I’ve been a little hesitant to even do a post game wrap for this one because the immediate reaction after watching the game against the Caps was to absolutely roast the hell out of this team for their piss poor effort in the first 2 periods when they showed they can clearly not only hang with the Caps, but dominate them for at least a period. Now part of that domination was the Capitals taking their foot off the pedal and trying to run out the clock, but a big part of it was just the Rangers play. They looked sharp, their passes were crisp, they battled up and down the ice, they skated their butts off…in short they did everything they failed to do for the first 40 minutes, which is what makes me (and I assume you) extremely angry, and prone to a long tirade about that fact.

But, let’s also recognize another thing. This was the preseason, the roster is basically set, and this game is quite literally meaningless for just about every player not named Artem Anisimov, Brian Boyle or Aaron Voros (I suppose the argument can be made to include Del Zotto in that group, but I think he has made this team as a starter long before todays game). As such I’m going to ignore the negatives and focus on a couple of positives.

First and foremost the play of Evgeny Grachev for the bulk of this preseason. He looks NHL ready right now. For the most part he battles for every second of every shift, getting in hard on the forecheck, playing the boards very well, showing excellent speed, vision, defensive zone responsibility and offensive instincts. However a full season in Hartford will do this kid a ton of good. He needs to get used to the speed of the game and scoring by himself on non rush situations. He’s looked a bit overmatched on set plays with a defender on him. He needs the time to adjust and learn the pro game. But whatever nagging doubts I had about him perhaps not being the star I think he could be, have long since gone. This kid is going to be an absolute monster. I honestly have no idea what the ceiling for this kid is, because he is built like a tank, skates like the wind, and has passing skills to go with his tremendous wrister.

The other positive I have to take out of this game, and really the entire preseason with the exception of his first game, has been the play of Wade Redden. As much as it pains me to say it, Wade has been the best defenseman for our team this entire preseason when you look at all around game. He has a much better grasp on when to pinch and when not to (unlike Gilroy) has been extremely smart with his outlet passes, has been cool, calm, and collected in his own zone. In short he has been a #1 defenseman for us. Not a 6.5 million dollar a year defenseman mind you, but certainly a #1. Which is good because as good as Wade has been, Michal Rozsival has been equally horrible, which, considering they are defensive partners, makes Reddens steady play all the more impressive…and conversely Rozsivals horrendous play all the more frightening.

Season Preview on Wednesday. Opening night on Friday. See you then.

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Last year when the Capitals beat the Rangers in a 7 game series, it would be really easy to say the Rangers were in it from start to finish and just barely lost (by 1 goal actually) to a very good Washington team. But the truth of the matter was this. The Rangers were never in the series. Not for any sustainable length of time. Washington put on a a brute force attack that absolutely dominated us from game 1 to game 7. The sole reason (and we have been through this many times) we were in it was because of the brilliant play of Henrik Lundqvist.

Tonight was something different though. In a game which played through very much like a regular season affair, the Rangers controlled the play seemingly as often as the super powered Capitals did. Both teams had power play chances, but neither cashed in. Both teams had even strength chances, and both teams iced nearly their full rosters including a full 60 minutes for likely both teams opening night goalies. So it shouldn’t be surprising that such an evenly matched affair should end with a late goal with one team barely pulling out a win. What should be surprising though is that the Rangers played even with the Caps. Make no bones about it, the Caps are one of the best teams in the NHL. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for this team to challenge for the Presidents trophy. And the team they iced out there was only about 2 or so players short of their opening night roster, much like us.

However, while there were positives abound, there were still a few worrisome things worth discussing. First and foremost is that Enver Lisin continues to be unimpressive. Granted the kid has scored a few goals, but aside from burying a puck that 99 out of 100 NHLers pot easily, he hasn’t really done much to raise your eyebrows. The thing that bothers me the most about this kid, is that he really has superb wheels…a guy that fast should get into passing lanes relatively easily. A guy with those kinds of wheels should be a pest to play against because he gets quickly on top of skaters with the puck causing to make rushes passes or cough up the puck. Lisin just never does that. I rarely observe him making a play that takes a player out of his comfort zone, while a player like Grachev seems to do that at least once a shift. To be totally honest, Grachev’s play should net him a roster spot over Lisin, however Grachev having options, being 19, and having a tremendous amount of upside would be better off in the minors…which is frankly where Lisin should be playing as well if he had options. Another player who has me concerned a bit is Semenov. He looks very much like a 7th defenseman. To be honest he reminds me a little of Strudwick in that he really isnt good at anything, but he isnt really truly awful at anything either….hes just a meh player. The reason I am concerned is that if there are any significant injuries, this is likely the guy who will be playing big time minutes, and I’m not sure I want to see that happen.

