The Good: How good is Derek Stepan? You can just tell that the game has really slowed down for him. For all the crap he got in the beginning of the season being stuck on the fourth line, Stepan has really turned heads with his stellar play. Anisimov did set up both of the first two Ranger goals, first pressuring Gonchar into a turnover right to Stepan who quickly found Gaborik. On the Rangers second goal, Stepan forced rookie defenseman Rundblad into a terrible turnover behind the net, the puck found its way to a driving Anisimov, and following a save by Anderson, left a rebound right in front of the net for Stepan to bury. The third Ranger goal was all Gaborik. With Gaborik and Stepan coming down ice on a 2 on 1, a flatfooted Rundblad chose to play the pass instead of stepping up to the man with the puck and Gaborik made him pay. Also, Anderson was cheating a little too much towards Stepan and left the entire short side of the net open.
The Bad: Not a great start to the first period outshot at one point 8-1 and had just 4 shots on goal total through roughly 28 minutes of the game, although the Rangers should be used to that early this season. On Ottawa's first goal, there needed to be more bodies backchecking for the Rangers as the Sens had four guys at or below the dots to the Rangers two with Callahan coming back very late. On the Sens second goal, the puck takes an unlucky bounce over Woywitka's stick at the Ranger blue line where Da Costa picks up the puck and finds a rushing Foligno for a goal. Rangers need to be better in the faceoff circle too.
The Ugly: The Rangers are on a 5 game winning streak, so its awfully hard to complain about the wins. I think it may be time to break up Dubinsky and Callahan and perhaps try Dubinsky with Gaborik and Stepan at some point to get him going. Torts did demote Dubinsky to the Prust and Boyle line towards the end of the second period and obviously that's not going to help.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Good, Bad, Ugly: Biron pitches his first shutout, NYR down the Jets 3-0
The Good: Doing what you are supposed to do on a power play ie. crisp, concise passing, moving bodies around in the zone down low led to Del Zotto's pass to Stepan for his second of the year. Another beautiful pass from Stepan to Gaborik on a 2 on 1 to provide an insurance goal in the middle of the third period. Stepan is having himself a helluva week, he's been really seeing the ice well lately. Also how fortunate are the Rangers to have such good goaltender backing up Lundqvist. Biron again was solid in net tonight.
The Bad: Hard to complain after pitching a shutout but not being able to score on successive power plays including an extended 5 on 3 in the third period is troubling. The Rangers power play was pretty good on the first half of the homestand but terrible the last half. Torts seemed thrilled giving Avery a pat on the butt last night.
The Ugly: Look the Rangers have clearly turned a corner this season, it started rough and ugly over in Europe and the following road trip in Canada even though they did win 3 of 4 games. Things clearly changed following the win against San Jose that started the Rangers 4 game winning streak. It's certainly possible that Joe Thornton's 'soft' comments lit a white hot fire under the Rangers and they proceeded to rip off 3 more wins to finish the homestand. This Rangers team is far too talented to be the Rangers team that started the season slow and undisciplined. It's a long season which will have its ebbs and flows and hopefully the Rangers can keep the momentum up as they only play 8 more games for the rest of November.
The Bad: Hard to complain after pitching a shutout but not being able to score on successive power plays including an extended 5 on 3 in the third period is troubling. The Rangers power play was pretty good on the first half of the homestand but terrible the last half. Torts seemed thrilled giving Avery a pat on the butt last night.
The Ugly: Look the Rangers have clearly turned a corner this season, it started rough and ugly over in Europe and the following road trip in Canada even though they did win 3 of 4 games. Things clearly changed following the win against San Jose that started the Rangers 4 game winning streak. It's certainly possible that Joe Thornton's 'soft' comments lit a white hot fire under the Rangers and they proceeded to rip off 3 more wins to finish the homestand. This Rangers team is far too talented to be the Rangers team that started the season slow and undisciplined. It's a long season which will have its ebbs and flows and hopefully the Rangers can keep the momentum up as they only play 8 more games for the rest of November.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Good, Bad, Ugly: Rangers play hard for the first 20.... and lose 4-2
The Good: Very little good to take away besides controlling play in the first period.
