The Rangers played a pretty good game tonight. Not their best, no, not by a long shot. But certainly a game good enough to win. They limited the Cats to under 20 shots, they had quite a few scoring opportunities, and carried the play for much of the game. However screen shots, and some bad bounces led to the Panthers pulling off a win which they really didn’t deserve. As a Rangers fan, seeing our team win countless games they didn’t deserve, it’s hard to fault the Cats for taking the 2 points and running. Heck, those are 2 big points we lost. But, you can’t really be too upset about it. Most nights, we win this one, tonight we didn’t What can you do?

How about the Norwegian Hobbit tonight? 3 more assists for Frodo bringing up his season total to 3 goals and 8 assists for 11 points in 17 games. Over 82 that is good for 53 points. A remarkable pace for a rookie, especially one who only had 1 assist in his first 5. Take that out and it becomes 10 points in 12 games, almost a 70 point clip for the kid. Wow. The thing the kid brings which we lack is creativity. Zuccarello-Aasen and Stepan are without a doubt our 2 most creative players, and considering one is 23 and the other is 20, that bodes well for our future.

Have to feel bad for Anisimov. 1 day after being the hero, he was the goat after deflecting 2 shots into his own net. Still though, the kid is having an impressive sophomore season, and you have to feel once he gains consistency he’s going to be a tough guy to stop.

Considering how negative I was going into this season, it’s really remarkable how far this team has come. Sure, the playoffs are anything but a sure thing. However if you told me the Rangers would have lost almost 200 man games to injuries by the all-star break and still were a top 6 team in the East, I would have laughed at you right to your face. Great first half boys, you’ve made me proud.

Drurys writeup coming in the next day or 2.

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Grinding it out. That’s the 3 words Torts uses more than any others. We have to grind out wins. We have to leave every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears that we have on the ice for every single game. That’s what it takes for this injury devastated team to cling to their playoff spot. And grinding it out is exactly what they did. The Rangers went out there and won one with their cajones. I loved tonights game. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t fancy. What it was, was dirty, nasty, grimy. It was Rangers hockey. As the Rangers get healthier, they may be able to skill it up a bit more while maintaining their philosophy of grinding it out. But as we get more and more injured, we have to get dirtier and dirtier in terms of the way we play.

I LOVE IT.

During the telecast the announcers discussed how the Rangers have put forth a team their fans can really be proud of. You took the words right out of my mouth (fingers?) gentleman. The Rangers play the way you would want them to play. Hard. You seldom see them outworked. Sure, you see them outclassed by some superbly talented teams, but seldom have they been outworked.

HUGE kudos to Marc Staal tonight. Without his running mate Staal played a ginormous game, shutting down one of the best players in the universe with a damn near flawless individual defensive effort. As a matter of fact, I’m sure you may have noticed the Caps trying to run plays away from Staal. The Great 8 a few times cut away from Staals side to go after Michael Sauer, who, like his draft year buddy, played an outstanding game as well.

I can’t wait for this team to get healthy, because as we do, we should maintain the same level of guts, while gaining significant skill.

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Twice a year I get to watch the Rangers play. Usually it involves the Rangers playing their backup goalie, and putting on a horrible display of hockey and seemed to always involve laziness.

Tonight, I finally got to see a gem. No, the Rangers didn’t play a great game, neither did Atlanta for that matter, but what the Rangers did do, was to gut one out. To play their asses off, to work really damn hard, and to find a way to win a game I honestly thought they would lose coming into it. Oh, and they did so while losing a heart and soul player in Brandon Prust, and their 2nd best defenseman in Dan Girardi.

Folks, that speaks volumes to the job coach Tortorella has done with this team. Seriously, ask yourself how many teams can suffer the kind of injuries we suffered, including having 3 of our top 4 scorers from last year being out with major injuries, and still remain very competitive. It also speaks to the job that Jim Schoenfeld has done with Hartford (I refuse to call them Connecticut) and the job that Gordie Clark has done with bringing in quality young kids via the draft. It is only because of these 3 men that we are where we are today. Without any or all of them this is a lottery team thanks to the injuries we’ve had.

