Tonight there were 2 games on the WJC ticket. Both featured a few Ranger Prospects. I’m going to go quick on this since its nearly 4:30am and I gotta get up fairly early tomorrow/today.

Roman Horak: Horak had an uneventful day. The Czechs were fairly outmatched, but poor goaltending kept them in it on the scoresheet. I’m not sure if Horak picked up a point, but I didn’t really notice him all that much. He touched the puck every once in a while, but it was off his stick in the blink of an eye and I didn’t notice him again. Hard to tell if its just the lack of skill hes playing with or what, but he hasn’t been all that great.

Jesper Fasth: Fasth had an AWESOME game. He scored 1 goal that no goalie should ever give up, but he also had a beauty off of a set play, could have had at least 1 more, and played a rock solid game in all 3 zones. He reminds me a bit of Freddy Sjostrom, but smaller. He seems to play with a lot of energy, is a tenacious forechecker and has speed to burn. Fasth got a lot of playing time, and was always noticeable.

Chris Kreider: Chris had a pretty poor first period, and an OK 2nd. He did end up scoring a goal, and towards the end of the game started to become noticeable, however this was not one of the games Chris should be proud of. A guy with his ability needs to be far more noticeable. Points aren’t everything, being engaged and active is. He looked far too passive in the first period.

Ryan Bourque: Ryan and a monster of a game. Only way I can describe it is to say 2 words. Ryan Callahan. Need I say more? Ryan was all over the place. An absolute machine on the forecheck, tenacious on the backcheck…it almost seemed like there were multiple players out there wearing #17 because it felt like Bourque was just all over the place, playing a perfect game. Truly a special performance by Bourque. I’m very very happy with his play.

OK, off to bed! Tomorrow I have like 3 games to watch if I’m not mistaken…I doubt I’ll be getting any sleep since it is new years, if I get a chance I’ll do a writeup, if not, it’ll have to wait a day or 2. Happy new year everyone!

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First off, I did watch the Canada VS Norway game, but it really wasn’t worth talking about. Canada outplayed a far inferior team. Norway tried hard, but just did not have the skill to match up with the far more talented Canadian club.

Getting back to the game at hand, the Rangers, once again, came out flat against a vastly inferior team. Granted, on paper the Devils do look good, but let’s face it, their record is awful, and their goaltending has been putrid. Brodeur made some great saves tonight, but he also gave up a weak goal which ended up being the difference in the game (plus an empty netter). It’s tough to single anyone out tonight, the entire team just looked kinda flat. Unable to deal with the Devils pressure game, and unable to get the puck cleanly out of their zone for long stretches. The 3rd period was much better as the Rangers played lock down defense, but it’s tough to argue with such a huge shot differential. Henrik had to make several saves at point blank range, and the Devils missed at least 3 wide open nets (Arnott twice, and Tedenby once). The Rangers had a few chances themselves where Brodeur was outstanding, but not enough to overshadow a fairly lackluster performance during the first 2 periods.

We were lucky to get out of the swamp with 2 points. I’ll take it, but if we play like this against the Bolts, they will run us out of the building.

That’s all, I’ve got nothing more to add.

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Both games tonight were eerily similar. Similar scores, similar performances, similar cheapshots. Just a whole lot of similarities. Since we pretty much don’t care about anyone except the 3 Rangers prospects represented in these 2 games, I’m just going to do 3 paragraphs on the players to sum everything up.

Roman Horak:

Horak looked like a pretty good player. Arguably one of the 2 or 3 best players on the Czech team. He skated hard, worked his butt off, tried to be creative and make things happen, and looked to be rewarded by getting a ton of ice time. His passing however looked very poor. Chalk it up to nervousness or the insane pressure the Canadians put on him, but Horak looked unable to complete even simple tape to tape passes. They were in legs, or right on the tape of the defensive players stick. He did show some excellent forechecking pressure, tenacity, good legs, and vision. However he needs to get those passes onto his teammates sticks.

Ryan Bourque:

Bourque once again played a solid, albeit quite game. The story of this tournament so far for Team USA has been individual efforts. Too few players are trying to play within a team concept. Bourque, however, is one of them. While everyone else is hot dogging it end to end, Bourque is backchecking and playing perfect positional hockey. While everyone else is trying to deke around 12 guys, Bourque is trying to set up a screen, or looking to dig out loose pucks. He doesn’t get much fan fare, but against the better teams, he’s going to look a whole hell of a lot better than a guy like Palmieri who hasn’t met a pass he would like to make.