The Bad: I'm not one for criticizing the refs, but the first Ranger goal that was disallowed should have counted, the phantom slashing call and the unsportsmanlike conduct call for snowing the goaltender on Dubinsky were atrocious. The Rangers had 16 shots in the first period, 14 shots combined over the last 40 minutes against a shaky goaltender. The Rangers for as well as they've played in the third period so far this year packed it in after Lupul scored 2 minutes into the third. Lundqvist wasn't remotely close to the Lundqvist we've seen so far this year and let in a couple softies.
The Ugly: Obviously the biggest news that will come out of this game was the 'We want Avery' chants that erupted in the crowd in the third period. As much as I love Avery and what he's done for the Rangers, I don't think bringing him back is going to change anything. Unless he can score 25 goals this year, Avery on his best game isn't going to change a thing. Besides do you think Torts is going to let him do what he was so effective doing when Renney coached the team? Also Marc Crawford on TSN during one of the intermissions was criticizing Brad Richards for not skating hard and that is quite alarming.
The Bad: I'm not one for criticizing the refs, but the first Ranger goal that was disallowed should have counted, the phantom slashing call and the unsportsmanlike conduct call for snowing the goaltender on Dubinsky were atrocious. The Rangers had 16 shots in the first period, 14 shots combined over the last 40 minutes against a shaky goaltender. The Rangers for as well as they've played in the third period so far this year packed it in after Lupul scored 2 minutes into the third. Lundqvist wasn't remotely close to the Lundqvist we've seen so far this year and let in a couple softies.
The Ugly: Obviously the biggest news that will come out of this game was the 'We want Avery' chants that erupted in the crowd in the third period. As much as I love Avery and what he's done for the Rangers, I don't think bringing him back is going to change anything. Unless he can score 25 goals this year, Avery on his best game isn't going to change a thing. Besides do you think Torts is going to let him do what he was so effective doing when Renney coached the team? Also Marc Crawford on TSN during one of the intermissions was criticizing Brad Richards for not skating hard and that is quite alarming.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
State of the Rangers: October Edition
I'm introducing a new segment on the Just Blueshirts blog called 'State of the Rangers' a once a month piece where I basically will just post my thoughts and musings on important subjects around the Rangers.
The Rangers long winding road trip covering tens of thousands of miles, spanning across 6 countries and crossing the Atlantic Ocean twice came to an end when the Rangers plane landed back in NYC from Winnipeg early Tuesday morning. The Rangers somehow won 3 out of 4 on their western Canada trip despite being outplayed for long stretches and horrendously outshot by their opponents. Again I can't imagine how tired this team must be following all that traveling, moving in and out of hotels, trips to the airport, etc. Now that the Rangers are going to be playing at MSG for the next two weeks, I think we as Ranger fans are going to find out alot about the identity of this team coming up.
The Rangers were fortunate to get out out of Canada getting 6 out of a possible 8 points which is better than even the most optimistic fan could have hoped for. Lundqvist, in my opinion played the best game of his career against a tough team in Vancouver leading the Rangers to a 4-0 victory. What followed was 3 very ugly games in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg which the Rangers were lucky to escape with 2 wins. Now that the team is home I have a hunch that we are going to quickly find out how good this Ranger team is.
Notably with Mark Staal still out with post concussion symptoms, which by the way I'm not going to panic over just yet, the Rangers have been forced to start rookie Tim Erixon, who had intended to start the season in the minors, receive top 4 minutes in the NHL. As common place as well around the Rangers, the trade winds have been swirling around. The Rangers do have several attracting pieces on the team that could be traded, but at the moment the real piece that fans have traded 30 times over is Mats Zuccarello. Poor Zucc never had a real chance to earn top 6 minutes on the Rangers and was constantly shuffled around unable to properly develop chemistry with anyone and found himself on the third and fourth lines more often than not.
