That may be a simplified look at Sir Isaac Newtons third law, but, it kind of makes sense here, doesn’t it? If Henrik Lundqvist makes amazing save after amazing save, sooner or later hes going to give up a monumentally bad goal. In the first period, we saw said goal. There is no excuse for that goal. Henrik should have had it, Valliquette would have had it, heck even Kevin “deer in headlights” Weekes would have had that puck. All you can do is shrug it off, and take it for what it is, an aberration.
With that said, Henrik is the reason we are still in this game. He made at least 4 mind blowing saves in the period, all of which were highlight reel quality (mental note for myself when doing offseason music vids).
The Rangers came out flat, the Flyers came out flying. The difference in this game right now is Henrik Lundqvist, despite the crap goal he gave up. We have no business being tied in this game, we look flat, lethargic, and definitely on our heels. The Flyers are applying all the pressure, and are forcing us into making rushed decisions. It’s the same thing that the Senators exploited us with earlier in the season.
Still though, we managed a goal, and a flying Fedor Tyutin is the reason why. He had several good chances, and buried one goal, not much more you can expect from the former 2nd round draft pick.
Henrik Lundqvist has played Martin Brodeur 12 times during the regular season in his NHL career.
The results are as follows:
Player Name
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
Lundqvist
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
1
0
1
2
Brodeur
4
3
2
0
2
1
2
4
2
2
1
4
Differential For Lundqvist
-2
-1
0
+1
0
+1
0
-3
-1
-2
0
-2
Total Differential For Lundqvist
-9
Player Name
Estimated Goals Against Average
Henrik Lundqvist
1.5
Uncle Daddy Martin Brodeur
2.25
Keep in mind these are only Regulation and OT stats. They do not include head to head shootout numbers, nor does it take into account Henriks miserable playoff showing 2 years ago against the Devils, which needs no explanation as it’s all been said.
So, is this the proverbial passing of the torch? Or was there ever a torch to pass? Honestly, I don’t know if there was. Everyone always calls Martin Brodeur one of the greatest goalies of all time, but honestly, I’m just not sold. I know his numbers look great, but playing behind that defense during their prime years, Henrik Lundqvist might have had a sub-zero goals against average. We’ll leave the Brodeur bashing for another day though.
With that said, I think we can all take heart to the fact that it was the Rangers youth that toppled the once great Devils, and not their vets. With goals from Staal, Dubinsky and Dawes the Rangers clearly showcased a youth movement even Lou Lams could be envious of.
I think the most important thing that can be taken from this game, is that I never felt we were going to lose. Even down 1-0 early (albeit only for about a minute) I never thought the Rangers were going to be beat by the Devils, it can be seen as a shot against a once proud New Jersey franchise, or, ideally, it can be seen as a positive step forward for the Rangers franchise.
I am no longer hoping to not see my team lose, I am expecting to see them win. That change in attitude has been subtle, but it is clearly there, and we can all feel it.
You know why no sane Ranger fan would want to trade Jaromir Jagr (unless youre getting a guy like Sid the kid back), is because unlike most players in the NHL, Jaromir has the ability to single handedly take over a game. Unfortunately we’ve seen him play very passive for most of the games this year, but tonight, at least in the second, he was totally into it. Jaromir had a goal and an assist in that period, and he very easily could have had 1 or 2 other goals. He’s just flying out there, using his superior size, skill, and vision to make the Devil players look like preschoolers.
Brandon Dubinsky has officially won me over. He has that immeasurable thing out there with Jaromir called chemistry. You don’t know exactly what it is, but you know it when you see it. He’s playing really well with Jagr, and is making the necessity for Hossa a moot point. Once Straka comes back, expect Hossa to be on the 4th line, and expect Hollweg to be showing off some new suits in the press box.
By the way, that was a much better period to watch. There was some good defensive play, but there were also some great chances at both ends, and some great goaltending (Jagr flat out robbed by Brodeur, though the softie he gave up makes up for it) by both goalies, albeit Henrik wasnt nearly as challenged as Brodeur was.
Hopefully the Rangers will show some killed instinct and go for the jugular in the 3rd. Pick up another 2 or 3 goals, and embarrass the Devils in their new stadium.
The first few minutes of the game, fun, fast paced, exciting. Everything else, boooooooooorrrrrriiiinnnnnnnggggggg.
