An utter and complete dismantling. That is what we witnessed today. There are just so many things to talk about right now. First and foremost though it has to be about the goaltending. Once again (broken record much?) Henrik Lundqvist was the best player on the ice. He made saves when the game still could have turned around on them, and stood tall for his team. Hes the reason we won…as much as any other at least.
Then you have the crowd. I know you guys were rockin, I could hear it from the TV. And you can bet your ass it had an impact on that first goal and on the remainder of the game. The crowd is truly a 7th man for the Rangers, and you guys did the job.
Then there is the coaching. One coach was phenomenal in preparing his team for the enemy, in showing them how to neutralize certain players (*cough* Hossa *cough* Kovalchuk), how to take hits to move the puck, how to stay disciplined, and who used his home ice changes to secure the winning goal 32 second into the game. The other coach has just been putrid. In my opinion he is the single biggest reason the Thrashers are on the verge of a sweep. His attitude of winning the physical battles at the expense of puck support is just killing the team. And his mind boggeling handling of the goaltending just is beyond me. I would have played Lehtonen in the 2nd and 3rd games. I would have shown him confidence and let him get back on track IN HIS OWN BUILDING, with his OWN FANS behind him. Instead he pulls him for Hedberg. Granted Hedberg was just great, but that now means you stay with Hedberg till you get back to Atlanta. You do not let a young kid come off of a benching in the environment that MSG was going to be. Its just insane and idiotic troll logic. And yet, he does just that, and the kid gets shelled. Now what do you do? Do you play Lehtonen tomorrow? I would have to think not, especially since the garden is going to let the kid have it even more. How about Hedberg? Its doubtful he will even be in the NHL more than a few years from now. Kari is the future, do you kick your future goaltender to the curb with such valuable learning experiences to be had? I’m glad I am not in Hartleys position.
There are so many more things you can talk about, but I’m just going to skip it, and leave you with this:
-Inferno
