I screamed in joy when Dawes scored. I jumped up and shouted for a few minutes when Jagr scored, and yet I feel like we left a point on the table tonight. Yes, Vally played a nice game. He did what you expect a backup goalie to do, keep you in the game. However, is he the guy who should have been in there tonight? In my opinion, no. Henrik has been well rested, with very little back to back work needing to be done. The Rangers were just 4 points out of first place with a chance to get within 2 minuscule points after the Devils lost yet again to a New York team (they have what…1 win against the Rangers and Islanders combined this year? Ouch.). With all this in mind, it is the coaches responsibility to make sure the Rangers have the best chance to gain this precious ground with such a small period of time remaining. Especially down your best penalty killer and best defensive forward (Betts) you need to have your best goalie in there. Does Briere score the wrap around with Henrik in net? In my opinion, no, because Henrik gets to that post leg first, not stick first. Does Henrik give up the 2 shootout goals? Who knows, but I wish I had the option to know that answer.
Look, its not all bad, I mean, watching a team come back from the dead with a small amount of time to go was truly awe inspiring, and watching a Philly team that looks sure for a 4 and out in the playoffs makes me want that #1 seed that much more. But it was not meant to be.
Give a ton of credit to Christian Backman. Even after most of us gave up on him, myself included, hes steadily improved game in and game out. Yes, he still is scared to take a hit to make a play. Yes, he still turns the puck over at an alarming rate, but he definitely has offensive instincts, and may be the key to snapping us out of this horrific Power Play funk. Speaking of which….ouch, did we even get a shot on goal during our power plays? I mean, my God can a PP look worse than ours does right now? Not only are they not scoring, they arent even setting up in the offensive zone! Something needs to be done, because if we had even a halfway decent power play…like ranked 10th or so, we would be in first place right now, hands down. But our 24th ranked PP or whatever the hell it is now, is just dragging this team down. At this point just decline the PP and play even strength, we seem to be playing much better there.
The Gomez injury doesnt concern me. Reason being is it didn’t look all that serious to me. As an expert in slamming into the boards after losing your balance, I can say I have seen, and had worse spills than that. He’ll be fine.
Keep it going, keep picking up points. With the Devils having a game in hand, we are only 3 back of them, and with them playing the Pens twice, we have a chance to leapfrog one, or both of those teams pretty soon. Just gotta keep winning.