Its hard not to come to this conclusion: The Rangers play to the enemy level.? If they play a good team, they play great, if they play a poor team they play HORRIBLE.? How else can you explain the Rangers 3-1 lead after the first against a VERY good Atlanta team.? Seriously, think about it, with the exception of the games against the Predators and Sabres (first game) the Rangers have picked up at least 1 point, usually the win, against the following teams (all with winning records)Devils, Leafs, Ducks, Sharks, Sabres, and now are leading the Thrashers.? Conversely they have lost to some bottom feeders in the Flyers and Kings.?

Getting back to the game at hand, you have to be pretty happy with the game, except for a shaky looking Lundqvist.? The Thrashers lone goal came when 5 men (3 Rangers, 2 Thrashers) were all screening Henrik on the shot.? Hard to blame him as it was obvious he just didnt see it.? The amazing thing is how the puck missed all those guys in front and went straight in.? Otherwise the Rangers took advantage of a shaky Lehtonen with 3 goals, all looked 5-hole to me (the Thrashers feed that I get didnt really show many quality replays).

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »

I think it is crystal clear to all of you that the Rangers did not play well, and if not for being bailed out in a HUGE way by Henrik Lundqvist they dont get any points at all.? The Panthers did not play good hockey for the first 30 minutes of the game, and were only marginally less crappy than the Rangers for the rest of the game, yet came close to winning this game several times.? Interestingly Sandis Bozolinsh was on the ice for all 3 Panthers goals.? Anyone surprised?? Well, I am surprised that Malik wasnt on the ice for one of them after his horrendous giveaway to Jokinen, but no, in all its not surprising that Bozolinsh was on the ice for all those goals against.? In fact if you care to look it up, I wouldnt be surprised if he has been on the ice for over half the goals against since hes come back.? Worrisome indeed.

Did anyone else notice Jagr looked a few teeth shy after taking a highstick?? Youch, that had to hurt.? The first line had some excellent shifts this game, can’t really complain about them too much, but the second line were on their heels most of the game, and Petr Prucha was taken off the puck just about everytime he touched it.? I dont know if it is just that the Panthers are so much bigger and stronger than your average team that they can push him around and take the puck, or that he is being tentative post-facial injury, but it is worth following closly in subsequent games.?

Henrik Lundqvist was simply fantastic in this one.? Though his poor decision to overplay the shot on the first goal cost him an easy one, I hardly fault him for it as the man was left all alone to score.? Henrik did give up 3 goals which wont help his GAA much, but he was downright brilliant, standing on his head for several shots.? He still is giving up too many rebounds and is going down far too early, but his focus and reaction time look as good as ever.? He should be given several games to play in a row one would think.

Tom Renney attempted to try a few different things on the powerplay in this one, not sure if you all noticed it or not, but he tried putting adam hall on the first unit once (though I think it was because Jagr took a stick to the face), and seemed to play his 3rd and 4th lines a bit more than usual, or if not, then they were more noticable than usual, either way a good sign.

This team desperately needs youth and enthusiasm, can you say Nigel Dawes and Thomas Pock?

Friday night will be a huge test for the Rangers as they visit my local team, the first place Atlanta Thrashers.? Atlanta can beat you in a LOT of ways, and theyve got oodles of scoring, though their record is a tad bit inflated because of the large number of games they have played.?

Rangers 3 Stars Of The Night:

1)Henrik Lundqvist.? The kid was phenomenal, making game saving save after save.? He was poised, and wasnt caught out of position.? I think the 3 game benching was actually a good thing for him.
2)Martin Straka.? Scored 2 goals on slappers, how often do you see this guy hit the net even once with a slapper, let alone SCORE twice!?
3)Jaromir Jagr.? Great game for the captain, had control of the puck, and was drawing a crowd? to help free up his linemates.