Seriously, is anyone paying attention in this snooze fest? I know it had trouble keeping my attention, and im as big a hockey junkie as the rest of you. Screw the neutral zone trap, what we saw out there was neutral zone crap. No sustained pressure, no clean hard hits, nothing that really makes you “ooh” or “ahh”. Definitely sound defensive hockey (outside of the first few minutes), but you can play sound defensive hockey, and not be boring, hopefully we see some of that in the second.
Other than that, the inside of my eyelids look a-ok, perhaps I will reexamine them if the pace of this game holds form.
Hey everyone, heres a non game day rant for you guys. With regards to the NYRangerscast podcast today, I’m going to have to disagree with my buddies Eric and Steve, and fairly vehemently at that. I honestly don’t think there is that proverbial line one can cross with verbal assault. Maybe it was some of that cold calling experience I have (worst job in the world btw) but I don’t think anyone has the right to censor a player on the ice. I’m sure the club would prefer it if Sean Avery didn’t make so many waves, but that is his job. Who are we to tell him to keep his mouth shut, who are we to tell him what he can and can not say? Last time I checked, there was the First Amendment. Nobody forced Darcy Tucker to raise his stick as a weapon to Sean, nobody forced Jason Blake to be the 3rd man in on the confrontation, and nobody forced anyone to actually listen to what Sean Avery says. I’m sure the Buffalo Sabers heard some nasty things themselves, but they were a disciplined club, and ignored whatever he said, and won the game on the ice. The difference between the Sabers and the Leafs is that the Leafs let Averys antics affect their on-ice play, Buffalo did not, and that is the mark of a mediocre team.
It takes a truly pathetic club to have to justify a loss because another player says mean things to them (shall we call your mommy Don Cherry?)
What next? We lost because the fans booed us, that shouldn’t be allowed? We lost because the other teams jerseys have mean logos on them and it distracted us? Puh-lease. This is hockey. This is a professional sport. It is a multi-billion dollar industry that forces each team to seek whatever advantage they can to win. If that means signing the best players, putting the most comprehensive athletic equipment and personnel together, or using trash talk to throw your opponents off their game, then so be it.
If that means calling Martin Brodeur “Uncle Daddy“, or attacking a player based on their hairstyle or whatever, then that’s what you do. How far is too far? I don’t know, but as long as it is legal for Avery to say what he is saying, then the NHL has no right to stop him. I’m a fan of Darcy Tucker, of Matthew Barnaby, of Tikk, of Lemieux, of Avery, of every pest that has ever played the game. They are the kinds of players that every team wants, and every team hates to play against. So long as they are doing it legally (yapping) and are playing the game right (no diving (Sean, you gotta cut that crap out) or two handed clubbings), then nobody has the right to make this big an issue out of their game.
Sticks and stones everyone, sticks and stones.
PS, I will be moving my site to a new server. Those of you who have the address of www.avatarbusinesssolutions.com/blah blah blah, please update your links to point to www.rangersreview.com. I will post a redirect on that folder to the correct address for those of you who havent updated it. The reason for the move is because I HATE Globat.com and their crappy service. As you may or may not have noticed, my blog is exceptionally slow. You get what you pay for, and since this site is 100% not for profit, and since I do pay for it out of my own pocket, I just put the site on one of the domains I already pay for. Now Im moving all my sites to a new server, hopefully we will see some performance increase. Expect the move in a week or so.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was a game I can say decisively that we deserved to win. Despite being outshot 34-27, and being outchanced by a fair margin (I would expect), the Rangers got the 2 points they deserved. Remember, I usually don’t care about the result, so long as the play merits a win. And this was a game we played well enough to win, and luckily did.
Kudos to Steve Valliquette. A goalie who gets way too much crap from Ranger fans despite never being given much of a chance to show himself as a good goalie, or a bad goalie in the NHL. He has something like 13 career NHL games played. Not exactly a massive sample size to praise or vilify the guy, so at least give him a chance.
Petr Prucha has been on a downward spiral this year. At first I was seeing him getting chances, just unable to put them home, but now hes just flat out playing bad hockey. Turning pucks over, getting creamed with hits (not that thats new or anything), getting consistently beaten in his own zone. I love the kid, I really do, but he needs to step up his game. If he doesn’t soon, He may be seeing the press box once Callahan and Straka come back.