Back to the positive end of things, Wade Redden had a very much deserved #2 star tonight, as he played a superb defensive game, making smart little plays, some good passes up the ice, and not making any really egregious errors. However for 6.5 million dollars, a game like tonight needs to be a bad game for him, not a great game. Wade seems to have lost his entire offensive game, which is extremely disconcerting. Even when he is solid in his own zone out there, he looks absolutely lost in the offensive end. Still though, with all that said, after what we witnessed from him last year, a game like this would do him wonders to winning back the garden faithful.

Oh, and Gaborik was Gaborik, hence my clamoring for him for over 2 years now even when he was injured.

Season Preview & Predictions in the next few days, so watch out for it…

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It was a really interesting game to watch tonight. The Rangers looked out and out dominating for large stretches of it, and you really never had that feeling of doubt as the game went on that this team was going to blow it. Perhaps a lot of that was because the names Zetterberg, Rafalski, or Lidstrom were nowhere to be seen, but at least a portion of that was because of the way the Rangers were playing.

They were playing to win. Not to avoid losing.

This fact, more than the up tempo style of play, more than the scoring chances, more than the actual goals scored, this fact makes me extremely happy. And why shouldn’t it? The sit back and run out the clock approach that we have been forced to watch for the past few years was excruciating to watch, and frankly just doesn’t make sense. Do what got you the lead in the first place, playing in the oppositions zone. And while the scoring chances and shot chances certainly went back and forth a bit (I believe we ended at 30 shots a piece), you never got the impression that the Rangers were trying to hold on for dear life, rather that the Red Wings were just riding a surge, and the Rangers would eventually get out of it and get back into their zone. It really is a joyous thing to watch.

But, as the title says, we still have to be skeptical here. We still have to acknowledge that this is still the preseason. We still have to acknowledge that we have yet to face an NHL squad. We still have to acknowledge that none of our kids have been battle tested at this level as of yet. Which leads us to the next issue. What players does Torts cut? Right now I believe he is at 25 players, you have to figure he wants to get down to about 21 or 22. My vote on who makes the team are as follows:

Goalies:
Lundqvist
Valiquette

Forwards:
Gaborik
Drury
Dubinsky
Kotalik
Prospal
Higgins
Callahan
Avery
Lisin
Boyle
Brashear
Voros
Anisimov

Defenseman:
Staal
Girardi
Redden (though if I had my way, he would be gone, and Sanguinetti would be playing in his place)
Rozsival
Gilroy
Del Zotto
Semenov

As hard as it is to say, Grachev still needs more time to play at this level. Del Zotto on the other hand does not. He looks ready to me.

The games against Washington will be mighty interesting to watch…

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I’m with Joe on this one. After the last 2 games, Artem Anisimov most definitely made the team barring him punching Torts in the face for no apparent reason. In one of the more dominating games I’ve seen the Rangers play, the kids stood out by miles, while the vets continue to look less than impressive.

The interesting thing here though is that tonight the Rangers played against a fairly full Boston squad sans Wheeler, Chara and a few others, and they definitely did not have their full squad, sand Henrik, Gaborik, Dubi, Drury, Higgins, Callahan, etc, and yet we looked superb. Why? Because the kids have talent, and more importantly motivation. One has to wonder if the vets will have this kind of motivation when the squad comes together October 2nd. Of real concern are Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden, who did not play in this one. I say they are of concern because today we saw at least 6 NHL ready, willing and able defenseman out there in Staal, Girardi, Sanguinetti, Gilroy, Del Zotto and Semenov (not to mention Michael Sauer who may have been defenseman in all 4 games thus far). The black hole of 11.5 million dollars will definitely cause 2 of those kids (not including Sauer) to not get minutes in the NHL. With so many NHL ready defenseman already here, and with Ryan McDonagh likely challenging next year, one has to wonder when and if the Cigar will be able to unload Rozsival and Redden to get the better players in here.

