Rangers’ K’Andre Miller elevating game with increased physicality
NY Post
K’Andre Miller is aware that there are no small moments and no insignificant shifts in the playoffs. The 24-year-old defenseman carries a mindset onto the ice this time of year that suits him—and the Rangers — perfectly.
He believes.
“I think the playoffs bring the best out of me. I guess that’s the biggest thing,” Miller told The Post following Thursday’s prep session for Carolina. “I think I play my best hockey and my smartest hockey when these high-intensity games come up.
“I think that’s who I’ve been throughout my career, a big-time player who, when the stage is what it is, I feel I show up and play my best hockey.”
Miller was a dynamic presence on Braden Schneider’s left side on one of his team’s multiple matchup pairs in the sweep of the Caps in the compulsories. The defenseman was typically on his toes in joining the play, and he did score a spectacular shorthanded goal in Game 2 as the trailer on a three-on-two.
But the 6-foot-5, 215-pounder was also more physically engaged both playing the puck and man in battle areas but responding and stepping in when things might have gotten out of hand in the endless number of goalmouth scrums that accompanied whistles. Miller stepped up to handle Tom Wilson in Game 1 and T.J. Oshie in Game 2.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Knicks could not fully salvage a two-way clunker Saturday night, and their longest winning streak of the season is history.
If Brian Daboll will be fighting to keep his job across these next seven weeks, it is not lost on Tommy DeVito that he is the one who has been entrusted to help his coach save it.
Kevin Shattenkirk is 35, a Stanley Cup champion and now a father of three with his wife, Deanna, after having a second daughter in September.
SALT LAKE CITY — An encouraging upgrade in his availability status didn’t result in Miles McBride’s return to the Knicks lineup.
This is pretty much the deal.
Uncertainty has followed Zion Williamson off the court.
SALT LAKE CITY — The “Dimes” nickname is open in New York now that quarterback Daniel Jones has been released by the Giants, and perhaps it can be a fitting team-wide moniker in another sport.
General Curtis LeMay: “You’re in a pretty big fix, Mr. President.”
Last spring’s ultimate defeat, coming on top of a quite similar one 24 months earlier, should have proved once and for all that the Rangers’ skill game, impressive at it at may be in spurts, does not overcome their physicality deficiency at the final-four level.
Jon Berti, who started three postseason games at first base for the Yankees when Anthony Rizzo was out with fractured fingers, was non-tendered by the team prior to Friday’s deadline, as was left-hander Tim Mayza.
CALGARY, Alberta — The Rangers needed just 16 seconds to get back into a game they had no business being in over halfway through.