Chris Kreider:

Chris had an exceptional game once again. I believe he only got credit for 1 assist, but most definitely should have been given a 2nd one on the Coyle goal as he definitely touched the puck a millisecond before Palmieri did. Regardless, Chris was distributing the puck, backchecking, playing in all 3 zones, parking his butt in front of the net, or in the high slot. In short, he was doing what Bourque was doing. Playing a team game. He does, however, need to show more of his one on one ability, and use his speed to his advantage, however playing with a puckhog like Palmieri makes it tough for him to do much since 1/3rd of his line refuses to give him the puck. In fact on one rush Palmieri had Kreider all alone, but instead took an illadvised shot that was easily blocked. Kreider would have been in all alone if he simply gave him the puck. One really has to wonder if maybe Kreider should be put with someone else who can play a team game. Perhaps Kreider – Coyle – Zucker.

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There are 3 zones to a hockey game. The Offensive Zone, the Defensive Zone, and the Neutral Zone. Tonight the Rangers put on a clinic on how to play the Offensive Zone with numerous sustained shifts of constant pressure with tons of ridiculously good scoring chances. The Rangers also put on a clinic on how NOT to play the Defensive zone. They gave up numerous sustained pressure with a few ridiculously good scoring chances. They also played pretty decent in the neutral zone.

The only reason the Rangers won, by a blowout no less, is because the Islanders were both tired, and had no way to match the Rangers skill level. This is not a win to feel too great about folks. The Rangers in essence had half a letdown game, but thankfully because the Islanders did as well, they were able to win this. Remember, they trailed in this one and for a great portion of the game Roloson stood on his head.

Give credit to the boys in blue though, they did plug away and had some dominating shifts in the offensive zone, so it’s always good take away something positive from a game, especially when its a blowout. But the key here is for the Rangers to recognize they didn’t play all that well, and that they better raise their play when they play the Devils, who always seem to put up a good show against the Rangers.

Couple of players stood out negatively. Sean Avery looked to have a mediocre game. Most of the other forwards had great games, Avery was just so-so, with 1 unbelievably bad giveaway, and a terri-bad pass to ruin a 3 on 2 play. I wish Sean would go back to being the pain in the ass player he used to be instead of trying to play like an insanely skilled player. The guy has skill, and is a useful player on the ice, but what made him unique was his ability to make himself the focal point of the other team. He’s not done that in god knows how long. Another player who is slumping badly is Michal Rozsival. Everyone knows I’m not one of those guys that likes to pick on Rozy, but for the past few games he’s had some truly putrid giveaways. Plays that are simply inexplicable. He seems like he needs to regain his focus for the entire game. Because when he is on, he’s a damn good defenseman.

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Let’s start with the Russia VS Canada game. I take back what I said about Vladimir Tarasenko. Wow, boy oh boy did he look awesome today. Clearly the best player on the ice for either team, Tarasenko set up countless scoring opportunities where his teammates simply refused to shoot the puck. If Russia ever decided to shoot the damn puck instead of looking for the perfect play, they would have beaten the Canadians. Instead, team Canada went on to win a game that was much close than the score indicated. Team Canada looked fairly mediocre in the offensive zone, as well is in the defensive zone. They seemed to be missing the go-to guy in the offensive zone a-la John Tavares or Taylor Hall, and most definitely were missing Alex Pietrangelo on the blue line to bring a second weapon besides Ryan Ellis. Canada doesn’t look like the overwhelming juggernaut that took a monumental upset to beat. They look like a very beatable, albeit very good, hockey team.

On the flip side team USA looked very solid defensively, but left a whole lot to be desired offensively. Unable to complete passes to save their lives, team USA was basically just a shoot-from-the-point kinda team tonight that did manage to get some offense from those plays. Rangers prospects Ryan Bourque and Chris Kreider played on the top 2 lines, but only Kreider looked dominating as Bourque seemed to be far more focused on the defensive aspect of the game covering for floater extraordinaire, Jeremy Morin. Kreider could have easily, and I really do mean easily, had a goal and 3 assists tonight if not for a miraculous save by the Finnish goalie on his glorious scoring chance, or the inability of his linemate to hit the friggin net. Kreider set up both Palmieri and Coyle for several breakaways and point blank chances, and their inability to finish costed the Americans a point. Granted the point really doesn’t matter all that much since we are most definitely in the easier grouping whereas Canada has to deal with Russia as well as Sweden and the Czechs.

