Really? Honestly??
While the Rangers are clearly not a squad built for a Stanley Cup run, they're certainly not a BAD team. And coming off such a high with a character win in Pittsburgh, did you really expect them to come out flying against a young, shifty Habs team? Oh... you did? oops.
Teams like the Red Wings and the Sharks don't have nights like this. Regardless of how "tired" they may be before playing the second game of a back-to-back, those guys seem to be IN every single game. And even if their scoreboards don't show it, those teams are never dominated in the way Les Habitants de Montreal owned the Blueshirts tonight. Believe me. I watch.
But the panic and the anger and the knee-jerk reactions to every single game this team plays is truly mind-boggling. As "horrible" "disgusting" "embarassing", or "lifeless" this team may have been so far this season (unless they win- where they then play "inspired, "determined", "fun to watch, and are "a top tier team" according to the message boards), they STILL sit at the top of the Eastern Conference (albeit with games in hand). Don't talk to me about how soft their schedule has been so far, or bladdy blah. In this league you have to be PRETTY GOOD to sit at the top of the standings at any point.
In fact, when playing the top teams in this league the Rangers have fared rather nicely. The team has earned
12 out of a possible 16 points in games against the top 8 teams in the East right now. Not to mention that fantastic 4-5 overtime loss to those very Detroit Red Wings earlier this season. That the rangers have LOST another 10 points to the bottom half of the conference already may be of some concern.
Tonight was a case of a tired and (becuase of Wade Redden's injury) depleted New York squad facing a quick, dynamic Canadians team who were fired up from the get-go.. even after a classy, long, ceremony before the puck was dropped. Montreal won every battle to every loose puck tonight, due in large part to the Rangers simply not taking the body AT ALL- an aspect to their game that was so crucial in last night's win.
This is not to give an excuse for what was truly a poor effort all game long. You can be tired and still hustle enough, and play SMART with the puck enough that you make a game competitive even if you didn't bring your best stuff onto the ice that night. This was a hard game to watch, and to put it simply, a few more efforts like this and some changes WILL be made.
Henrik Lundqvist was SO sharp. AGAIN. He was hung out to dry tonight by his defensemen who were seemingly skating in sand. If not for The King, this is an 8-1 drubbing. At LEAST.
Now is the time to pick our heads up, lick our wounds, and get back to work on Sunday against the Flames. Yeah... it's not going to get easier any time soon kids. But the good teams are able to bounce back and get the job done. The true identity of this team is still very much in question, and we may have our answer in the upcoming weeks.
Is Firing Renney really the move that will make this team elite?? You don't fire a coach that has his team in first place unless you're the Devils (we are not like the Devils. And that move didn't even work). He is liked and respected by his players, and his style of play has brought more wins and excitement to The Garden over the last 3+ seasons than we have seen in a long time. How about Perry Pearn, who ADMITS to being in charge of the incompetent Power Play? Lets see a move there first. Still, even he isn't the one missing open nets, or backchecking assignments.
Speaking of which lets get to..
GAME NOTES
- The Montreal fans are fantastic. They cheer EVERYTHING for the ENTIRE game. I could get excited about hockey from simply listening to them. They even stay till the end of a game, not scrambling to catch a train with 10 minutes remaining when the game is well in hand. And, as we know all too well, they can carry their team when 5 men isn't enough. See: 5-0 comeback)
-Find me a team who gets more shots blocked by opposing skaters than the New York Rangers. Do it. You can't. Why does this team have so much trouble getting the puck on the net from the blueline? The answer is SLOWWW passing and a lack of movement in the O-zone. Watch the Red Wings, or even the Pens, pass the puck. It's crisp, hard, and decisions are made quickly. The opposite of how New York plays it.
Yes, the Rangers often-times have ended up outshooting their opponents in games, but that is because lazy wristers from the circle into the goalies chest, and long slapshot dump-ins on net count as SOG's in this game.
- Talk about turnovers. Geez. I know I said they were tired with weary legs, and surely Guy Carbbineau's boys
were clogging up the neutral zone.. but if you want to give them the puck so bad then pick it up and hand it to them. I stopped counting how many horrible outlet passes from the D were picked off by MTL wingers clogging up the area between the blue lines, and WORSE, right inside our own blue!
- I feel like Scott Gomez lost some focus in this game. He was so successful carrying the puck up ice last night, yet when he was stopped for the 2847th time tonight, and attempted the 2848th, it became a bit predictable that he wasn't going to give up the puck. Also had an ugly scrap that the ref's were too embarrassed to give majors out for (they got double-minors), took a bad penalty, and was a BRUTAL -4 on the night.
- How about Petr Prucha mixing it up?? I don't think he saw the ice too much but the kid clearly has fire and wants to stay in the lineup. And stay he should.
- Nik Zherdev is still nasty. What hands. What a pass. If he can learn to actually score on a few more of the chances he creates for himself then we have a budding star on our hands. Still, there are times and places where he shouldn't even try to pull something. This he will have to learn.
- Somebody please put Chris Drury's face on a milk carton.. or a Coors. Still no sign of him. Shortish guy.. has a C on his chest.. reportedly scores big goals. Yeah I don't know either.
- It remains to be seen how long Wade Redden will be out with his lower body injury. This was a problem the Rangers saw coming before the season- a shortage of depth on defense. We no long have Jason Strudwick, so get ready to see Corey Potter. As disappointing as Redden has been so far this season, he had been playing better of late, and he's much better than Corey Potter.
- I like the Markus Naslund signing more and more each day.
- I support a Mats Sundin signing more and more each day.
- Get well soon Blair Betts. <33
STARS..er.. STAR OF THE GAME
1) Henrik Lundqvist. Enough said. Without him this game may have been ridiculous enough to actually be shown on SportsCenter.
Yeah. That's it.
-Rif
2 comments:
Chris Drury will return. It's just a matter of time.
If "Z" finishes that spin move, you could have had the goal of the year.
Under T.R. the Rangers have always rebounded from the occassional awful game. Too many highs and lows in a long season too worry about one or too bad ones.
I loved Renny all along, I thought he was a great coach. He lead the team to consecutive playoff runs as this had been non-existent in recent years.
However I'm at my wit's end with TR. My biggest problem with him is that he jumbles the lines WAY. TOO. MUCH. He will find a good line, they'll produce 1 game, have an off night the next, and BAM new lines. One of the biggest things about playing on an NHL with your linemates is learning how they operate. In a lot of cases linemates LIVE with each other off the ice to just learn their habits. You can't expect success or production if you don't allow your players to learn how to play with each other. I didn't have that much of a problem with trying to find chemistry early in the year, but we are 30 games in to the season and this still happens EVERY GAME.
Dubes-Zherdev-Voros had chemistry. They had 3 down games, bam the line is gone. Gomez-Naslund-Zherdev had chemisty. 2 down games, gone.
What really killed me was seeing the lines last game: 1st line of Gomez, Korpikoski, and Callahan. How are you going to put arguably the best playmaking-puckmover centerman in the game on a line with 2 people who, let's be honest, DON'T HAVE GOOD HANDS. Gomez NEEDS to be centering at least Zherdev or Naslund, at least someone who has the potential to put the puck in the net.
Oh and Renny, stop giving the 4th line so much ice time. Check out who's on the ice every time a goal is scored against. Betts, Sjostrom or Orr is usually out there.
P.S. I'm better than Roszival, he is NOT the #1 D-man and does not deserve that contract he has. Staal has been the best, most consistent and most mature defenseman on the team, along with the youngest.
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