangers desperately need a solid two-way guy that’ll take the body and do some of the dirty work in his own zone. This not only frees 27 to breakout up the ice, but also gives opposing lineups another headache to deal with. That player just might’ve emerged from the shadows of Detroit, but the 18 game tune-up that lies ahead will determine just how savvy of a move Gorton executed.
With Smith playing simultaneously for the Cup and a new contract, it seems his familiarity and well-suited complimentary game with McDonagh could pay off big time, both for his own and the team’s outlook. The captain, meanwhile, needs no in-depth analysis, as his unquestionable nightly value is lost on no Blueshirt fanatic.
