David Quinn delivers message by benching Pavel Buchnevich
The lesson to Pavel Buchnevich in the wake of his one-game scratch (for now) was that his understanding of what it means to work hard needed to change.
That was the message sent by first-year head coach David Quinn after putting the 23-year-old Russian winger in street clothes for the 3-2 shootout victory over the Avalanche on Tuesday at the Garden.
“You don’t want to teach people it’s OK not to play hard, no matter how old you are,” Quinn said. “I think the biggest things for guys as they continue to get older is changing their definition of what trying hard is. I think [Buchnevich] is not unlike any 23-year-old, he’s got to continue to work on that. And he is. He’s not consciously going out there thinking he’s not going to try hard.
“I think it’s just a process for every young player. I think it’s a major hurdle for any young player to change your definition of what hard work is.”
It was presumed Buchnevich was going to be scratched after he struggled through the first five games, with Quinn sitting him for the final 8:35 of the third period in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Oilers. So this was a continuance of the coach’s early insistence on accountability.
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“This guy is a talented player,” Quinn said. “I think what he and I have talked about is we just need more out of him consistently. He’s got an awful lot of talent and skill, but that’s not going to get you a lot of production offensively if you don’t do the other things you need to do offensively. It’s not just him, it’s our team in general. “We have to have more of a grit element to our game offensively, we have to get to the net, there has to be less BS to our game offensively. We have to have more of a shooters’ mentality. He and I talked about that. I think it’ll good for him to sit and watch. Again, he’s a guy that has an awful lot of talent and skill, but there’s more to this game than that.”
Henrik Lundqvist (31 saves) was terrific in his fifth start of the first six games, and there is a possibility he could complete the back-to-back on Wednesday night against the Capitals in Washington. After that, the Rangers don’t play again until Sunday.
But Quinn wouldn’t disclose if it would be Lundqvist or second-year backup Alex Georgiev, and for good reason.
“I do not care to [disclose],” Quinn said, “because I don’t know.”
Quinn was rather short in his evaluation of Filip Chytil’s first game on the wing this season after the 19-year-old played a season-high 20:08 and registered a plus 1 rating while alongside Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello.
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“Chytil was good,” Quinn said. “He did a good job.”
Defenseman Neal Pionk was solid in his return to the lineup following two straight scratches, putting four shots on goal in an assertive 21:38 of ice time mostly alongside Brady Skjei. Pionk replaced fellow right-handed shot Adam McQuaid, who spent the first five games ostensibly on the first pair with Skjei.
Sitting out his second in a row and fourth of the first six was defenseman Tony DeAngelo. Time for a reminder that DeAngelo, who will turn 23 on Oct. 24, cannot be sent to AHL Hartford without clearing waivers, which would be very unlikely.