After an uninspiring loss like the one suffered tonight against the up-swinging Carolina Hurricanes, it is easy to feel disheartened and pessimistic about the Rangers' chances of getting into the post-season. After all, it is these very Hurricanes whom the Blueshirts are battling for the remaining playoff spots.
After falling out of the top 8 in the Eastern Conference, it is easy to foresee this team never regaining a position that would grant them a ticket for a post-season trip.
And after such a frustrating defeat, it is easy to forget a spirited and hard-fought win against Boston the previous evening.
The Rangers played about a period and a half of strong, hard-skating hockey tonight, before the effects of last night's tilt began to weigh in on NYR skaters. At that point, legs became weary, strides shorter, hits fewer, and shots invisible.
Tortorella's club simply ran out of gas against a fast, hard-working Carolina team.
I'll go further into that in the GAME NOTES which will follow shortly..
Now if you look to the right of this column... go ahead and look... you will see the current Eastern Conference standings, where the Rangers currently sit 9th (AKA the first team out).
While first glance at that chart is very depressing, one must look deeper into the numbers to see the whole truth.
The Rangers have 15 games remaining. Of those 15 games, 11 are against teams that currently sit ahead of them in the standings. 9 of THOSE are against the five teams whom they have a chance of catching in the East (including 4 games vs PHI , 2 vs MON, 1 vs CAR, 1 vs BUF, 1 vs PIT).
While so many games against tough opponents may be concerning to some fans, the fact is that the Rangers' schedule could not be better for a team who is chasing a playoff spot this season.
First of all, head-to-head games against said teams provide NYR with an opportunity to not only gain points in the standings, but prevent their opponents from attaining those same points. These are known as "4-point games".
Most importantly, if the Rangers can not deal with (WIN) their difficult remaining schedule, they do not belong in the Cup Chase to begin with. These are the very teams whom the Blueshirts will have to face and defeat in order to sip from Lord Stanley's Cup. If they can't beat these teams NOW, they certainly won't do so in a seven game series.
There will be no sneaking into the post-season for New York this year- They will have to earn their place. The fact is that the fate of the Rangers' season remains in their own hands.
They just have to win.
I figure a 7-4-4 record through the final 15 games (which would put the Rangers at 94 points) should be sufficient to achieve a post-season birth.
Now being a Ranger fan in these deciding days is not going to be easy. Knowing this team, it is going to be a very bumpy ride one way or the other.
True Blue Ranger fans tend to ride so high on each win, and crash and burn so hard with each loss. With the standings as tight as they are, it is just too early to bank a season on any ONE game. Even with just fifteen games remaining in the season, SO MUCH can happen to alter the shape of the standings.
So buckle up Garden Faithful, it's going to be a hell of a ride.
GAME NOTES
(Some Boston, Some Carolina)
In Boston...
- Bruin's goalie Manny Fernandez was flat out brutal. 3 of the 4 Blueshirt goals Sunday afternoon were a direct result of Manny's inability to be a good goaltender. Having said that, it was very encouraging to see that the Rangers noticed this, and thus fired pucks from all angles at the Bruin cage. Overall though, if the Rangers were playing against a goalie who doesn't wet the bed, they may well have lost that game.
-Scratch that. The Rangers almost lost that game ANYWAY. If Henrik Lundqvist wasn't as ridiculous of a goaltender as he is good looking, the Blueshirts would have been in big trouble. The King made big stops on numerous Bruin break-ins while the game was hanging in the balance. I don't care if I say it during every game wrap- Henrik Lundqvist is the best goalie in the world.
- The Rangers' forecheck was impeccable... for two periods. At that point, NYR ran out of gas, and thus Boston was able to dictate most of the play in the final frame. Still, for two periods, Ranger hustle and execution was a pleasure to watch.
- The Ranger PP looked fresh and good. Notice the movement with AND AWAY from the puck, and the quick shots propelled toward the net. This is how you score on the Power Play, and the Blueshirts did so.
-Why do the Rangers suck so badly 4-on-4??
- Sean Avery is home. Anybody else notice Avery become a little emotional on the bench while hearing his name cheered at MSG after his assist? He adds that gritty dimension to this team that was clearly missing all season long. I'm glad he's back to his usual yapping self, though perhaps a little more reserved and disciplined.
- I think Avery put it best when he said, "Even a mild Sean Avery is not that mild."
-While Sean Avery's interference at the end of the game was clearly a penalty, why was it NOT a penalty when Scott Gomez was the man being checked away from the puck just minutes earlier? Oh yeah... it's Sean Avery who committed the infraction. That's why.
-Nik Antropov can shoot. That is a big Kazakh man. VERY NICE!
