I bet you were expecting me to complain about a half assed effort (for most of the game) by the Rangers top 2 lines.
I bet you were expecting me to complain about a Rangers Power Play that not only did nothing, but served to energize the Flames and their crowd.
I bet you were expecting me to complain about a terribly reffed game for both teams.
I bet you were expecting me to complain about Henrik Lundqvist and a very very pedestrian showing (yet again).
But that’s not what you are going to get from me after this loss. Know what you get?
Praise for Tom Renney.
Say what?!
That’s right folks, tonight I was very impressed by what I saw our coach do out there. What I saw him do was reward Brandon Dubinsky, who was easily our best player on the ice, with some key minutes, and definitely more ice time than usual, and I saw a Tom Renney that did not reward the top 2 lines (particularly the 2nd line) with as many minutes as you would expect in such a big game.
Look, you can’t really kill the coach when a team plays like the Rangers did. They weren’t very good, and they didn’t execute his game plan. So what does he do? He plays the guys who did execute the game play, and that, is what they call accountability. It’s something that has been seriously lacking in Tom Renney for most of his tenure here. He seems to punish the kids when they don’t play well, but tends to stick with the vets when they do the same things. Not tonight, and I absolutely loved it. So on a night with not much to be happy about, I actually found something that I absolutely LOVED. Show these guys that they need to earn their ice time out there Tom, and you might very well see a more concerted effort night in, and night out.