The other 2 standouts besides Anisimov were the 2 blueline threats in Gilroy and Del Zotto. You can see how much more dynamic our team looks when those 2 kids are on the ice. They push the oppositions defense back and they pull the oppositions forwards up because of what they can do, creating more time and space for our forwards, leading to more scoring chances, and higher quality scoring chances. The higher quality is the key because the Rangers got quite a few glorious chances that they cashed in on, and really the only cheap goal in the game was the one that Valiquette let in.

I honestly have no idea how the Rangers can justify sending Gilroy or Del Zotto down. They aren’t the best in their own zone, but they bring something so important to this team that even though Del Zotto may benefit from another year in juniors, it may be more important to the club to keep him here and allow him to develop his game at this level. Then again I couldn’t fathom them sending Sauer down, and they did so with the first group of cuts, so what the hell do I know.

Huge game Monday for the Rangers, as it should be our first time seeing Gaborik in Rangers blue….that will be something special.

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The Rangers continued their wildly inconsistent and maddening play tonight while successfully blowing a 2 goal lead in a manner of seconds. And for those of you who want to take solace in the fact that Gaborik, Dubinsky, Prospal, etc didn’t play, please remember that Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Lidstrom, and Rafalski all did not suit up tonight…we were basically playing the Detroit farm team and lost it with 1 periods worth of horrendous play.

To be fair Henrik Lundqvist probably doesn’t lose this game, but I really don’t want to fall back on that old crutch. Maloney said it best tonight, if the Rangers want to take that next step, Henrik can not be the main story night in and night out.

The thing we always seem to fail at as a team is playing for 60 minutes. Why this team can not get it through their head is beyond me. Particularly the veterans, they are supposed to lead the way, and yet it always seems like it is the kids who are stepping up, while the vets step aside. The Rangers most dominating players tonight were Artem Anisimov and Brian Boyle, whereas Drury, Redden, and Rozsival were miserable, just miserable out there. Granted, this is just the preseason, but this is nothing new for this team. 2 of those 3 have been quite awful as Rangers, and Rozsival has certainly declined since the loss of Jagr. If Redden and Rozsival play like this throughout the season, I think this team may just miss the playoffs. You can’t have 11 million dollars worth of pylons out there, it just can’t happen. They need to play a hell of a lot better than that, and I sure as hell hope Torts is giving them an earful after tonights showing.

On the plus side though, we got to see what Artem Anisimov can bring to the ice. I was tired of hearing so many people call him the next Jarkko Immonen just because he isn’t Pavel Bure out there with his skating. Anisimov showed his talent today all over the ice. He plays a superb defensive game, and he most definitely has the offensive instincts to be a dominating 3rd line center at this level. To be totally honest here, I wonder if keeping this trio of Lisin, Anisimov and Grachev together for the season would be an idea worth sticking with. They seem to be getting better with every game, and if they are looked at as your 3rd line, you can probably expect some good matchups and some good offensive numbers. Of course that is predicated on Brandon Dubinsky not coming back, which I hope does not happen.

The other standout tonight was Brian Boyle, who showed some great cycling, some great balance, and some solid defensive zone play. I really loved what I saw from the trio of Brashear, Voros and Boyle. That looks to be a 4th line I most definitely can live with if they play like that night in and night out.

Tomorrow should be really interesting. I hope Torts puts a better defensive lineup out there. Tonights roster of defenseman left a lot to be desired. It’s ridiculous how important Marc Staal is for this team.

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The Rangers made their cuts today, which I am sure you all know by now…but what really struck my eye was that the Rangers cut Mike Sauer inexplicably. Really I’m not sure what more they want from the kid, he was almost flawless in his own zone, did a good job of keeping the puck moving when it came to him, and played his game. I hope Torts knows that this is Sauers game, if you are expecting him to jump up and go end to end, then you might as well trade the kid now. But if you want a cool, calm, collected, smart defensive game, then Sauer is your man. In my personal opinion Sauer has looked much better than Dan Girardi who Torts seems to absolutely love.

This one I just don’t get, nor do I agree with. Time will tell.