Team USA though had 2 things going for them. Their defense looked awfully good, and their goaltending was outstanding. Jack Campbell is probably the best goalie in this tournament, and the USA defenders played an outstanding game. I would look for this team to get better quickly as some of their offensive deficiencies can be attributed to a lack of familiarity. I will say this though, the team definitely looks to be missing Derek Stepan as none of the centers looked like they had the ability to create offense for their finishing wingers. The very fact that Chris Kreider was the best playmaker out there tonight has to really scare the hell out of the Team USA coaches.

Rangers VS Islanders tomorrow. This has letdown game written all over it.

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It’s really hard to be upset at the boys tonight. They played a really hard, really strong game, and really it was just 2 BRUTAL giveaways by 2 fairly steady defenseman that cost us this game. Yeah yeah, shootout shmootout, the game was lost when the Rangers gave those 2 pucks away.

You really had to be impressed at the trio of Stepan centering Dubinsky and Zucarello-Aasen (keep your whole name Mats, don’t conform). They looked like a really strong second line, and the Rangers may have the ingredients of making 4 extremely balanced lines once Marian Gaborik comes back. How does this look to you?

You’ve got 4 lines that can play in any situation. You could literally run all 4 lines out there one after another and not have to worry about double shifting unless the team is down late in the game. The real question is, what do we do once Prospal and Callahan get back. Who sits? Probably Christensen is the first to go, but after that? It’s tough to justify sitting anyone in that lineup. Though these things have their way of sorting themselves out, so I wouldn’t give it too much thought.

Getting back to tonights game, I really was impressed the way an extremely shorthanded Rangers team took it to the Bolts. Sure, they ended up getting to 2 points, but you can unquestionably say the Rangers dominated the vast majority of that game.

OK, family stuff to do, have a Happy Holidays everyone. Also, I will be doing recaps on the World Junior Championships as that is probably my favorite hockey to watch all year.

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I don’t think the Rangers played a poor offensive game. I don’t think the Rangers played a poor defensive game. I don’t think the Rangers had a poor goaltending effort. I think the Flyers are just that damn good. I mean, seriously, it is almost sickening the wealth of talent that team has assembled. They have offense all over the place, and a guy like Nikolai Zherdev, who was asked to carry this Rangers team a few years ago, is not just an afterthought on a team with more weapons than the U.S. Army.

That’s really all there is to it folks. We got whooped by the best team in the East, arguably the best team in hockey. They have so many weapons it almost isn’t fair.

There are a few things worth talking about. 3 players really stood out to me in a negative way.

1)Michal Rozsival. He was putrid, no other way to put it. it happens, hes played very well outside of today.

2)Marian Gaborik. He looks absolutely lost out there. Hes trying, he really is, but he just cant seem to do anything right. he also looks a bit timid in going to the net which is something ive never noticed from him before. While gabby hasnt had the kind of season he did last year, i think a big part of that can be attributed to his linemates. EC hasnt been very good this year for the vast majority of the games, and Gabby has played 0 games with Prospal or Dubi. Hes not the kinda player that can do it all himself with a million moves, hes a get into the open area and snipe the shot kinda guy, or a breakaway kinda guy. his linemates arent getting him the puck in the position to finish. also, hes been looking to pass a lot more this year for some reason…hes had a ton of really nice helpers this season, most of the primary variety. It would be one thing if Gabby wasnt trying. I think he really is trying out there…but hes just not executing, and hes just….off, on everything he does…he puts the burst of speed on when he should slow down and wait for help…he slows down when he should beat the slower defenseman who is caught flat footed…he goes behind the net when he should take it straight to the goal mouth…etc…

I wouldnt bench him. I would put him with Brandon Dubinsky and either Artem Anisimov or Derek Stepan. 2 guys who can create offense without him and who can help him break out of his funk. Torts did this for a few shifts tonight and the trio looked amazing together.

3)Sean Avery. There was a point in time when Sean Avery was an X factor for us. He used to win us some games with his ability to throw other teams off their game, and then for him to chip in with some offense. Sean doesnt do either anymore. He hasn’t frustrated a team in god knows how long, and even his offensive ability has disappeared. I think he may have run his course here in NY.

