Wow. What a performance by Henrik Lundqvist we witnessed tonight. Henrik was spectacular yesterday against the Canes, but he may have been better tonight against the Leafs not only getting the shutout, but saving at least 4 shots where I have no idea how he was physically able to make the saves. He got lucky with one post tonight, but make no mistake about it, The King was on his game, big time.

The one thing I took out from tonight was this. When Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal get back, this team should be much better than it is right now. The Rangers top line right now is playing extremely well, imagine how good they could be if they had other lines that were as dominating as they are. A second line of Dubi – AA – Cally would be tough for any team to stop if they have to match their best against Gaborik Prospal and Frolov. Looking forward this team might just sneak into the playoffs if this trio can keep up their torrid pace (the trio are averaging a combined 2.5 points per game which would be better than just about every second line in the NHL).

I also think that once the Rangers get healthy they might have to send Derek Stepan to the Whalepack. I know he looked great to start off the season, but he’s hit a wall big time, and has really become a non factor out there. It’s unsurprising, the play at this level is significantly higher than what he is used to. I felt he should have started the season in the minors, and still feel that is the best place for him.

That’s all for now, another late DVR catch tonight, didn’t finish till 3am.

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It’s tough to watch 7 goals be scored and say both goalies put on an absolute clinic, but that would be a very fair assessment of the play tonight. Both goalies were simply outstanding. Both kept their teams in it when neither of the teams were really interested in playing good defense. The Rangers were very careless with the puck in their own zone, and the Hurricanes were simply unwilling to take a hit to make a play. It all adds up to some ugly defensive hockey. But tip your had to Cam Ward, he outdueled Henrik with a marvelous performance. It doesn’t get much more enjoyable to watch than that.

The top line of Cally AA and Dubi continue to be outstanding, and when they become the second line once Gabby comes back, it will really make the Rangers more of a threat out there. The defenseman though continued to struggle, as I felt Michael Del Zotto really struggled again this game, coupled with Eminger and Gilroy not having really great games, it all adds up to some ugly hockey in their own zone.

OK, almost 5am, I probably should try to get some shut eye.

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Gaborik, Prospal, Drury. Those are 3 big time names. Drury is one of the best penalty killers in the game and plays a pretty sound 2-way game (even if some of his offensive ability has evaporated over the past few years). Vinny Prospal is a hard working playmaker who always gives 110%. And finally Marian Gaborik is one of the best right wings in the game today. Those are 3 guys that are tough to replace. Then factor in Artem Anisimov, the Rangers top center as of now, and Michal Rozsival both getting injured, and you have a game the Rangers lost, but you can deal with it. In the end it was a 1 goal lost plus an empty netter, that also included the Rangers banging the post twice. Rangers could have won this one, and to me that is more important.

The loss though did come down to two players in my opinion. Marc Staal and Michael Del Zotto. Both the kids were absolutely atrocious. MDZ was a turnover machine, and Marc Staal was flatfooted all night long constantly getting burned by the quicker Thrasher players. And you know what? I can also deal with that. Marc Staal is a rock that the Rangers have laid their defensive season on. out of 82 games a year, he will probably be outstanding for 70, mediocre for 10, and horrible for 2. Tonight was one of his 2 horrible games. Deal with it. MDZ is also just a baby, he’s got a lot to learn. Kids have growing pains, and when you play such a young team, you have to be able to put up with those mistakes. Tonight he cost us a game. In the long run, its meaningless as this is the kid our power play of the future will be built around.

Big picture…this loss means little to nothing. Don’t fret it.

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Theres a very good chance I won’t be able to watch tonights game. Living in Atlanta the MSG feed is usually blacked out, and I know the Thrashers are having a media dispute with Fox so my guess is their feed will be blacked out as well, meaning I won’t get to watch tonights game unfortunately. But let’s see, I have set both feeds to record on the old DVR and when I get back home tonight maybe I’ll get lucky and one will record.

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This one is going to be super short, its 4 am, the hockey team I played for just repeated as champs so as you can imagine, I am kinda spent. Just finished watching the game. Felt the Rangers played an outstanding game, but was shocked at just how poorly the Devils played. Even Kovalchuk who was clearly their best player by a huge margin, looked mediocre for most of the night. I felt Brandon Dubinsky was the best player on the ice for either team, he had just a dominating performance tonight.

Ok, thats it, I need to catch some z’s.

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Boy, that is hockey. I really enjoyed watching tonights game, and I hope I wasn’t the only one. We had hits, fighting, nastiness, good passing, fluke goals, great saves, and up and down action non stop.

Usually when the Rangers play the Bruins it is just the most boring hockey ever. Bruins play their trap/forecheck hybrid system and take away everything all over the ice leaving the opposition with little to work with. Tonight though the Rangers were able to throw the Bruins system almost right back at them, with an aggressive forecheck of our own. The forecheck VS forecheck battle was just fun as hell to see. Basically it was a question of which teams D was going to make the bad play to turn the puck over leading to a goal. Turns out it was Zdeno Chara on the power play, but it wasn’t a forecheck that caused it, just some absolutely superb penalty killing by the Rangers.