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »

Yuck.? That was nasty.? Nastier than even the nastiest nasty thing out there.? If you were at all happy with that period, I gotta ask why because NOTHING I saw out there was good.? Ok, I take that back, Henrik was good, everyone else was, umm, not so much.? Rozsival, where the heck was he on the first goal?? Malik, oh my god what a terrible giveaway.(shouldnt I be used to that by now?)? Bozolinsh, umm, you are a DEFENSEMAN, your guy was all alone with about 5 feet of clearance around him in front of the net.? This was an atrocious display ladies and gents.? I’ll say it again, when Henrik is playing, this team just doesnt support him on a consistent basis.? Henrik has stopped at least 6 gimme goals, albeit 2 were on a play that the Panthers scored on anyway.? This team is beyond frustrating to me at this point because it is a fundamental lack of discipline for 60 minutes that is just killing these guys.? Once again I will say that points squarely at the head coach.? If you cant get guys to play fundamental hockey for 60 minutes one of two things HAS to happen:

1)You bench the guys that dont play fundamental hockey
2)The coach should be fired.

Right now neither of these things are happening, and as a Rangers fan it is DISGUSTING to witness.? Im not sure if I am willing to say this is 97-04 all over again as it is only 1 period, but this has been a consistent problem this year, one I was hoping this team was over after their fantastic showing against the Ducks, Sharks, and Sabres.

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »

I say curious because I’m not sure what to make of that period.? On one hand you have utter domination by the Rangers in terms of quality chances, puck control, etc, but on the other hand you have a Panther team that looked really disorganized and undisciplined.? Really the Rangers controlled the play for about 99% of the period, and gave Lundqvist excellent protection, and played pretty well in front of him including *gasp* Marek Malik.? But it also looked like they werent as sharp as they could have been seeing how poor the pussycats played.? I am going to leave the longer posts for when I see more of a balanced effort from both teams since it is hard to get any sort of conclusion from this period as it was just played so poorly by the Panthers.

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »

Well, I dont know what the status of Jaromir Jagr & Brendan Shanahan are after this game, but both appeared injured (Shanahan because of his back, Jagr because of his shoulder) after this contest, not to mention Petr Prucha getting hit in the face with a puck.? As of writing this I havent checked to see the status of any of those players, but one assumes if Jagr is out for any length of time, this team will suffer mightly without him.?

Getting on to the game, I thought the Rangers did well to come out with a point.? I know its sour because we had a 2 goal lead, but all in all, youre talking about the best team in hockey, and we got a point, you cant be unhappy with that.? Stupid penalties hurt us, some suspect goaltending as well.? While Weekes did make SEVERAL gamesaving stops, he also let in some very weak goals. I was particularly annoyed with the game tying goal.? I hope Henrik is in net for the next one because I think Henrik stops most of those goals.?

Marek Malik continues to be a walking talking disaster with skates.? He had more turnovers than I can count, and his decision making was just putrid.? If not for him, the D would have played a pretty great game.? I find myself surprised at how well Bozolinsh and Rachunek have been playing (The Bozolinsh nickname stays as long as this guy is in hockey).?

All 4 lines played well, but Shanahan, despite playing some good hockey, was clearly hurt, and it was visible in his mobility and power on his shot.? Petr Prucha also took a puck to his face which didnt help as he missed a pretty long stretch of time spanning a lot of the 2nd, and several minutes into the third (if im not mistaken, the game ended 5 hours ago, please do excuse me if my memory fails me on a few details).?

I really dont have much else to say on this one, I thought the Rangers played well, and got beat by a better team.? They picked up 5 out of a possible 6 points against 3 of the best teams in all of hockey.? Im not one bit ashamed of that.

3 Stars Of The Game

1)Jaromir Jagr.? He had a MONSTER game.? Controlling the puck, setting up players, agressive on the forecheck, and scoring a goal and having an assist (or was it 2?)
2)Kevin Weekes.? Despite the softies he made some really great saves, definately worthy of 2nd star status.
3)Petr Prucha.? Scored a goal, and came back after a pretty brutal face injury.?

