New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich had a great game Tuesday night but will remain on the team’s fourth line.
Despite scoring two goals in the New York Rangers 6-2 win over Carolina Tuesday, Pavel Buchnevich is staying on the fourth line for now.
Buchnevich was the topic of discussion during head coach David Quinn’s postgame press conference Tuesday, and it carried over into to practice Wednesday. Quinn cited that while he is happy for Buchnevich, the two goals came on the power play and they need more from the 23-year-old winger at even strength.
Pavel Buchnevich is staying on the fourth line, David Quinn said. "I know he got the two goals last night,'' DQ said of Buchnevich. "I was happy as heck for him, but those are two power play goals and there’s a lot of responsibility and a lot of ice time, five-on-five…'' (more)
— Colin Stephenson (@ColinASteph) January 16, 2019
Buch, cont'd: "…And we need him to be better five-on-five and more consistent five-on-five. And he knows that. We feel like the other lines have been playing well, and we’ve got 11 goals in the last two games, so I think we’ll leave the lines as they are right now.''
— Colin Stephenson (@ColinASteph) January 16, 2019
His two goals were the result of having the extra skater creating open space for him. Buchnevich took advantage of a rebound and pass from Mika Zibanejad that might not have been available if teams were at even strength.
Quinn also talked about how he likes the way his lines have been playing, scoring 11 goals in their last two games. He has been searching for chemistry and it looks like he’s found it so why switch things up now?
The fact of the matter is that Buchnevich still has some developing to do and while playing on a fourth line with Cody McLeod might not make his development quicker, it is a way to keep his skill in the game while not hurting the team five-on-five in a bigger role.
Buchnevich will continue to see power play time and perhaps if his play at even strength improves he can move back up to the top-six. If David Quinn has shown us anything is that he’s not afraid to sit and reward players when it is needed.
Lundqvist Gets The Call Thursday
Henrik Lundqvist will make the start Thursday after returning from spending the Rangers weekend back-to-back set as the backup to Alexandar Georgiev.
Lundqvist made 34 saves Tuesday, including submitting his entry in the save of the year box.
We are not worthy #NYR pic.twitter.com/GUqGcy3Oib
— Dom Renna (@drennaESNY) January 16, 2019
This season, the 36-year-old is 13-12-7 with a 3.07 goals-against-average and a .907 save percentage.
