Brady Skjei is trying to focus on only what he can control, and that doesn’t include ice time.
The Rangers’ rookie has been one of the team’s best defensemen through the first eight games of playoffs, but has continued to find himself stapled to the bench in the closing minutes of games while his team holds a tight lead.
After scoring two goals in Game 2 of their second-round series against the Senators on Saturday in Ottawa, Skjei sat for the final 6:48 of regulation while the Senators came back from a 5-3 deficit to tie it and then win it double-overtime. The 24-year-old also sat for the final 10:53 of his team’s series-clinching victory against the Canadiens in Game 6 of the first round.
“Have to talk to coach about that one,” Skjei said after Monday’s practice, with his team down to the Senators in the best-of-seven contest, 2-0, with a huge Game 3 on Tuesday night at the Garden. “I can’t say anything about that. Just have to keep playing the way I’m playing and don’t look too far into that at all. Try to stay positive and keep making plays.”
Skjei’s partner, Brendan Smith, has also been curiously used late in games. Having come to the Rangers in a deal with the Red Wings just before the trade deadline, Smith plays with the most physical edge of any of the Blueshirts’ defensemen. Yet coach Alain Vigneault said he almost mistakenly “lost” Smith in Game 2 against Ottawa, as he got just five third-period shifts and none over the final 5:37 of regulation.
“For anybody, you always want to play more minutes,” Smith said. “Hopefully I’ll be able to prove that I can play a little bit more minutes at different times. But it’s up to me to prove it.”
Vigneault said he not only wanted to sit down with his coaching staff, but also with general manager Jeff Gorton, before making a lineup decision for Game 3.
“I’ve got a couple things right now that I’m contemplating,” Vigneault said.
For Monday’s practice, he had Tanner Glass and Pavel Buchnevich rotating on a line with Oscar Lindberg and J.T. Miller. Buchnevich has played the previous five straight postseason games since coming in for Glass in Game 4 of the opening round, but the 22-year-old Russian rookie got only one shift after the second period in Game 2. It came on the power play.
Vigneault then had the lines of Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Mats Zuccarello and Michael Grabner-Kevin Hayes-Jesper Fast. The only line that stayed together was the Jimmy Vesey-Derek Stepan-Rick Nash trio.
The coach did say he was likely going to keep his defensive pairs together, and he did, leaving Kevin Klein and Steven Kampfer as the fourth (extra) pair.
The Rangers and Senators have combined for 148 total hits through the first two games, averaging 74 per contest. (The Rangers are out-hitting the Sens, 80-68). The Rangers played a much more physical series in the first round against the Canadiens, when the teams averaged 88.83 hits per game. (The Rangers out-hit the Habs, 285-248, including the Blueshirts’ monumental 74-hit performance in Game 2’s overtime loss.)
So while this series might look a little different to watch, it’s hardly a pillow fight.
“It feels pretty physical out there, I don’t know how it looks,” Nash said. “Some games look different. But when you’re out there, they have some big ‘D’ men that play hard. So it feels like it’s physical. Are the hits down from the Montreal series? I don’t know, it feels physical. But I feel like we can adapt to any style with our speed.”