Probably be a bit abbreviated since I need to get a few movies back to blockbuster before it closes. Anyway, it boggles the mind just how many own goals this team has had this year. I’m going to do a bit of investigating to see if I can find a website that shows which team has the most pucks go in off of their own players, but I would have to believe the Rangers are by far and away the most. Not only that but I bet their differential between the amount of own goals they have, and the amount of own goals theyve been the beneficiary of is extremely lopsided.

Still though, I did not feel the team played bad, but clearly they ran out of gas. Not only playing with several banged up players (Jagr, Straka, Mara, etc) but like I mentioned in my previous post, they also have lost Rachunek, likely for the rest of the year.

It is staggering the amount of injuries this defense has taken, lets take into consideration that Darius Kasparitis did NOT recover from his injuries last year, nor, apparently, did Sandis Ozolinsh, so the list goes something like:

I honestly dont know how many teams can afford to lose 4 starting defenseman to injuries, but somehow the Rangers have managed to not only survive, but to play very well defensively. But the minutes are going to catch up to them, its just a fact of life. Guys like Rozsival and Malik who are typically 2nd or 3rd pairing defenseman (going by their skill level) are now playing close to 30 minutes a night. Dan Girardi who is a rookie only playing in his 21st CAREER NHL game is getting 2nd pairing minutes. The kid is good folks, but hes a (steady) 3rd pairing defenseman, nothing more. Still though, take solace in the effort level, it was there tonight, as was the ever important “playing smart” they just got some bad bounces. It happens. Weve still got plenty of games to get our playoff spot. Projections later tonight/early tomorrow but I expect they show us out of the playoffs at the moment.

-Inferno

Posted by inferno272 on Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 9:42 pm.