Few quick notes. First, I thought Sean Avery had a brilliant game. I know he didn’t show up on the scoresheet, but from the stands it sure seemed obvious he was having a huge impact on the game as the Thrasher players seemed very focused on him instead of the actual play going on. Second, Brian Boyle is having himself a heck of a season. I know that is pretty obvious, but it’s worth mentioning again. His huge year has really helped to offset Gaboriks regression this year. Third, Mats Zuccarello-Aasen is a keeper. I was very skeptical of this kid before he came here, but I LOVE his game. He is always engaged, and plays an extremely smart game. I have a feeling he’s going to be a point a game type player for us in the future as he continues to adapt to this style of play. Finally, I’m ecstatic the Rangers have decided to call up Grachev and MDZ. These 2 guys deserve to be up on this team, and really, we may see a team nearly completely home grown this time next year.

How does this sound?

Dubinsky – Stepan – Gaborik
Grachev – Anisimov – Callahan
Wolski – Boyle – Zuccarello-Aasen
Kreider – Avery – Prust

Staal – Girardi
McDonagh – MDZ
Sauer – Eminger/Valentenko/Kundratek

On paper, that looks like one heck of an exciting team. Maybe not the most skilled, but certainly a good combination of talent and work ethic. I can’t wait.

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This is what happens folks. You don’t want to make excuses for a team, but the Rangers current injury problems constitute a legitimate reason for their play tonight.

Heres the thing…
Boyle with Prust and Fedotenko should compose the best 4th line in the NHL. Injuries force them up and underperforming leftovers down.

When completely healthy this team should look something like…

Dubinsky – Anisimov – Gaborik
Wolski – Stepan – Zuccarello
Avery – Christensen/Prospal – Callahan
Fedotenko – Boyle – Prust

I would sit Drury because, in my opinion, Christensen is more valuable to us than him because he actually has some skill and is lethal in shootouts…also if Prospal somehow plays again he would be the ideal player there.

To me, thats a solid top 12 that can play damn good hockey. The roster we put out tonight is just such a far cry from what we should be if we were healthy. There is nothing more to it guys. Sure, we played awful defensive hockey, but can you blame them with the lineup we had out there tonight? The talent level of this team to start the year was pretty low, right now it’s downright embarrassing.

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I wanted to come on here and just bask in the glow of a major ass whooping. I really just want to go on and on about what a great game the Rangers played. But, even though all that is true, one fact remains. The Rangers are becoming significantly depleted by injuries. Before tonights game the Rangers found out they are losing their best forward this season, Brandon Dubinsky, for 3-4 weeks, then, in the midst of their ass kicking, the Rangers lose Fedotenko, 1/3rd of the best 4th line in the NHL, or one of the best 3rd lines in the NHL for 2-4 weeks.

This is in addition to Ryan Callahan, Vinny Prospal, Erik Christensen, Derek Boogaard, and Alexander Frolov. Not to mention losing Marian Gaborik for a long stretch of games earlier in the year, and losing Captain Cardboard himself (Chris Drury) for much of the season as well. The hockey Gods have not been kind to Ranger fans since 1994, and this season may be the worst we have been treated by them in my lifetime. A team playing so well for most of the season deserves something good to happen to them.

Speaking of Captain Cardboard, tonight he played the most minutes of any forward on the club. But, honestly, outside of the penalty he took for delay of game, I only even noticed he was out there on about 4 other shifts. Drury is done, and I will be writing a scathing piece on the Captains epic collapse into 4th line oblivion later this week.

Henrik Lundqvist got a shutout this year, and it was simply an afterthought. That was how well the Rangers played. Or was it? No, I take that back, that was how AWFUL the Leafs played. Give the Rangers credit, they took what the Leafs gave them, but this was a throwaway game for both teams in my opinion. They played just horribly, and you can’t take any conclusions away from that, at least not decisively.

Good game for Artem Anisimov. 4 point night centering a guy who scored 4 goals and had an assist. Not bad for a kid that will probably be our 3rd line center for the foreseeable future.

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I really don’t need to make a new post game thread do I? I mean, seriously, this was a carbon copy of what we saw last night against the Canadiens. Rangers didn’t bother to show up for 40 minutes, tried to win it with a furious effort in the 3rd and came up short. That’s really all there is to it. The 1 exception being that Dubinsky wasn’t any more awful than the rest, whereas Gaborik was, and was rightfully benched. Other than that, it was the same damn story.

