Rangers' Jack Roslovic, Erik Gustafsson healthy scratches vs. Canadiens at MSG
Rangers center Jack Roslovic skates with the puck during the third period of an NHL game against the Penguins on April 1 at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Peter K. Afriyie
When Rangers coach Peter Laviolette first said a few weeks ago that he was going to employ a sort of rotation system with his roster, in order to make sure that everyone got to play games and stay somewhat sharp and no one was left sitting out too long, he didn’t give the impression that he was going to include his first-line players in that rotation.
But when the Rangers hosted the Montreal Canadiens Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, forward Jack Roslovic, who since his arrival at the trade deadline had been plugged in at right wing on the nominal top line alongside Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, was a healthy scratch, as was defenseman Erik Gustafsson.
At the morning skate in Greenburgh, when Laviolette was asked why Roslovic was being scratched, he brushed it off as “just a rotation thing,’’ and pointed out that Gustafsson “has been great all year,’’ but was getting a night off so Zac Jones could get into the lineup for a game.
But Roslovic was benched for much of the first period of Friday’s 4-3 win over Detroit, and his 8:07 of ice time that game was the lowest on the team, suggesting Laviolette was unhappy with him for some reason.
Laviolette, though, pointed out that since Roslovic doesn’t kill penalties, as Kreider and Zibanejad do, and doesn’t play on the first power-play unit, as Kreider and Zibanejad do, he is always going to have less ice time than his linemates. And as far as the Detroit game, the coach said he liked the way the line of Will Cuylle, Alexander Wennberg and Kaapo Kakko was playing that night, and he called the fourth line of Barclay Goodrow, Jonny Brodzinski and Jimmy Vesey, “maybe our top line’’ in that game. The result was that both of those lines got a little more ice time, and the Kreider-Zibanejad-Roslovic line got a little less.
When asked what he has thought of how well Roslovic had meshed with Zibanejad and Kreider overall since his arrival, Laviolette said “there’s been some really good games, where they’ve been really noticeable as a group of three.’’
Roslovic has two goals and five assists in 15 games since joining the Rangers, and the analytics for the line are mostly positive. According to the website Natural Stat Trick, in 141 minutes and 16 seconds together, the trio has outshot its opponents 80-64, out-attempted them 170-135, and outscored them 8-7.
“I don’t want to read any more into it than I’ve got to make a few decisions,’’ Laviolette said when pressed on the topic. “I called the league, they said ‘No’ to [the Rangers dressing] 20 skaters tonight. [So] those are the decisions I made for today. We’ll get through the game tonight, move forward from there.’’
Vesey, who had 13 goals and 12 assists in 75 games while playing mostly on the fourth line, took Roslovic’s place on the top line, while Matt Rempe, who had been scratched for four of the previous five games, entered the lineup and took Vesey’s spot on the fourth line. Laviolette was asked if maybe part of his decision-making process involved wanting to see Vesey up with Kreider and Zibanejad.
“Not necessarily,’’ he said. “I thought their line [Goodrow-Brodzinski-Vesey] was terrific the other night. At some point, we’ll get back to that. That line was really good.’’
When Laviolette first started rotating forwards after the deadline, it was Brodzinski who looked like the player who figured to lose the most playing time. And after bouncing up and down between the NHL and the minor leagues for most of his career until he finally stuck in the NHL this season, Brodzinski was prepared to deal with that.
“You handle it like a pro, and you just get ready for your next opportunity to get in the lineup,’’ he said.
But Brodzinski, who had two assists against Detroit, had played in 11 of the 15 games since the trade deadline, scoring two goals. He was asked if he feels pressure to score or produce points in order to stay in the lineup.
“It kind of feels like that sometimes, where I do have to go out and produce every single game, or I’m going to get taken out,’’ he said.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