That’s all for now, enjoy the few days break!

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The fans were right to chant for Henrik Lundqvist about 6 minutes into the game. Martin Biron was awful. He gave up 2 quick soft goals, and I was frankly astounded that coach Tortorella decided to let Biron stay in the game. Looks like a coach I absolutely love was 100% right once again. Biron picked up the slack as the game went along, making 2 huge saves down the stretch and shutting the ‘Yotes down in the shootout to get his team a hard earned point. But make no mistake about it folks, Birons play gave the Coyotes a free point they did not really deserve to get. I felt the Rangers vastly outplayed the Coyotes for the majority of this game, outside of a few shifts here and there that didn’t last for too long. They played their aggressive forecheck very well, and adapted quickly to the loss of Ryan Callahan. To me the best players all night, and probably all season long, were the trio of Prust, Fedotenko and Boyle. They play so well together, and even in 2′s when they are split up. The best third line in the league maybe?

I also want to comment specifically on one of our third line players. Several days ago I made a post over on the HF Boards where I said this:

Brandon Prust might be one of our most valuable players…
In terms of value to the team, I think Brandon Prust is way up there. He is a legit middleweight, one of the better ones in the league, who can forecheck with the best of them, and has very good hockey sense for a guy who doesn’t have the best hands. Personally this is a guy I would think about including when we talk about our “core”…a guy id like to see in Ranger blue for a long time. I cant remember the last time we had a guy like this…I mean Ryan Hollweg was an OK fighter, but was a detriment to the team because of his constant bad penalties and inability to play the actual game of hockey. Prust is a legit 3rd-4th liner in the NHL who brings his A game every single night, can kill penalties, almost never takes bad penalties, hits, fights….love this kid…easily the best player in the Jokinen deal IMHO.

So, what happened tonight? Following the game coach Tortorella called Prust part of the core. That is exactly what I felt as I wrote the above. Again today his hustle and energy led to a goal. The kid never gives up on a play, plays through injuries, and works as hard as anyone out there. Torts compared Prust to Callahan and I wholeheartedly agree. Prust is exactly like Callahan, but he lacks Callahans hands and offensive talents. It’s the kind of guys you want as part of this team for the long term.

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My DVR decided it didn’t want to record the game. Only the Pregame and the Postgame…I did manage to catch the last 7 mins of the game though and we looked great, but of course 1 7 minutes snippet isn’t going to tell you what happened. So I’ll just skip tonights wrap.

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Want to talk about a hockey filled night for me? I played in 2 games tonight, and I watched 2 games. Its 5am and I just finished, yikes! OK, let’s start with the Blue Jackets game. Really, I felt the Rangers played a pretty damn good game. They may have lost on a fluke goal, but they definitely had the better chances of the 2 teams. You have to tip your hat to Mason who really played an outstanding game, and I am sure he was picked either the #1 star, or the #2 star behind Rick Nash who is easily one of the 5 best players in hockey, and would be one of the faces of the league if he wasn’t playing in such an obscure hockey town. The fact of the matter is, Henrik Lundqvist gave up another soft goal, and really, for 2 years now, it seems like he has been susceptible to giving up softies despite playing some truly remarkable goal for the vast majority of the time. It’s like, for every 10 goals he robs the opposition of, he seems to give them 1 back for free. A fair trade, sure, but very un-Henrik like when you look at his career en-masse.

The second game was a route of the Caps, and there is no doubt the Rangers were the better team here. But, let’s be fair, Varlamov played atrocious, but he was downright amazing compared to the play of the guys in front of him. He got no help whatsoever as the Rangers were simply given the offensive blueline without any attempt whatsoever to stand them up. Tom Poti looked very much like the peanut butter fearing wuss he was during his time with the Rangers. Not to mention Semin, Backstrom, and Ovechkin who really didn’t do much of everything all night. Sure, they hit 4 posts, but 3 of them were in 1 stretch, so the whole “if they went in” argument is moot, because on that one stretch, if 1 went in, the other 2 posts wouldn’t have happened. Maybe the Caps could have had 1 or 2 goals, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. Henrik was outstanding tonight even without the help of those posts. He made the easy saves, and he made the spectacular saves. He seemed far more focused, and really needs to start buckling down if the Rangers plan on making the playoffs this year.

OK, that’s all, I’m hitting the sack! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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