New York Rangers may have gold in Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich line
It only took a few practices and one preseason game for the New York Rangers organization and their fans to realize they may have something really special brewing among their young forward group.
It took only one preseason game to fall in love with some of the newest New York Rangers players, particularly Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich. Couple the two of them with Chris Kreider, and apparently good things will happen.
Since the beginning of training camp, Alain Vigneault has been talking up his newly formed Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich line. Many Rangers fans have been very interested in seeing how that actually worked. If you watched the Rangers preseason opener against the New York Islanders on Tuesday, you saw it worked really well.
I know I need to temper expectations because it is only preseason, but damn, I’m in love with this line. In fact, I think it has the potential to be one of the New York Rangers best lines in years.
You have everything you would want from a top line within this grouping. You got size, speed and skill.
Big, quick, and a responsible three-zone player, Zibanejad also has an absolute cannon of a shot. Buchnevich is of the smaller variety, but he isn’t afraid of going into the dirty areas. He has a wicked wrist shot and is not too shabby with the pass either. After signing his new contract, Kreider seems very determined to go out there and show why he was worth it.
This line was out there for all 4 of the Rangers goals that were scored with someone in net. They even combined for 2 powerplay goals. All 5 players on the unit that features the aforementioned trifecta and forward Brandon Pirri and defenseman Adam Clendening worked perfectly together. Each one of them possesses a good shot and are smart with the puck. They each can pass well too, as exemplified by both goals.
How great was Zibanejad’s goal on the powerplay? The Rangers haven’t had a guy on the offwing as lethal as Zibanejad is since the Jagr days, and it showed as he blasted a shot off the feed from Clendening past Islanders goalie Jean-F Berube.
It will be interesting to see when this line gets back on the ice for a game, and if they can continue to do what they started Tuesday night. Hopefully, they play Saturday against the Devils cause I’ll be there and I want to see it first hand!
The next intriguing line Vigneault will try out is a combination of Rick Nash, Kevin Hayes and Jimmy Vesey. If this line can create half of the opportunities and the buzz that the Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich line created, we are in for a real treat this season.
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