Im starving, so this one will be relatively short.
We deserved the win, they didnt. Id say we outplayed them for nearly 75% of this game and should have at least had this one go to overtime. The 3rd goal, theres nothing you can do about it, perfect, (And might i add, beautiful) pass by Stafford, and Vanek buries that every time. Sure, it was a poor matchup for the Rangers, but thats what happens when you have such a deep team against any other in the NHL.
So why did we lose? 2 words. Marek Malik.
Malik actually wasnt horrible that 1 play non-withstanding. He made a few nice poke checks, and had some decent positioning, and pinched, and didnt pinch pretty well.
However that 1, horrible horrible horrible play just killed this team. As Bauer from the ECSF message board said:
When I saw that play by Malik and the goal, I knew we would lose. It deflated me as a fan and I am as rah rah as you will get. Professionals or not, that kills them.
I have played on teams when someone makes a mistake of that proportion and it just kills your mentality as a team. Especially when you are going against a Buffalo with a hot Miller as you state
That pretty much summarizes my opinion of the play.
Yes, Ryan Miller was outstanding, far better than I gave him credit for. However, to me, the play that lost us the game was the giveaway. Once I saw that, I knew we would lose. If the goal had been like the Buffalo 3rd goal, I would have said were still gonna win. Because thats just a great play, you tip your cap, and move on. However when you shoot yourself in the foot (or head in this case) like that, youre going to suffer for it.
Next year, if we can replace Malik with this guy:
And Rachunek with this guy:
We should be even harder to play against.
By the way, Isbister looked great out there, id just replace Hollweg with Ortmeyer and Ill be happy.
See you Sunday. No more predictions for me.
-Inferno
