TAMPA, Fla. — Brendan Smith does not lack confidence.
As the Rangers made the rugged defenseman a healthy scratch for the third time this season with Thursday night’s 2-1 overtime win against the Lightning at Amalie Arena, he hardly thought his game was mired in any type of funk.
“I like where my game’s at,” Smith said Thursday morning, having gotten just two shifts in the third period of their previous game, a 6-4 comeback win over the Golden Knights on Tuesday at the Garden. “I think I’ve been playing pretty well. I wasn’t totally happy with my last game, but there is always room for improvement.”
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As Smith sat against Vegas, the Rangers scored four third-period goals to erase a 4-2 deficit. A similar situation happened when Smith sat for large parts of the team’s comeback from a 5-1 deficit against the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Oct. 7, eventually ending in a 8-5 loss and him being in street clothes for the following two games.
Coach Alain Vigneault said Smith “is a hard worker, he’s a real good person,” adding that he had “a couple decisions in front of our net and a couple decisions with the puck” against the Golden Knights that were “a bit more challenging.”
Smith saw those moments as outliers, not indicative of the way he has been playing overall.
“I felt like I’ve had a lot of really good games and a couple periods have got away from me,” Smith said. “I just have to make sure that I have a lot of consistency to make sure that I stay in the lineup.”
Captain Ryan McDonagh briefly skated with the extras — Smith, Paul Carey and backup goalie Ondrej Pavelec — after not practicing with the team Wednesday under the guise of “maintenance.” Vigneault declaratively said an injury has not been the reason for McDonagh’s substandard play, but he was hardly 100 percent healthy.
“He’s got some maintenance issues,” Vigneault said. “That’s why he didn’t practice [Wednesday]. But like any hockey player, never 100 percent. But he’s fairly close.”
Smith was replaced by Nick Holden, who had been scratched for Tuesday’s game and three of the past seven. Holden played most of his 20:11 alongside McDonagh, while Brady Skjei went with Kevin Shattenkirk and Marc Staal with Steven Kampfer, who got into two fights.
One of Kampfer’s fights was with J.T. Brown at 3:01 of the third period, apparently stemming from Alex Killorn going after someone on the Rangers’ bench for an unclear reason.
“Boys will be boys,” Vigneault said.