Looking Forward
Now is the time the Rangers now need to find their game, re-establish their identity and become less reliant on Henrik Lundqvist bailing them out every night. The Rangers are ranked tied 29th in the league with an average of 2 goals for a game and that needs to improve. The second line needs to wake up and start producing and to take the scoring pressure off of Richards and Gaborik. The power play needs to be more consistent and the 2 power play goals in Winnipeg on Monday night was a start. The Rangers could be getting Michael Sauer back for the home opener Thursday and that will be huge for a heavily penalized team like the Rangers although that aspect of their game is slowly improving as well. The Rangers next 6 games are all at the Garden and getting at least 8 points is critical.
The Rangers long winding road trip covering tens of thousands of miles, spanning across 6 countries and crossing the Atlantic Ocean twice came to an end when the Rangers plane landed back in NYC from Winnipeg early Tuesday morning. The Rangers somehow won 3 out of 4 on their western Canada trip despite being outplayed for long stretches and horrendously outshot by their opponents. Again I can't imagine how tired this team must be following all that traveling, moving in and out of hotels, trips to the airport, etc. Now that the Rangers are going to be playing at MSG for the next two weeks, I think we as Ranger fans are going to find out alot about the identity of this team coming up.
The Rangers were fortunate to get out out of Canada getting 6 out of a possible 8 points which is better than even the most optimistic fan could have hoped for. Lundqvist, in my opinion played the best game of his career against a tough team in Vancouver leading the Rangers to a 4-0 victory. What followed was 3 very ugly games in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg which the Rangers were lucky to escape with 2 wins. Now that the team is home I have a hunch that we are going to quickly find out how good this Ranger team is.
Notably with Mark Staal still out with post concussion symptoms, which by the way I'm not going to panic over just yet, the Rangers have been forced to start rookie Tim Erixon, who had intended to start the season in the minors, receive top 4 minutes in the NHL. As common place as well around the Rangers, the trade winds have been swirling around. The Rangers do have several attracting pieces on the team that could be traded, but at the moment the real piece that fans have traded 30 times over is Mats Zuccarello. Poor Zucc never had a real chance to earn top 6 minutes on the Rangers and was constantly shuffled around unable to properly develop chemistry with anyone and found himself on the third and fourth lines more often than not.
Looking Forward
Now is the time the Rangers now need to find their game, re-establish their identity and become less reliant on Henrik Lundqvist bailing them out every night. The Rangers are ranked tied 29th in the league with an average of 2 goals for a game and that needs to improve. The second line needs to wake up and start producing and to take the scoring pressure off of Richards and Gaborik. The power play needs to be more consistent and the 2 power play goals in Winnipeg on Monday night was a start. The Rangers could be getting Michael Sauer back for the home opener Thursday and that will be huge for a heavily penalized team like the Rangers although that aspect of their game is slowly improving as well. The Rangers next 6 games are all at the Garden and getting at least 8 points is critical.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Good, Bad, Ugly: Oilers put up Bulin wall around NYR fall 2-0
The Good: Only thing noting is that Hank is seriously injured.
The Bad: Brendan Bell pinching too deep in the offensive zone allowing the first Oilers goal. Newbury's dumb penalty at the end of the second period. Anisimov and Christensen being benched in the third. Not converting a 5 on 3 at the end of the second period, too much standing around on the power play as well.
The Ugly: Like I said on twitter, I'm blaming Torts for the loss tonight between not giving Hank a rest and playing Bell over Woywika who couldn't have possibly done any worse.
The Bad: Brendan Bell pinching too deep in the offensive zone allowing the first Oilers goal. Newbury's dumb penalty at the end of the second period. Anisimov and Christensen being benched in the third. Not converting a 5 on 3 at the end of the second period, too much standing around on the power play as well.
