Right now, Brandon Dubinsky IS the New York Rangers. I know that sounds pretty stupid when talking about a guy getting 3rd or 4th line minutes who has 7 goals and 12 assists but its kinda true. The guy is doing it all on every shift. Playing superb D in his own zone, rushing the puck like a man possessed, cycling the puck, finding the open spaces for shots, using his size to open up space for his teammates, and being absolutely relentless on the forecheck. He is our best player right now.
How scary is that…in both a good and bad way?
The really frightening thing is Brandon is still just a baby, he’s 21 years old, and not 100% physically mature yet. However he seems to be getting better, and more confident as every game goes by, and right now, you can thank this young pup for a 2 pointer that we probably don’t have without him.
The Rangers were outplayed, and most importantly out hustled by the Thrashers for the bulk of this game. Even some friendly officiating couldn’t help us, as we got some weak calls our way, and they let some of our stuff go. Still, we managed to steal some points, which we definitely need, thanks in large part to Mr. Dubinsky, and Mr. Dawes who both had a great sequence on that play.
The thing that is most noticeable about Brandon though, is how noticeable he is on every shift. It’s not just about the goal scored, or the assists. It’s how active he is in ever zone. He throws the body, he takes the body, he absorbs hits, and he makes plays. When he is on the ice, you notice him in positive ways all the time. That is exactly what I want from my Rangers team. To be noticeable and have a positive impact on the game each and every shift. It’s exactly what all of us need to demand from the older guys who sometimes don’t do that.
Speaking of noticeable, did anyone notice how effective our Power Play was? Good, me neither. The power play is flat out killing this team. Wanna talk about missed opportunities? We should have won this game in the first period, when we had several power plays including nearly a full 2 minutes with 2 men up. Our power play looks like a penalty kill at times, and our penalty kill just doesn’t look that great as it is.
One last thing before I go. Don’t give me that crap about blaming Lundqvist for this game (if we lost), when a team plays this poorly in the offensive zone, you can’t blame the goalie for giving up a single goal. I’m sorry, but that is unacceptable. If your team can’t score, you can’t win, period. We need to start scoring more goals out there, and I think the first thing that needs to be done is to give Dubinsky more and more ice time, and reunite Prucha on that line, because Shanny, in my opinion, is actually holding the kids back. He was very slow out there, again, and turned the puck over a few times. He lacks the energy those kids bring, and it is very noticeable out there. Give Prucha the spot back, and move Shanny to his spot, and make the Straka, Shanny, Drury line your 3rd line.
I will be heading off to the All Star game this weekend, so don’t expect much from me, I’ll be in downtown Atlanta probably 48 hours straight, so I will be way too tired to post thoughts on here. Hopefully I will meet a star or 2.
Enjoy the break everyone, I’ll see you on the other side.
P.S. Yes, I’ll admit it, I got a bit teary eyed…
