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Zac Jones was on the attack with the puck on his stick. That made him an exception to the Rangers’ rule during Thursday’s 6-1 Garden defeat against the Sabres in which ennui served as the club’s most notable emotion.
Head coach Peter Laviolette noticed it.
“I thought he was real good,” Laviolette said Friday before the flight to Detroit for Saturday’s third and final match of the season against the Red Wings. “Trying to pull some positive with some players, the puck was on his stick, he was trying to dictate the game, he was trying to impose his will on the game.”
The 24-year-old is fighting for a regular spot in the lineup in what is his fifth year in the organization after coming out of UMass for the final 10 games of the 2020-21, COVID-impacted season, at which time the Rangers defense had been decimated by injury.
Jones was in the lineup for the first four games, partnering with Victor Mancini before sitting out five of the next six games primarily to accommodate Ryan Lindgren’s return to the active roster.
But No. 6 has played the last two games with Braden Schneider and is slated to be on the third pair in Detroit.
Thursday, his drive from the slot off his rush deflected off Will Cuylle for the club’s only goal. Jones was also assertive on the second power-play unit in 2:45 of time with the man advantage.
The Jones-Schneider pair had an 81.88 expected goal share in 12:12 of ice time and was plus-one on a night where the K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba tandem was minus-three with an almost impossible 1.36 xGF and the Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox duo was minus-two albeit with a 65.68 xGF.
“They were OK last night,” Laviolette said of the pairing. “I thought they had a decent game.”
In comparison to just about everyone else, that’s high praise.
Lindgren, though, continued to struggle in his seventh game back after missing nearly all of training camp and the first couple of weeks of the season with a jaw injury that required surgery following his Sept. 24 fight with Scott Mayfield.
Since he returned, the combative No. 55 has been wearing a bubble mask that’s reminiscent of the Apollo astronauts. You know, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gordo Cooper.
“I think it’s hard to isolate anybody and talk about them after last night’s game and after a few games the last couple of weeks,” Laviolette said. “It’s a big bus we all can get on and just say it’s not good enough.
“I think he’s still working his way back and is still dealing with that cage on his face. He’s been working every day to get back up to speed from an injury that took him out for a substantial time. And also dealing with that on his face and how he plays the game, it can be a little hindrance at times.
“But he’s battling through it and working through it and is giving us what he can. He’ll continue to do that and eventually will get up to speed where he wants to be and where he needs to be.”
After the lines were jumbled Thursday while Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko were benched for a large portion of the third period, Laviolette reunited the Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko unit (nine goals for, zero against, 62.80 xGF in 102:40) at Friday’s practice.
Mika Zibanejad skated between Artemi Panarin and Lafreniere while Chris Kreider moved to the left side on the line with Vincent Trocheck in the middle and Reilly Smith on the right.
The Adam Edstrom-Sam Carrick-Jimmy Vesey unit remained intact.