Final Score: Sabres 4, Rangers 3 (OT)

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »

Sabres beat the Rangers in OT, but the Rangers picked up a point.? I’ll give my thoughts probably around midnight or so.? Got some work to do.

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »

When the Rangers took the 3-1 lead all I could think was, please dont let up, please dont let up, for the love of god please dont let up.? Well, the hooking and bench minors we are taking certainly point to letting up.? The Sabers are playing a sloppy game and yet are only down by 1.? But the Rangers, till they took the 3-1 lead, were playing excellent hockey and earned the lead through hard work which led to legit calls.? So far the reffing, I would say, has been damn good, very even.? The Sabers are giving the Rangers a lot of respect in their own zone, which is helping us out a lot.? Teams that pressure the Rangers to cough up the puck, get just that, teams that let the Rangers read the play, get screwed.? Im sure Ruff will be saying just that to his guys during the 2nd intermission.? The key to this game is to not give up a goal early in the 3rd.? As long as we can kill of the powerplay, and play good smart hockey, we can win this, just dont let up or get cocky.? We may be winning, but the Sabers overcame a 3 goal defecit with unders 6 minutes to play just this week.? Trust me, it aint over till its over.

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »

As I mentioned here, I felt the key to this game was the Rangers weathering the first period onslaught that I was sure the Sabers would unleash on us.? Sure enough the first 12 minutes or so were all Buffalo.? They carried the play, were fast, agressive, punishing, and smart.? They hit 1 goal post, scored 1 goal, and could have easily had 1 or 2 others.? But the fact remains that the good guys did their job.? They are going into the 2nd period only down 1, and that is a, well maybe not a good thing, but considering that they limited the damage, it is something to at least build upon.? The Rangers powerplay still looks annoyingly stationary unless Jagr moves to the offwing side.? Otherwise everyone just passes it to Jagr and lets him do his thing.? Its annoying, and I wish Renney would man up and change things up a bit w/ the pointmen we have out there.? Tell me, what on earth is the point of playing Bozolinsh if he doesnt play first unit powerplay?? It makes NO sense to me whatsoever.

Overall, besides Malik, I wasnt all that upset with the D.? Not much you can do when you got 5 roadrunners skating rings around you.

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »

Get it, like Gooey, or sticky, get it….no huh? Well, anyways, this one is going to be short and sweet.? My take on the whole McGeough situation.? Deal with it, the guy has been screwing over the Rangers since? Day 1.? Easily the worst ref in hockey, and the most biased I might say, who loves to be the center of attention.? This guy is a joke, and anytime he refs a Rangers game I resign myself to the fact that the Rangers will be getting shafted.

Sorry Oiler fans, Ive heard this song far too long to be moved by your rendition.

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »

I had this really nice pun on Kevin Weekes’ name all planned out for this PGT, but then Kevin gives up one of the worst goals I have ever seen.? I mean….really, if you saw it live, you probably nearly upchucked like me, and were just praying to keep the 2 points.? Still though, I am a forgiving man, and Weekes’ earlier play, and subsequent play in this game was nothing short of superb.? The man stood on his head for 59 minutes, and if not for that horrendous goal, would have shutout one of the best offensive teams in the game.

Going into this 4 game west coast swing, I was praying for 4 points, but almost willing to accept two after the debacle at Los Angeles.? 72+ hours after that game, I am rejoicing in what can only be called, a complete success.? Look at it this way.? The Rangers win 2 in a row.? The Rangers win back to back. The Rangers win back to back with both games on the road. ? The Rangers win back to back with both games on the road against probably the 2 best teams in the entire league.? That my friend, is saying something.

Don’t buy the BS the Sharks announcers (McSorley and some other guy) were spewing.? Contrary to what they said, the Sharks actually played a REALLY good game.? They were agressive with their forecheck, and really didnt make many mistakes.? This is one game where you really have to credit the Rangers.? They played a good game, got some amazing goaltending, and got a much deserved 2 points.