The Ugly: Like I said on twitter, I'm blaming Torts for the loss tonight between not giving Hank a rest and playing Bell over Woywika who couldn't have possibly done any worse.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Good, Bad, Ugly: NYR escape Calgary with a last second 3-2 OT win
The Good: Buckling down after the crazy first period, finally a power play goal!!! Henrik being Henrik, Tim Erixon's poise being booed everytime he touched the puck. It looks like the Rangers have their superstar sniper back after a year away, the Rangers need Gaborik to consistently put the puck in the net if they expect to go anywhere, not to mention Stepan's pass to him for the PPG was a beauty. Boyle and Prust making a play for the shorthanded goal, and Ryan McDonagh's last second heroics scoring at 4:59 in OT thanks to a fantastic setup by Dubinsky dumping off to Girardi shooting the puck off the boards to a wide open McDonagh for the game winner.
The Bad: The Flames goal song, I'm sure the coaches will find something but after re-watching the game its hard to come away with any real negatives without nit-picking here and there, the Rangers did take two delay penalties for putting the puck over the glass which you obviously can't do. McDonagh did seem to have a tough game before his goal.
The Ugly: I was going to say before the Rangers scored in OT but they are somehow winning getting zero production from their forwards on the second line. I know with the Rangers winning it isn't going to happen but I think it might be time to temporarily break up the Dubi-Anisimov-Callahan line which has done little since the team has come back from Europe. If Wolski comes back against Edmonton on Saturday, I say throw him with Anisimov and Callahan, move Dubi back to the first line and Stepan with Boyle and Prust if Torts is interested in shaking things up.
The Bad: The Flames goal song, I'm sure the coaches will find something but after re-watching the game its hard to come away with any real negatives without nit-picking here and there, the Rangers did take two delay penalties for putting the puck over the glass which you obviously can't do. McDonagh did seem to have a tough game before his goal.
The Ugly: I was going to say before the Rangers scored in OT but they are somehow winning getting zero production from their forwards on the second line. I know with the Rangers winning it isn't going to happen but I think it might be time to temporarily break up the Dubi-Anisimov-Callahan line which has done little since the team has come back from Europe. If Wolski comes back against Edmonton on Saturday, I say throw him with Anisimov and Callahan, move Dubi back to the first line and Stepan with Boyle and Prust if Torts is interested in shaking things up.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Good, Bad, Ugly: NYR shut out Vancouver 4-0
** Disclaimer: I only watched the last 28 minutes of the hockey game**
The Good: Henrik Lundqvist singlehandedly getting the Rangers through the first two periods before the offense finally taking over in the third. The Rangers held Vancouver without a shot on goal for the last 6:23 of the game. Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh keeping the Sedin's off the score sheet. Tonight was the Ryan McDonagh coming out party, the kid is a stud. The secondary scoring coming alive after 11 periods.
The Bad: TOO MANY PENALTIES. Rangers still don't have a power play goal. Brad Richards had a bad night in the faceoff circle. Not a terrible negative but Stepan was just ok on the top line.
The Ugly: Heading into the third period I would have been happy just getting out of Vancouver with a point, no one had the Rangers winning tonight 4-0. Everything statistically tells you the Rangers got their butts handed to them. Outshot 40-19, 31 penalty minutes against, 17 minutes to Dubinsky himself. Lost 37-27 in the faceoff circle. There is alot to improve on with this Rangers team but this win is a start.
The Good: Henrik Lundqvist singlehandedly getting the Rangers through the first two periods before the offense finally taking over in the third. The Rangers held Vancouver without a shot on goal for the last 6:23 of the game. Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh keeping the Sedin's off the score sheet. Tonight was the Ryan McDonagh coming out party, the kid is a stud. The secondary scoring coming alive after 11 periods.
The Bad: TOO MANY PENALTIES. Rangers still don't have a power play goal. Brad Richards had a bad night in the faceoff circle. Not a terrible negative but Stepan was just ok on the top line.
The Ugly: Heading into the third period I would have been happy just getting out of Vancouver with a point, no one had the Rangers winning tonight 4-0. Everything statistically tells you the Rangers got their butts handed to them. Outshot 40-19, 31 penalty minutes against, 17 minutes to Dubinsky himself. Lost 37-27 in the faceoff circle. There is alot to improve on with this Rangers team but this win is a start.
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