TORONTO — Just because a season is lost doesn’t mean it’s worthless. One of the silver linings of a year like the one the New York Rangers are experiencing is that there’s no reason not to take a look at young players.
On Wednesday, it was 21-year-old Adam Sýkora’s turn to debut. After 201 AHL regular-season games since the end of the 2022-23 season, the bubbly prospect got to experience his rookie lap and first NHL game. It was a deserved moment for a player who has both improved his game and kept a positive attitude throughout his entire professional experience.
“I thought he was great,” said coach Mike Sullivan, who played Sýkora 13:33 in a 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. “His speed was evident. He made a couple of nice wall plays. Didn’t panic with the puck. He made good decisions at the lines. Didn’t force things that weren’t there. I thought he made an impact.”
The Rangers recalled Sýkora, a 2022 second-round pick from Slovakia, on Tuesday. The coaching staff told him he was in the lineup Wednesday morning. They decided to play him on a middle-six line with Will Cuylle and Vincent Trocheck, a decision Sýkora said left him “super without words” due to excitement.
“I just want to bring them some energy, some juice and be on good forecheck and have a good stick and help them to have a good game,” the winger said.
Sýkora stayed loose during warm-ups, chest-bumping Jaroslav Chmelař, his roommate when they’re both with AHL Hartford. It’s part of their routine while with the Wolf Pack and settled some of his nerves. He also caught up with former Hartford teammate turned Leafs forward Bo Groulx, who wished him luck at the red line.
While in the AHL, Sýkora gained a reputation as someone who would never cheat from a work ethic perspective. Chmelař compared him to the Energizer Bunny, saying “he never gets tired.” The Rangers got a sense of what Chmelař meant Wednesday: Sýkora worked to get to the front of the net from his first shift and finished the game with three shots.
“That’s part of my game,” he said. “Coaches in Hartford want me to do that all the time. It’s a good spot to score. Sometimes you get a cross-check, too, but it’s part of the game, and I try to be there all the time.”
Sýkora thought he, Trocheck and Cuylle had “great chemistry.” Though he was on the ice for a pair of goals against, the Rangers held 62.76 percent of the five-on-five expected goal share with him playing at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick.
While playing in the AHL for nearly three full seasons before his debut, Sýkora saw plenty of teammates get their chance to debut. He said he’s cheered for everyone who has gotten the opportunity. That approach exemplifies why teammates in Hartford appreciate him so much and why they were so happy at his call-up.
“My happiness for him is through the roof,” Chmelař said. “He’s the best person I’ve met.”
“Every day you come in with a smile, today I’m smiling for you,” teammate Anton Blidh posted on X during the game.
It was a feel-good moment in a Rangers season that hasn’t had many of them — one that Sýkora was still processing after the game.
“Maybe after a couple hours as I settle my body down and get my nervous system back, (it will set in),” he said.
Here are other Rangers takeaways from Toronto, where they played an overall solid game — leading 43-18 in shots — but were burned by rush chances on three Toronto goals.
Defensive pair decisions
Sullivan doesn’t want to use right-shot defensemen Will Borgen or Braden Schneider on the left side. Earlier this week, he said it doesn’t put either in a position to be successful. But he started the two as a pair together Wednesday, with Borgen on the left and Schneider on his right, telling reporters he did it out of necessity.
“The reality is, when we put Will or Schneids on the left side, we would get what we deem our top four defensemen in the top four,” he said.
It didn’t last long. Schneider and Borgen were on the ice for a goal against early. Conor Sheary dove for a puck in the neutral zone and didn’t get to his feet in time to prevent a three-on-two rush. Max Domi carried possession into the Leafs’ offensive zone, then moved the puck to Nick Robertson when Schneider and Borgen converged on him. He beat Igor Shesterkin with a shot under his right pad.
Sullivan switched his pairs to start the second, putting Schneider mostly with Matthew Robertson and Borgen primarily with Vincent Iorio.
“We had a discussion in between periods as a coaching staff, and we thought it would be better if we split it up,” he said. “We had our reasons on why we did it.”
Iorio is a right-shot defenseman, too, so someone still had to play on their off side. Borgen, playing on his left in the second period, committed a dangerous turnover in front of his net. Nick Robertson grabbed the puck alone in front of Shesterkin, who made the save.
Borgen also had an injury scare after blocking a shot with his leg late in the third period. He needed help to the bench but did not go back to the dressing room early and seemed OK after the game.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, there might not be a perfect solution to balance the defensive pairs. If Sullivan wants Borgen and Schneider in the top four, one has to play on the left. And if one — likely Borgen — plays on the third pair, Matthew Robertson has to take on more responsibility in a second-pair role than he’s probably ready for. It’s the reality of the Rangers’ roster: Some holes won’t be filled until the offseason at the earliest.
Rookie Drew Fortescue, who signed out of Boston College over the weekend and is a left shot, was the only defenseman healthy scratched Wednesday. Sullivan previously said he anticipates the 20-year-old getting in games before the season is done. That time might be nearing, especially considering Sullivan’s left shot-right shot conundrum.
Matthew Robertson likely isn’t quite ready for second-pairing minutes despite shuffling above him in the depth chart. (John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images)
Penalty kill produces strong night
The Rangers’ penalty kill might finally be coming out of a woeful stretch. Heading into the Toronto game, New York had allowed power-play goals in six consecutive games. After Sunday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, Sullivan called it “a major issue of late.”
It was much better against the Leafs. The Rangers allowed only two shots on four Toronto power plays.
“I thought we were much more aggressive,” Sullivan said. “We were pressuring pucks, we made the entries tougher, we picked a couple pucks off on the entries. When they did gain access to the zone, we put them under pressure. We made them work for possession, and that’s an important part of our kill.”
“We’re getting to them and eliminating more time,” captain J.T. Miller added. “Maybe a little more swagger back in that department right now.”
Discipline has contributed to the team’s power-play struggles. The Rangers gave the Ottawa Senators seven power plays in a disastrous Monday showing.
“I thought we did a much better job (with discipline), but part of it is because I thought we controlled play a little more, so we’re not defending as much,” Sullivan said. “When you look at the types of infractions, usually they occur when you’re defending.”
Top line finds footing
The top line of Gabe Perreault, Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafrenière had cooled a bit after a strong stretch of games following the Olympic break. They failed to break 50 percent in five-on-five expected goal share in the three games before Toronto, per Natural Stat Trick.
“Just from a generating scoring chance standpoint, they haven’t generated as much as they were,” Sullivan said. “But I think when you look at lines over the course of time, they tend to go through those types of ebbs and flows. … We still like what those guys have done, as far as how they’re playing the game and where their intentions are.”
The trio looked far more dynamic against the Maple Leafs, culminating in a nifty set of passes — Lafrenière to Perreault to Zibanejad for a net-front goal — to bring the Rangers within a goal in the third period. The Rangers had 71.85 percent of the expected goal share with those three on the ice at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick.
Lafrenière and Zibanejad also showed off their chemistry on the power play. Lafrenière zipped Zibanejad a pass to set up a perfect one-timer in the second period.