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Unfortunately due to some really bad weather that message has been on my screen for more time than the Rangers VS Devils game has been. Since I’m only watching this game in choppy 20 seconds spurts and have missed at least 70% of this game so far there will be no post game wrap…really what can you analyze when watching a game like this…?

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It was interesting watching this game tonight after playing my own just an hour before I queued up my DVR. In basically identical fashion my personal team has absolutely no legs to start our game, but we came on stronger as the game went on. Much like the Rangers tonight who definitely looked like a team that had been run ragged by their coaching staff during the first few days of training camp. I really was more or less expecting that though, to be honest. These intense skates will pay off down the road, but for right now the team will have to suffer through some adjustment time while they get used to playing at this intense level for 60 minutes.

The Rangers coming out flat to start a game is nothing new for us. The Rangers only putting up 1 goal is also nothing new to us. However I saw so many positives I couldn’t help but smile after the game. Really all I was looking at where the kids. How were they doing out there, and by and large I was very happy with what I saw.

First and foremost you have Evgeny Grachev. In case some of you are not familiar with Grachevs modus operandi allow me to give a little insight into how he tends to play. At every level this kid has ever played at, he has always started slow. He will play OK for about 2-3 games before he adjusts to the size, speed, and system of the league and his team. I was actually quite happy he looked as good as he did since I really expected him to look lost, and overmatched. Now granted this is just a preseason game, and a lot of those guys he was playing against were not NHL players, however he still looked quite strong and into the game after the first period and a half. On the flip side I felt Artem Anisimov had just an OK performance. He looked tentative at times out there, trying to play it safe rather than use his quite impressive skill set to make plays. I think that is rookie syndrome where the kids tend to want to not make mistakes rather than try to make things happen. This is something Bobby Sanguinetti tends to suffer from more than most players, hopefully he plays tomorrow and we can see him make a name for himself.

One guy who had no problem trying to make plays was Michael Del Zotto, who looked absolutely NHL ready with his performance out there. You can’t help but be impressed with the kids decision making. He knew when to pinch, when to stay back, and showed some fairly good defensive positioning out there for a kid who was pinching half the game. Perhaps Del Zottos most impressive showing though was his ability to see the ice. He saw plays that I did not see when watching on TV. Which, if you think about it, is really saying something. When you are watching a game on TV, you can usually predict what is going to happen and who is going to go where and what the player is going to do with the puck. Del Zotto had a knack for making picture perfect passes to guys you don’t even notice are open till he points it out to you with a beautiful saucer pass that lands right on the tape of his target. Similarly I felt Matt Gilroy played a strong game in the offensive zone as well, though he does not seem to see the ice as well as Del Zotto, Gilroy looks to be very heady on when to jump into the play as well. Gilroys defensive zone play though was quite weak, and I felt he was definitely the worst defenseman in his own zone.

Michael Sauer, as you might expect, played a cool, calm, steady game. He won’t wow you with his flashy end to end rushes like Gilroy, nor will he make your jaw drop with a pretty pass like Del Zotto, but the kid knows how to play defense. Really, I think he has the best shot out of all our defenseman of making this team as a regular. I was very impressed with his play. It reminded me a lot of Marc Staal in his first season. Cool, calm, collected, and making the simple plays to get out of trouble. I can definitely envision both Del Zotto and Sauer making this team over Gilroy.

After the first period and a half just about the entire team looked great, except for 1 guy who really stood out as a non factor. Enver Lisin to me looked totally outmatched at this level. Aside from his strong skating stride, he seemed unable to read the play, often went into areas that were already occupied by his linemates, and didn’t really do much of all to make me change my mind on hating the trade which brought him here. Similarly I felt P.A. Parenteau looked like an AHL+ player. He just doesn’t look like an NHLer out there. He takes too long to make plays, and physically I don’t know if he is capable of making plays at this level like he is in the AHL.

Other than that, try not to make more of this game than what it really was. Mostly a bunch of AHL and OHL kids trying to make a name for themselves. Also keep in mind that Boston plays a defensive first trapping system, don’t be shocked that the score stays low against that kind of a team. Similarly tomorrow, expect the score to stay low. That’s how they play it. See you then.

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Heatley officially to San Jose…a part of me just died. To be fair though, this is a better return than I expected him to get all things considered.

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Rangers lost in game 1 yesterday, but they rallied for a win today.

Video here.

Writeup here.

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