Pavel Dorofeyev Is NY Rangers Bright Spot in Disaster vs. Devils

There wasn’t much for the New York Rangers to get excited about during their game against the New Jersey Devils.

With 30 seconds remaining in the first period, following a giveaway by J.T. Miller in the defensive zone, the Devils were able to score the first goal of the game when Evan Rodrigues beat Dylan Garand.

That ended up being the start of an avalanche against the Rangers. 18 seconds into the second period, Luke Hughes scored New Jersey’s second goal of the evening. Not even four minutes later, the Devils lit the lamp again when Nico Hischier scored his fourth goal of the season.

31 seconds later, it was Arseny Gritsyuk who scored, ending the night of Garand early. He stopped only nine out of the 13 shots he faced, and his backup, Spencer Martin, didn’t fare much better, allowing three goals in a 7-1 blowout loss.

Pavel Dorofeyev snaps goal-less streak

This is game tape that head coach Mike Sullivan can just throw out and chalk up as a one-off. However, there was one positive to take away from the performance: Pavel Dorofeyev got back on the score sheet.

There has been a lot of discussion about the lack of offensive output he has had early in his tenure with New York. He had gone six consecutive games without scoring a goal, recording only one assist over that span.

Dorofeyev has seen his role change in the last few games. Looking to get him on track, Sullivan changed which line he was on during even-strength, 5-on-5 play, elevating him to the first line alongside Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault, flipping spots with Alexis Lafreniere.

Sullivan also changed his role on the power play. Dorofeyev was moved to the second unit for two games, but was changed back to the first unit against the Devils. However, his position on the unit changed, as he went from a right flank to a bumper spot.

It paid off, with the team’s only goal of the game coming courtesy of their highly paid winger. On the power play, Dorofeyev found the back of the net on a deflection, with assists from Lafreniere and defenseman Adam Fox for his second goal of the season.

The end result of the game certainly isn’t what the Rangers had hoped for, but it had to be nice to see Dorofeyev finally score. That should take some of the pressure off him, and hopefully he can start stacking goals in the coming games.

He was brought to the team to elevate the offense and the adjustment on the power play, where he thrived with the Vegas Golden Knights, worked for at least one night.