The Rangers top 2 lines held their own compared to the top 2 lines of the Sharks, really they outplayed them for the most of the night.? I felt the top line in the game though was the Grier line of the Sharks, they played a nasty cycling game.? I’ll tell ya this much though, for such a big tough rugged team, the Sharks sure do fall down easily.? I dont know if I will call them flat out divers, but they definately are quick to fall over.?

By the way, whoever doubted my predictions that Colton Orr can be a regular player, outta send their apologies right now.? Orr played a heck of a game, despite being leveled a few times, he gave as good as he got, was never a detriment on the ice, and skated just fine.? This kid should play every night.

The D wasnt horrible, once again Ward and Toots were clearly the 2 best on the ice, as they are the only ones consistently taking the body, which stalls the offensive attack giving the Rangers forwards time to get into defensive position.? The other 2 though did not play the body, but its hard to argue with a 1 goal game, especially when the 1 goal given up was 110% on the goalie.? Rachunek and Bozolinsh is a disaster waiting to happen, I probably split those 2 up or cut their ice time down severly, I just refuse to believe those 2 turnover machines will play solid D consistently.

Jagr played with some intensity and fire, but man that hooking penalty he took, I wanted to strangle him.? As soon as I saw it, I knew it was going to be a penalty, and all I can think was, this guy is the captain, and he does that?!?!?!?!?? Seriously though, Jagr is the man, he played a flat out dominating game, and should have had a goal, but captains dont put their team down a man, late in a close game.? You just DONT do it…..EVER.

Brendan Shanahan is becoming quite annoying for me, mostly because he continues to play so damn well, im running out of cute puns or witty comparisons to draw towards him.? In all seriousness, the guy played a fantastic game, was agressive, and stuck up for teammates.? He played a fantastic 2-way game, and even picked up a goal and an assist.

You can not understate the importance of the loss to the Kings.? Although it seemed like the breaking point of what has been a miserable season thus far, it appears to be, at least for the time being, the catalyst for some FANTASTIC Rangers play.? I think the? usage of the word “Malleable” earlier tonight is really spot on.? Right now this team is bending, but they arent breaking, and it is really because of great team defense, and some good SMART decision making. Smart being the key (and appropriately bold fonted) word.? Smarts has been one thing the Rangers have not had for the most of the year.? They make dangerous passes rather than using the boards, not smart.? They try to stick handle into the zone when the dump in is conceded.? They pass pass pass instead of shoot shoot shoot. They take penalty after penalty after penalty.? This is something I have not seen, for the most part, in the past 2 games, and I pray to God it is a sign of things to come.

The important question now is, who do you play against the Sabers.? It is REALLY REALLY REALLY hard to bench a guy coming off of 2 huge wins against 2 of the best teams in the league, but on the flip side, getting Henrik right is probably more important to the long term betterment of the team.? If i’m Renney, and for once I am glad I’m not, I go with Henrik.? Weekes did his job, but if the Sabers come in and light him up, the Garden crowd will tear him a new one, whereas they just seem to never boo Henrik.? Save Weekes for the road games where the crowd reaction doesnt matter.? I just hate to see a guy get booed after playing so damn well.

Rangers 3 Stars Of The Game:

1)Kevin Weekes:? Seriously, were you expecting someone else? Besides 1 absolutely awful goal, he was downright unbeatable.? His positioning was great, and he DEFINATELY made some game savers, at least a half dozen before I stopped counting.
2)Brendan Shanahan: A goal, an assist, some great penalty killing, a “leadership” game played, what more can you ask of the guy….I’ll tell you what, he can come here and wash my car, its FILTHY!
3)Jaromir Jagr: I havent checked the official scoresheet, but my memory tells me the guy wasnt on the scoresheet, and he had a really boneheaded penalty late in the game.? Still though he played a dominating game, making Joe Thornton look just like what he is, the runner up to the real MVP Jaromir Jagr.

-Inferno

Rangers Review | No Comments »