-Where have you gone, Dan Girardi. The usually steady blueliner has been exposed by opposing offenses in recent weeks. I don't know if it's a lack of confidence, an injury, or just the wear and tear of the season, but Girardi must step his game up.
- It was a pleasure to not watch the Rangers fold after giving up their two goal lead so early in the 3rd. Instead of putting their heads down, Tortorella had his group push forward. If Tom Renney is still coaching, Marc Staal never leads that rush up ice that became the game-winning goal.
In Carolina...
- Some people wonder why I bash Steve Valiquette. This is game is why. When Sean Avery signed with Dallas, Valiquette made some remarks about him, to which Sean responded, "he's a minor leaguer" (Sean Avery is fun to quote- give that man a camera! Just Kidding, Sean.)
Valiquette overplayed the pass on the first Hurricane goal, and even when Wade Redden broke up the 2-on-1 pass, Valli was too busy out of position on his butt to cover up the slowly sliding puck. which sat tantalizingly near the goal line for seconds before being knocked in by a Cane. On the 2nd goal, Valli was just too deep in his crease to have a proper angle on Brind'Amor's shot. One nice save in the 3rd period of a 2-0 game isn't enough to hide the fact that his rebound control was awful all night, and he isn't capable of winning important hockey games for this team.
John Tortorella's aggressive scheme is one that concedes a number of scoring chances against in a hockey game. For this tactic to remain successful, NYR skaters must be confident enough in their goaltender that they are willing to rush up-ice, and risk a decent scoring chance against. With Henrik Lundqvist in net, this is plausible. The Rangers simply can not have that same confidence when they look back and see lanky #40 in net.
I'm sorry you have the flu, Henrik, but we needed you in this important tilt- if not only for moral support. GET HEALTHY NOW.
- In Valli's defense, Tort's system also requires some goal scoring in order to work. The Rangers were an Epic Fail tonight in that department. It doesn't matter if it's Mike Richter or Mike Dunham in your net. If you don't score, you're not going to win.
- The pairing of Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden must be separated NOW. These two have no chemistry, no heart, and no talent. They are SLOW and LAZY individually, and two wrongs do not make a right.
- The next time Chris Drury breaks into a zone and looks only for the pass, I am going to snap. Drury has been better in recent games, but still M.I.A. is captain CLUTCH.
- Nik Antropov. If you continue to turn down shooting opportunities for passes to people outside of the circles, you are going to become a very unpopular person at MSG. Skate your huge ass down the slot and rip that shot son.
- As good as the Rangers were at getting shots through to the net against Boston, they were Hechting brutal tonight. The reason: They took too damn long to shoot! When you hesitate before blasting the biscuit, you give the opposing skaters, not to mention the goalie, time to adjust to your positioning and block your shot. Shoot faster, and HARDER.
- So Tortorella went back to the basics in practice with some shooting drills, I think next up is PASSING. I stopped counting how many turnovers were made by Rangers with the puck today, most notably while making the all-important first pass out of the defensive zone. Every NYR pass was put into a skate, out of reach, hopped over a stick, went directly to the other team, or was simply sent to nobody. The puck movement was simply atrocious.
-I've always been told by coaches that the worst place to commit a turnover is in the neutral zone, just outside the opposing blueline. The Rangers committed that very turnover countless times in this game.
-When you take terrible passing and add with it slow decisions and easily blocked shots, you get an awful Power Play. Tonight, it cost the Rangers the game.
- I saw this coming with the acquisition of Sean Avery. I'm talking, of corse, about the fact that Avery is a marker man in the NHL. Any borderline infraction, or opposing player taking a spill while Sean is on the ice will result in a penalty called against #16. He has lost the benefit of the doubt in the eyes of the zebras. He loses an edge and slides into an opposing player, call it tripping on "SIXTEEN NEW YORK". On the other end, a Carolina player goes barreling into Valiquette, and it goes uncalled. If that Hurricane is Sean Avery of New York going into Cam Ward, Avery gets AT LEAST two minutes for goaltender interference. It's unfair, but this is how it's going to be so long as Sean Avery plays in this league.
- The Fourth Line hardly saw the ice in the 3rd period tonight. Thank God.
-The Rangers STILL suck 4-on-4. Yet another goal allowed- I have to find some stats on that.
-Markus Naslund needs his ice time reduced. He looks slow and tired right now, and he has been far from productive of late. I expect Torts to notice this and take action.
- Did I mention that the Power Play really blew this one?
And with this loss comes the end of the Ranger's 3-game winning streak. While a win in this game would have created some real momentum, and would have provided some breathing space in the playoff race, the loss must be taken in stride.
There's a lot of hockey to be played, and the Ranger's fate remains in their own hands.
Win, and you're in. It's just that easy.
-Rif
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