Over the first three years and 44 games of his Rangers career, Jonny Brodzinski’s most common linemates were Barclay Goodrow, Sammy Blais. Julien Gauthier, Ryan Reaves — bottom-sixers by any other appellation.
The life of an emergency call-up.
But for the final two periods of Saturday’s 4-3 victory in Nashville, Brodzinski skated on the right with Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck.
And then on Sunday at the Garden against San Jose, it was Brodzinksi filling the right-wing slot alongside Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.
Four assists later, the 30-year-old journeyman, in his ninth pro season, can be called an NHL top-sixer.
And he is savoring it.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Brodzinksi said after his pair of assists helped the Blueshirts to a messy and entertaining 6-5 victory over a stubborn Sharks team that refused to go away. “I’m just doing the same thing I’ve been doing in Hartford, moving my feet, playing hard and getting pucks to the net.
“It’s a recipe for success.”
It was a recipe for success in Hartford, where Brodzinski was leading the AHL in scoring (11-14-25) when he was recalled after Kaapo Kakko sustained a serious left leg injury last Monday.
When Brodzinski arrived, head coach Peter Laviolette could have given him the usual treatment. He might have stayed with Blake Wheeler to fill out the Kreider-Zibanejad connection. He might have elevated Jimmy Vesey into a top-six role if the coach felt a change was needed.
Instead, Laviolette has given the speedy Brodzinski the opportunity of a career. You know who Brodzinski’s most common linemates were with the Kings, his original NHL club? Adrian Kempe, Andy Andreoff, Jussi Jokinen and Michael Amadio; that’s who.
“We’ve been talking about pushing things offensively, and he was the one guy who did in training camp. He had a really good training camp,” Laviolette said. “He was generating lots of good chances, attempts, pucks to the net, he was doing a lot of good things and does it through his speed and offensive instincts.
“We’re trying to put people in spots where they can be successful and this is a spot for him to come up and show what he can do on the [second] power play and in that kind of a situation and on that type of a line.
“Then it’s up to him. It’s up to people to make the most of opportunities.”
Brodzinski created pace all night. He had the first assist on Zibanejad’s goal from in front off a Kreider centering feed at 16:42 of the first for a 3-2 lead. He came off the bench to keep the puck in at the line to trigger the sequence in which Artemi Panarin completed his hat trick at 4:41 of the third by driving to the net for a rebound for a 5-3 lead.
“[Laviolette] just told me to play my game,” said Brodzinski, who has 21 points (9-12) in 105 NHL career contests. “I think that kind of goes hand-in-hand [with my speed].”
The Rangers extended their lead to 6-3 when K’Andre Miller scored from the right side at 13:04. But they needed Trocheck to win three defensive-zone faceoffs within the final 1:11 to clinch the victory after the Sharks had pulled within 6-5 on a pair of late goals.
This was hardly a buttoned-down affair. Support was hardly a term one would associate with the team’s play in front of a beleaguered Jonathan Quick. Still, though, the Blueshirts persevered. Of course they did.
That is what the team with the NHL’s best record does.
“I don’t know if it was understandable. We’re not making any excuses,” Trocheck, who took 15 of 24 at the dots, said when asked if this loose performance could be traced to the schedule. “It was loose but we can’t make excuses about that, we have back-to-backs all the time in this league and it doesn’t matter who the opponent is.”
The Rangers were not picture perfect but they still drove to the net, they still competed in the dirty areas, they still sent pucks on Mackenzie Blackwood. Panarin got two of his three goals from the blue paint.
“I don’t know; maybe I should change my game,” Panarin said with his trademark smile after boosting his goal total to a club-leading 15. “Because I go to the net twice in my life, and it worked.
“Maybe I have to start listening to the coaches.”
Panarin is listening to the coach. Brodzinski is listening to his coach. They are not alone. The Rangers win on talent. They win by going to the net.
The Rangers are 18-4-1.
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