The Blueshirts OUTPLAYED their Montreal-ian counterparts in tonight's tilt. They out-shot them (39-25), out-chanced them, and out-hustled the Canadians for most of the game.
But they didn't out-score them, and as buzzer sounded after 60 minutes, the scoreboard read 6-3 Montreal.
At the end of the day, the Rangers will have to look at this game in terms of positives and negatives. Some things need to be completely fixed. Others just need to be slightly adjusted. Then there are the things that are out of the control of Tom Renney & Co.
Nonetheless, this game- unlike many other New York losses, provided some positives, and things that should be highlighted as the team picks up and moves forward.
THE BAD
- -The officiating. Very rarely will Tom Renney even mention poor referee-ing in his post-game interviews. Tonight was one of those rare times. He has a case ladies and gentlemen. And I'm not talking so much the penalties against the Rangers- Gomez's call (which gave MON a 5-on-3) was blatantly obvious. And the other calls, from what I remember, were just lazy fouls by Rangers. The concern lies in the lack of penalties called the other way- until the final minute at least. Montreal interfered with the skating of numerous blueshirts, kept their arms up on hits, and laid slashes on the arms of NY players repeatedly (most notably on Paul Mara) without being reprimanded. Calls seemed to be very one sided while the game was on the line.
- -Henrik Lundqvist did not have himself an all-star-esque performance tonight. The King was vulnerable from the start of this game, and at least two of the goals should be pinned directly on him. The first goal was the result of him turning the puck over behind his net, which was then fed into the slot to an unmarked Alex Kovalev (that part is Rozsival's fault) who fired it into the open net.
Still, one has to wonder when will Hank learn that he is a New York Ranger goalie. Take a note from Mike Richter and DO NOT HANDLE THE PUCK. Stay in your Hechting (Jochen Hecht= my least favorite hockey player ever. Replaces my curse words.) crease and just stop that black disk when it's headed toward the cage!
The only other problem is that the Henry didn't do much of that disk-stopping either tonight.
The other goal that was clearly falls on #30 was Montreal's 2nd goal, in which he kicked a loonngg slapshot right back into the slot, where it was plucked by Guillaume Latendresse, and finished UP HIGH over his shoulder. The same UP HIGH where another 3 goals on the night were put past Lundqvist.
There has to be SOME concern building about Hank's play of late. The backstop has allowed 4 goals or more in 6 of his last 11 starts. That is a very ugly statistic.
Hey, he may actually be able to stay home and rest during the all-star break after all if NHL Network analysts' predictions are correct. Despite Henrik's struggles, I hope they're wrong.
-- Aaron Voros. OK. I have seen enough, please bring back Lauri Korpikoski, or at least give Dan Fritsche a chance in place of this guy. What a waste of space. Tonight his lack of foot speed was abused by Hab players, and his poor decisions with the puck, and lack of actually doing anything productive on the forecheck (he even took a totally unnecessary hooking penalty on the forecheck) cost his line numerous scoring opportunities. I can't count the amount of times he took himself out of a play while trying to finish a check that he wound up missing anyway. At least the other guys have some speed, skill, and much more potential.
-- Put me down for officially supporting a benching/skyboxing of Brandon Dubinsky. I don't question the kid's hustle or desire, but he needs to contribute offensively at some point. Sit him. Light a fire under him. He looks lost in the offensive zone. Prucha doesn't score for 3 games and he's scratched.. Duby hasn't finished in 18, and has just 1 goal in his last 33. Ew.
-- Ranger defensemen were beaten routinely in 1-on-1 situations on the ice tonight. Though only one goal came as the direct result of a d-man's failure to play a Hab player's body instead of the puck (Lang's 2nd goal and game breaker), other such plays resulted in big chances and penalties against. New York blueliners were also guilty of being absolutely brutal with the puck today, unable to keep the puck and pressure in the offensive zone on numerous occasions, and failing to clear the puck from trouble in Hank's territory even more often.
-- Alex Kovalev scored for the Habs. What the hell Alex? Your tantalizing potential that you could never reach here was painful enough. Stop scoring goals on us.
The Not-Bad/Good
-- The Montreal Canadiens are fast. Very fast. But the good news is that the Rangers clearly kept up with their opponents, and even out skated them for long stretches of time, especially with the game 3-2 during the third period. The Rangers trouble, again, was when it came to finishing plays and putting the biscuit in the basket. They had their chances for sure, but just couldn't get the puck past a not-so-sharp Jaroslav Halak when they needed it most.
-- Petr Prucha continues to play hard, win battles, and find the scoresheet. Mark another assist for the Pruchster, in another game in which he was all over the ice. The kid hits, wins battles on the boards, leads the rush, and his meshing beautifully with Chris Drury and Nigel Dawes. The chemistry between these 3 is very, very noticeable and encouraging. They have been the Rangers best line since Prucha has returned to the lineup.
-- 9 (nine) different Rangers registered a point in this game. I'm not really sure what it means, but I like it. Maybe it's a sign that the lineup is at least balanced offensively. Still, it would be nice to see the offense explode with a whole bunch of goals at some point.
-- Mats Sundin went scoreless with no shots on goal in his debut with the Vancouver Canucks. At least we aren't dealing with the headache of that guy not helping the team and the circus that comes with him.
While I have described a few more negatives from this game in this post than positives, I reiterate that some of the negatives, such as Henrik's play, and questionable officiating, are not really consistent problems for this team in the long run. I think the Rangers out-played Montreal tonight. And while I do believe that earning the two points in this game would have been very positive for this team, not getting the points certainly does not break them. I wasn't TOO upset with this loss. A strong performance in the game is sufficient to me for now.
So, the question remains, AGAIN, whether or not the team can build on their strong, effort-filled showings going into their next game. Will they realize that they can play against some top notch competition? Or will they remain inconsistent and identity-less? This kind of loss will not be the kind of game that will help this team turn a corner and go on a tear, but at least it was a 2nd solid effort in a row. Now build on that.
Next up is a tough, gritty Buffalo Sabres squad. Only 5 more games before the All-Star break. Where does this roller-coaster take us next?
-Rif
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