TAMPA, Fla. — Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe not.
But young Rangers defenseman John Moore has suddenly come to life at the start of this five-game road trip, and his awakening perfectly coincides with the return of Michael Del Zotto to the lineup — as well as his spot alongside Moore on the third pair.
It was Thursday in Dallas when Del Zotto returned from his three-game hiatus, being made a healthy scratch by coach Alain Vigneault in hopes of waking up the 23-year-old. Yet it was Moore who took most advantage, scoring his second goal of the season when he converted a great cross-ice pass from Derick Brassard and buried a third-period wrist shot, a goal that held up as the game winner in a 3-2 win over the Stars.
“Can’t take too much credit for that goal — that was a hell of a pass from Brass,” Moore said at Friday’s practice preceding the Rangers 2-0 triumph over the Predators in Nashville on Saturday. “I teed off from the ladies’ tee there. Great screen, too. It’s one of those things where it feels good to help the team.”
Moore, who turned 23 last Tuesday, has played every game this season, and yet was starting to look like a possibility to sit and watch as recently as last week. Without Del Zotto, he played those three games paired with the lumbering Justin Falk, a player who Vigneault touted as having a “safe game.”
“I kind of got away from my game a little bit in the beginning part of the year,” said Moore, who was part of the trade last season that sent Marian Gaborik to Columbus. “It’s something the coaches have addressed with me and challenged me. When I’m skating and getting up in the offense, that’s when I’m at my best. It definitely felt good to see that one go in.”
He wasn’t the only one. Vigneault knows he has a talent in Moore, and yet it has been one of the more challenging coaching situations he has run into in his first year in New York. Although Moore played well last season in the wake of the trade, now he has had time to settle in, and things are not going quite as swimmingly.
“He’s one of our defenseman that I believe — when we talk about the ability to move the puck and skate the puck and get up in the play — he’s one of those guys that’s got more,” Vigneault said. “I don’t think when you play, you say, ‘I have to go out there and give more offense’ or ‘I have to be better defensively.’ You just go out and you try to play.”
So it’s with Del Zotto, a very offensive-minded defenseman in his own right, that Moore has begun to excel. He played 11:36 in Nashville, and was actually the steadying defensive force of that pairing, as Del Zotto had a rather tumultuous go of it for the first two periods.
And the Rangers, who have eked over the .500 mark at 12-11-0, are going to need Moore to continue to grow as a player and take advantage of opportunities, just as he did in Dallas.
“Probably some of those possibilities or opportunities he didn’t see or realize and recognize them quick enough,” Vigneault said. “As you get more experienced, you can analyze things a little bit quicker and jump on them. Hopefully, that’s what he’ll be able to do for us.”
Forward Taylor Pyatt joined the team in Tampa, where the Rangers will meet the Lightning on Monday night, after missing the previous seven games due to a concussion sustained on a hit from the Blue Jackets’ Fedor Tyutin on Nov. 7. Pyatt has been skating in New York for the past couple days, and it’s uncertain if he’ll be ready to play on Monday.
If and when Pyatt can go, the most likely candidate to come out would be Benoit Pouliot, who played a team-low 8:48 on Saturday. J.T. Miller, the 20-year-old winger, has also been a healthy scratch for the past three games.