The New York Rangers have had their stars Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin playing like such through the start of the 2022-23 NHL season.
Yet their recent two-game winning streak came on the road and with key contributions from lesser-known talents that have stepped up at just the right time. Due to a series of injuries and overall play, Julien Gauthier and Zac Jones have successfully shown their overall skillset as a big reason for the Rangers’ recent success.
Jones, the 22-year-old former third-round pick scored his first NHL goal in Dallas on Saturday en route to New York’s 6-3 win. A +1 rating in Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes did even more to help the team’s confidence in their young talent.
“It was obviously great to help out in the win anyways possible. Scoring which was my first one was pretty special.” Zac Jones told AMNY Tuesday. “It felt good.”
Along with fellow defenseman Braden Schneider, Jones was part of a youthful third period in Dallas that helped double up a Stars team that, at the time, was at the top of the Western Conference. While not normally known for scoring, the work Jones and Schneider have done over the weekend has been in the works for a while now.
“It’s just cause of the situation. I mean when the time comes, the time comes. Sometimes we’re in the D-Zone a lot, some games we’re more in the O-Zone. We’ll take every offensive chance we get.” Jones said.
Braden Schneider and Zac Jones aren’t the only players who have helped step up though. With the injury to Vitali Kravtsov, Julien Gauthier has been called up from the AHL to provide speed, physicality, and scoring opportunities to a bottom-six unit that is expected to be more defensive.
Since Gauthier’s arrival though, the bottom six have actually helped more on the offensive end in the last two games. Gauthier’s diving goal against Dallas ended up putting the game away for the Rangers.
“He’s playing fast and exactly what we expected. He scored a great goal the other night so his confidence is high and he feels good about his game and we’re happy about it.” Gerard Gallant told reporters.
Gauthier, Jones, and Schneider are going to be key pieces to the Rangers’ puzzle if they hope to make another run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If New York continues to get production similar to what they received from their young, unsung heroes, then the Rangers will be in a much better position to succeed in a loaded Metropolitan division.
