SAN JOSE, Calif. — So the question to Alain Vigneault off Saturday’s 3-0 victory in Los Angeles where the reunited Michael Grabner-Kevin Hayes-J.T. Miller unit generated a consistent ground game below the hash marks with a quick, effective forecheck that created several glorious opportunities was whether he believes Miller and Hayes are better when together.
And the response provided by the coach was as indirectly direct an explanation as to why from time to time he feels the need to break up the young Americans, even when it doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense to much of the outside world.
“It depends on what your definition of playing better is,” Vigneault said before Sunday’s loss in Anaheim, laughing loudly. “There’s obviously a lot of upside there. Again, I would say to you when they go astray a little bit, [it] is on a lot of their puck decisions. If we could make some of those a little more high-percentage, then it would make it easier on the group.
“My dilemma is sometimes you don’t want to overemphasize that because they make great plays, and that’s where you have to find that balance between both. Hopefully with experience and more games played they are going to figure it out. They’re both smart people.”
Vigneault’s dilemma within hours of discussing the subject was whether to bench Miller in the third period following one of the most mindless defensive-zone turnovers you’d never want to see. Not to mention that was his second egregious D-zone turnover of the night. Not to mention — well, we’re mentioning all of it — that both turnovers quickly found their way into Henrik Lundqvist’s net.
The young winger was far from the only culprit in the 6-3 defeat that prevented the Blueshirts from clinching the playoff berth they will again seek to lock up with a victory against the Sharks on Tuesday (unless the Islanders, Lightning and Hurricanes all cooperate Monday night). Linemates Hayes and Grabner were among the multiple co-conspirators in the defeat that sends the Rangers into the finale of a three-game trip having won just six of their past 15 games (6-7-2) and looking more often than not as first-round playoff fodder.
But Miller, who was arguably the Rangers’ best forward through large swatches of the season’s first four months, has stalled, if not regressed a bit. Maybe he is pressing, having scored one goal in his past 16 contests, but he has been making the same kind of enormous risk/no-reward plays that pockmarked his game last season and the season before that and earned him demotions within and out of the lineup.
On Saturday, at 7:35 of the second period of what then was a scoreless tie, Miller’s blind centering feed from behind the net zipped straight up the slot where it was gathered near the blue line by the Kings’ Tyler Toffoli. The speedy winger raced in alone, only to be denied by Antti Raanta with help from Nick Holden.
But that was the appetizer for Sunday’s visit to the Ducks. First, coming up on midway through the first period after the Rangers had taken a 1-0 lead, Miller couldn’t control a puck near the half-wall of the right defensive zone and had it picked off his stick, a turnover/turnaround off which Patrick Eaves tied the score on a rebound with the front left naked.
Then, very early in the third period of what was somehow still only a 3-3 game, Miller wiped out chasing the puck in the defensive right corner. When he regained his skates, he frantically threw it into the slot, pretty much onto the stick of Ryan Kesler, who was wearing the wrong uniform. Lundqvist was able to make the save on Kesler, but it was the ensuing right-circle draw off which the Ducks took a 4-3 lead at 2:19 when Kesler’s direct shot was stopped by Lundqvist only to have an all-alone Andrew Cogliano slam home the rebound.
Again, Miller wasn’t the only one and neither was Hayes. The defense was a mess again. Lundqvist obviously was rusty in his return. But the Rangers need Miller to reassert himself and be the player he was the first half of the season. They need him to have a “see” game rather than the “C” game to which Vigneault alluded following the defeat.
This is not the time for Miller to go astray.
The Rangers signed Vinni Lettieri, a free agent forward out of the University of Minnesota, on Monday. Lettieri, a Golden Gophers teammate of Brady Skjei for two seasons from 2013-2015, skated in 38 games and had 19 goals, 18 assists with a plus-seven rating in 2016-17.