After yet another extended break between games for the Rangers, they’ll begin keeping score for real again Sunday at the Garden, where their Eastern Conference second-round series begins with Game 1 against the Hurricanes.
And, when the teams shift to Raleigh, N.C. for Games 3 and 4 later this week, the scoreboard at PNC Arena also will record the score of the games and the series.
As this showdown between the two top teams in the Metropolitan Division unfolds, there will also be an invisible scoreboard keeping tabs on how the players the teams acquired at the trading deadline are affecting the outcome of the series.
As the deadline approached in March, there was chatter around the NHL about the Hurricanes, Rangers and other teams having interest in landing Pittsburgh forward Jake Guentzel, an eight-time 20-goal scorer, including four times with 30 or more and twice with 40.
The Penguins were selling and, in the end, their asking price — believed to be draft picks and a regular starter such as Kaapo Kakko — was more than Rangers general manager Chris Drury was even considering paying.
Carolina, however, went for it.
The Hurricanes, going all-in, sent forward Michael Bunting and several key prospects to Pittsburgh with hopes that Guentzel would become the piece that pushes them to a second Stanley Cup in franchise history.
That bold move the Hurricanes made and the Rangers didn’t makes up a compelling subplot to this series.
What if Guentzel is the best player on the ice and becomes the linchpin to a Carolina series win over the Rangers?
If that becomes the case, then it cannot help but raise the question about whether Rangers cost themselves a chance at winning their first Cup in 30 years by not going all-in for Guentzel.
Will the Rangers’ decision not to pay the price and protect their current and future assets end up costing them in a season in which they won the Presidents’ Trophy and are a favorite to win the Cup?
The early returns on Guentzel have been impressive. He assimilated quickly and seamlessly with Carolina, scoring eight goals and dishing out 17 assists for 25 points in his 17 regular-season games with the Canes. And, in the five-game, opening-series win over the Islanders, he had a goal and three assists.
“He was that same player in Pittsburgh,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said of Guentzel on Saturday after practice. “He’s a high-end player, he finds areas, he finds ice. He’s got a way of contributing offensively that’s made him a top offensive player on any team that he’s been on. All he did was change the color of his jersey.’’
So, too, did Evgeny Kuznetsov, who Carolina also acquired at the deadline from the Capitals.
Kuznetsov, who played for Laviolette in Washington, had two goals and five assists in his 20 regular-season games and scored two goals and had two assists in the series win over the Islanders.
But it’s Guentzel who should be the Rangers’ top concern among the newcomers because he adds so much firepower as a complement to leading-scorer Sebastian Aho, as well as Seth Jarvis, Teuvo Teravainen and Martin Necas.
“He’s a cerebral player who knows how to get open and puts up points and is a guy you’ve got to be aware of when he’s on the ice,’’ Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey said.
“He’s smart, gets to the net and creates a lot of offense,’’ Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider said. “He has such a high hockey IQ and he’s a guy that can assimilate himself to any system pretty seamlessly. He’s definitely added a lot to their team.’’
Instead of paying the price for Guentzel, the Rangers acquired Jack Roslovic from Columbus and put him on the line alongside Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. They, too, acquired Alex Wennberg from Seattle and paired him on a line with Kakko and rookie Will Cuylle.
Because he doesn’t have the same scoring pedigree as Guentzel, Roslovic’s numbers since joining the Rangers have predictably been more modest by comparison.
Roslovic had three goals and five assists in 19 regular-season games and had two goals in the series win over Washington, one of them an exquisite rocket into a tight window over the left shoulder of Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren that proved to be the game-winner in Game 2.
Laviolette on Saturday praised Roslovic’s play, particularly pointing to his improvement in the postseason.
“He’s come here and provided what we’re looking for,’’ the Rangers coach said.
“For sure, you always want to be a guy that helps. You don’t want to be a guy that hurts,’’ Roslovic said Saturday. “So, of course there’s some sort of aspect of pressure there.’’
That pressure will be alleviated if the Rangers can survive the Hurricanes and avoid allowing Guentzel to beat them.
Then the score will be exactly as the Rangers want it — both on the arena scoreboards and on that invisible one that measures the impact of midseason acquisitions, too.