There were some really bright spots for the Rangers, and some really ugly play by the Rangers too. On the great end of things, Artem Anisimov just continues to get better night in and night out. Today was no different, scoring another goal, playing just an outstanding 2-way game as usual, and proving once again that Hockey IQ is the single most important aspect of a player (at least in my opinion). Derek Stepan, Brandon Dubinsky, and Brian Boyle all stood out as having just monstrous games. Stepan set up a few great scoring chances, and really played outstanding in all 3 zones, not forcing anything, using safe plays, but also showing patience with the puck to see if something else opens up. Brian Boyle was all over the place, throwing hits, playing a mean game, and controlling the puck very very well in the offensive zone against the boards. When he and Frolov happened to be on the ice at the same time (after Prust went down with his injury), they controlled the puck for huge stretches of the game. Never underestimate the value of a good cycle. Frolov definitely brings that ability. Dubi too had an outstanding game and easily could have had a goal or 2 if not for some great defense by the Bruins.

On the negative side of things I thought Michael Del Zotto was just horrendous. On the PP he was abused by the Bruins penalty killers causing the Rangers to play long stretches in their own zone, and unlike against the Leafs, he was constantly making the wrong reads last night. Luckily Dan Girardi was up to the task playing superb defensive hockey bailing our MDZ time and time again.

Unfortunately the Devils decided to make Kovalchuk a healthy scratch tonight, so you know that he’s going to go apeshit on us tomorrow when he gets back in the lineup. Let’s hope Henrik is up to the challenge.

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This game was won on the backs of 6 players.

The defense tonight was absolutely outstanding. They played a damn near flawless game for most of the night, and even though Dan Girardi was burned twice, once on a goal, once on a breakaway chance, he may have been the Rangers best defenseman of the night. The Defense read the play perfectly. They pinched and almost never were beaten to pucks (ie, they read those plays right), they kept everything to the outside, and read the cross ice passes that ripped the Rangers apart the last time around perfectly. They gave the Maple Leafs almost nothing to work with. They managed to block a ridiculous 30 shots on goal in this game, and most of them were perfect blocks in good scoring situations.

It’s amazing how a well played defensive game can lead to a strong offensive attack, and vice versa. I felt the Rangers played pretty strong offensively, and that Gustafson played a sound game keeping his team in a game they probably didn’t deserve to be in based on the Rangers play.

It’s a pretty impressive win by the Rangers, especially considering our injury situation. But it’s just that. One win. We need more of these, a lot more, and until I see a consistent effort, and a consistently smart and well played game, I will continue to remain, at the very least, skeptical.

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The way you win games in the NHL this year is fairly simple. You win the specialty teams game. You score goals on the power play, and you kill off any and all penalties. Rangers were ohfer on the PP and couldn’t keep the Avs off the board on any of the pk’s. That’s a recipe for disaster. It’s almost impossible to win a game nowadays like that. The real culprit here is Glen Sather. The Rangers have nobody in front a-la Holmstrom to set screens, get tips, and get dirty goals. Ideally it would be Drury there, but he’s injured. They have nobody on the circles to pull the D away from the points and away from the front of the net. Ideally it would be Gaborik there, but he’s injured. They have nobody on the point to keep the defense honest with the threat of a Howitzer blasting away. Ideally it would be….well, nobody since we have no choices there except for maybe Valentenko, but he’s playing in the minors. So the Rangers, with their incredibly flawed power play are going to see a lot of games like this one. One where their goalie plays great, but gives up several goals. One where they get shots on goal, but not shots from areas where you typically score goals, and one where their power play comes up empty.

I know the negativity is depressing, but I just don’t see it this year guys. I didn’t see it when we were healthy, and I sure as hell don’t see it now that we are injury depleted. We may have to look at this as a transition year. Getting the young kids one more year of experience before we hand them the keys to the car.

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Saw this over on the HFBoards and thought it was hilarious…had forgotten about this commercial. Anyways, tonight should be a great game. Not sure I will be able to do a writeup till tomorrow night though, got to watch this game, the Yankees game, and I have a game of my own to play tonight, and a playoff game of my own to play tomorrow afternoon. I’ll try to do a writeup if I am awake.

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There were many people who felt that after the Rangers had the preseason that they did, and after the sort of manhandled the Sabres (But not really), the Rangers were going to be a heck of a team, a Stanley Cup Contender, yadda yadda yadda. Now? Not so much.

When you lose to a team of AHL’ers, it really hurts. When you give up 6 goals to a group of AHL’ers…it’s a slap in the face. Let’s face it, the Rangers were outplayed for a lot of this game. They had no answer for the Islanders hard forecheck whatsoever. The Rangers defenseman were absolutely horrendous when faced with any kind of pressure whatsoever. Eminger alone made me want to puke with the way he handled pressure. None of the guys seemed to be able to take the puck and make a quick pass up and out of the zone, everything was back to the other defenseman, or a turnover. Sure, we had some leads and we scored some goals, but this was against an AHL squad people, we should have manhandled them. Instead we let them walk all over us. This is the thing that really scared me, that once the Rangers started to feel they could do whatever they wanted thanks to some very fortunate play up till this point, they would get a nice dose of reality to bring em back down to earth. Once again though, the key here is to not get too up, and not get too down. Stay even keeled and play hard for 60 minutes. Play smart for 60 minutes, and don’t be surprised when we go through some growing pains like we did tonight. Young players will make mistakes, and we do have a very young team.

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