Sean Avery might be the most valuable player in the NHL. Not that he is that skilled offensively, or defensively, but without him, this team looks strikingly different than with him. He literally completes us, and elevates the team play to another level, along with lowering the play of the other team. Hes so damn good at doing what he does, that I wouldnt trade him for anything in the world….except Crosby
Other than that, there isn’t much to say, Rangers played well, they got the win, and continue to play well. They have picked up 14 of their last 18 possible points. Not half bad, not half bad at all.
If the Rangers got away with a few in the first, the Leafs got a helping hand in scoring a few in the second. First a call on Scott Gomez that wasn’t just bad, it was flat out disgraceful. I mean, first the guy gets interfered with, no call, then the goalie shoves him, no call, then he shoves back, penalty. Give me a freaking break. Of course the Leafs score on the ensuing powerplay, or just about (like 4 seconds after it expired i believe). Then the refs let the play continue when, at least to me, it looked like Vally got the puck in his glove for a second, and the refs didnt blow the whistle, only to lead to a goal after it was poked loose. You can bet your ass if that was Toskala who covered the puck, it would have been blown dead.
Also, I wonder if the second goal was on an offsides play, sure looked close to me.
More than ever the Rangers seem determined to protect their goalie from tough shots. The Rangers seemed to focus on the defensive end of things that they sacrificed some of the positive momentum they had coming in from their last game where the offensive end of things seemed to be taking a step forward.
Despite the fact that I think Vally is an underrated goalie, I think we can all agree he’s not even in the same stratosphere as Henrik Lundqvist. Not by a country mile. So you can understand why the Rangers are doing what they are doing.
With that said, I thought the reffing in this period was decidedly against the Leafs. Paul Mara got away with 2 massively blatant hooks when the Rangers were on the PK. I was shocked neither of them were called, as they should have been. He also got away with another hold, and a bit of a pick play. Despite the fact that the plays weren’t called, you have to wonder what the hell Paul is thinking. Just because you are getting away with it, doesn’t mean you should push the envelope, particularly when you are on the PK.
Shortly after lambasting Nigel Dawes, he makes a beautiful, and I really do mean beautiful, play to set up Brandon Dubinsky for his first NHL goal. Brandon has impressed the heck out of me in this one. As you probably remember, I wasn’t too high on the kid, but he really looked rock solid tonight with 1 goal, and 2 posts. He also drew a penalty, and played well with the puck and set up Marcel Hossa for a near gimme goal only to have Marcel shoot it about 4 feet wide.
The Rangers were definitely playing with an injured Jaromir Jagr. You could just tell how much it hurt the guy to skate out there, especially to take the first step. He had no acceleration whatsoever, and really just rotated his body to keep control of the puck rather than skating like he usually does. I saw you sit Jaromir out and let him get healthy. These games mean very little in comparison to the games later in the season and the playoffs.
Henrik also was, you know, pretty good. Making some mind blowing stops, countless of them point blank, and, unlike MAF, he smothered the initial shots or directed rebounds to the corners rather than leaving juicy slot opportunities for the opponents.
The offense is just about there guys, 4 goals, 4, maybe 5 posts,
I have to head off to do some other stuff at the moment, so I’ll just leave it at that.
Just like the first period, the Rangers really came on strong here. They’ve already scored 3 goals, have already hit 2 posts (maybe 3?), have drawn a lot of penalties through hard work, and sustained pressure, and are just flat out playing great. Though one has to wonder how much of this is on MAF, the most overrated goalie I’ve ever seen. The guy is a walking bumper out there. Everything that goes into him, comes back out into the slot. Rangers have noticed that and are driving hard to the net. This is a very strong showing for the boys in blue, just keep it going.
Just a though, Dubinsky has been playing some great hockey in this one. I was against putting him on the first line, but it seems to be working, get Hossa the hell off that line once Straka comes back, and we’re good to go.
Nigel Dawes has been invisible for a while now. hes a very streaky player. On for 3 games, off for 7 games, on for 5 games, off for 4 games, no consistency from him at all. I mean you literally don’t even notice him on the ice out there. Isn’t doing anything to make me take notice, not positively, not negatively.
Imho, he has to be sent back down once Cally is back.
