NY Rangers lose to Edmonton Oilers, in photos

Vincent Z. Mercogliano | NHL writer

TARRYTOWN – David Quinn is trying to walk the fine line between being proactive without being over-reactive.

The NHL season is heading into its third week, but Quinn’s New York Rangers have only played three games — with just one in the last nine days. It’ll be one in 12 days by the time they get to their next game Thursday night in New Jersey against the Devils.

That makes the sting of a loss like Saturday’s linger while providing an abundance of downtime to ponder lineup changes.

Perhaps too much time.

When asked following Sunday's practice if it's been difficult to stay patient given the odd schedule, Quinn bluntly responded, “Yes.”

“I didn’t want to have three different sets of D pairings after three games, so we kept the D pairings the same," he added. "Then I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s give these lines a chance.’ I know our secondary scoring hasn’t been great, but let’s give it a chance.”

Seth Harrison/The Journal News

Quinn admitted it’s been a tug-of-war in his mind — “There were plenty of times over the course of the game (Saturday) I was contemplating changing a lot of things,” he said — but the Blueshirts’ coach doesn’t want to make any rash decisions.

The Rangers are 2-1 with reasons to stay the course. But if Quinn does shake things up, it would likely come with his bottom-nine forwards.

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“It was our forwards that caused a lot of our problems (Saturday),” he said.

Line Nos. 2, 3 and 4 have produced a total of two goals through three games, with the second line finally breaking through for the only goal in the weekend loss to Edmonton Oilers.

Kaapo Kakko scored the first goal of his NHL career on an assist from Ryan Strome, which Quinn said left Kakko “relieved.”

That weight being lifted will “hopefully open the floodgates,” as Strome put it. But the question remains about whether a second line featuring Kakko, Strome and Chris Kreider is the best combination at Quinn’s disposal.

“We have to create more (offensive) zone time,” Strome said. “When we get in the zone, I think we’ve had good one-and-dones and we get a good opportunity, but then we don’t really sustain that pressure for 30, 40, 45 seconds. That’s the next step, and I think all up-and-down our lineup we have to do it, but it can certainly start with us. With the skill set that Kreids and Kakko have, there’s no reason why we can’t be more successful.”

Vincent Carchietta, Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

'A shooting mentality'

Along with doing a better job of controlling the puck, Quinn has made it clear he wants to see the Rangers shoot it more when they do have it.

The most glaring example came during a 5-on-3 power play in the first period against the Oilers. The Rangers seemed to pass up on a few chances when they had lanes to shoot.

“Ironically, we practiced (5-on-3) for 20 minutes Friday,” Quinn said.

Developing “more of a shooting mentality” will be a focus at practice leading into Thursday’s game, according to Quinn.

“(We’ll) continue to harp on it,” he said. “It’s just something we have to get better at. You pass up one shot, that could turn into three more. You can’t look at it as if it’s only one more shot because often one shot, more times than not, can become a few others.”

Changes to consider

Kakko’s presence has made the second line a focal point, but immediate changes may be more likely on the third and fourth lines.

While Quinn seemed displeased with his entire group of 12 forwards, he singled out fourth-liners Lias Andersson and Brendan Smith as players who “had good moments” against Edmonton.

Vincent Carchietta, Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Andersson and Greg McKegg saw the least amount of ice time, with both landing under 7:20, while Smith received the third-least on the team at 9:42.

Quinn said those low totals were symptoms of him leaning on the top line more than usual after the long layoff. He indicated that he expects his fourth-liners to play more with a stretch of three games in four days beginning Thursday.

“We’re going to get back into playing some stretches where we’re going to have to manage minutes for everybody,” Quinn said. “We’re going back-to-back Thursday and Friday. Everybody’s minutes will go up that haven’t been playing a lot of minutes because we can’t play those top guys that many minutes over the course of a season.”

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Andersson and Smith — or perhaps Brett Howden — see their roles expanded later this week. Maybe the Rangers consider calling up 20-year-old Filip Chytil, who has posted five points (two goals and three assists) in four games with AHL Hartford.

There are several possibilities, but Quinn is going to bide his time before making a decision.

“To be determined,” he said heading into Monday’s day off.