Wake the hell up boys, in this years NHL, you can lose yourself a playoff spot for good with a prolonged losing streak.

One quick note…

Derek Boogaard this season has gotten 2 points in 100:05 played. Or a point every 50 minutes of ice time.

Chris Drury this season has gotten 4 points in 195:52 played. Or a point every 49 minutes of ice time.

Just chew on that for a while.

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I don’t know why I bother watching the games in Montreal. I mean seriously, when was the last time we won there? Rangers basically did not show up for the first 40 minutes of the game tonight. They stood around and looked lethargic, stupid, and undisciplined. They played a furious 3rd period where they gave it everything they have, but I am a firm believer that you can’t win a 60 minute hockey game with only 20 minutes of play.

Let’s also be realistic here, the only reason the Rangers were even in the game going into the 3rd period was because Henrik Lundqvist was out of his frikkin mind. This was one of those games we saw numerous times over the past 3 or 4 years. Basically the team in front of him does nothing, and Lundqvist plays at a ridiculous level to keep them in it.

This was one of the few games this year where you can say unequivocally the Rangers did not give a 60 minute effort. Actually, the very fact that they absolutely dominated the 3rd with a goal 2 goal posts and 20 shots on goal most of which were extremely high quality chances, makes you sick to your stomach because had they come out and played at an acceptable level the entire game, you just knew it would have been a big old W for the boys in blue instead of a costly L.

Brandon Dubinsky had, without a doubt, his worst game of the season. He cost the team momentum with a stupid penalty (granted it was a weak call), had plenty of costly turnovers, and did not do enough to live up to his usual all-star level production we have grown accustomed to. Very bad game for Dubi who should be wearing a letter the minute Drury is gone from this team. I expect a lot more from you Brandon, tonight was unacceptable.

It only gets tougher for the Rangers with a game against the Eastern Conference’s best team tomorrow night. Yikes!

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If the Rangers lost tonight, I would still have been so damn proud of them. I mean, seriously, how could you watch the sheer guts put on display tonight and not be damn proud to be wearing the blueshirt jersey at home on your couch (or at the game for you lucky bastards who live in NY). The Rangers just flat out played their asses off. There wasn’t a single person out there you could point out as not bringing it. To a man they sacrificed their bodies to stop shots, they hit everything that move, they played unbelievable defense, their penalty killing was outstanding, and they outchanced the best team in the NHL by a fair margin by my eyes. Schneider definitely had to make the more difficult saves, and was twice saved by the post (granted the Rangers did score their one goal just seconds after Gabby hit the post).

Henrik Lundqvist was on top of his game, coming back from a good effort against Montreal where he still gave up 1 soft goal. He is once again tied for most shutouts this season, though he did have his point scoring streak snapped at 3 games. He made several strong saves down the stretch when the Canucks pressed, and that is what you need from your elite goalie.

The story of the night though had to be the play of Fedotenko, Boyle & Prust. The trio personified exactly what this team needs to win. They outworked and in my opinion outplayed the best line in hockey by getting their hands dirty and leaving everything on the ice for every shift. The Rangers now have a shutdown line they can match up against the elite lines in hockey along with probably the best shutdown tandem in the NHL with Staal and Girardi. Having the ability to neutralize teams that stack 1 line is extremely important for a team that doesn’t have a ton of offensive talent. If they can get back to scoring their garbage goals, they should be able to keep up this pace despite their crippling injuries.

Finally, I hope Burrows gets at least 2 or 3 games for his gutless spear to Marc Staal. It was a dirty, disgusting play, and he needs to face the consequences. I am with Torts, Staal should have broken his ankle.

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It’s tough to swallow a loss where Henrik gives up a bad goal, where the Canadiens forward admitted to pushing in the puck with his hand, where the Rangers hit at least 2 posts, and where, despite all that, the Rangers really didn’t play all that well.

It’s the last aspect that probably hurts the most. They didn’t play all that hard, they looked disinterested at times, and were flat out beaten to many, many pucks. That is not Rangers hockey. Granted some of that is the sheer speed of the Habs, but a lot of it was the Rangers didn’t show up to play for a lot of this game.

Newly acquired Wojtek Wolski looked very good. He, Gabby, and AA looked to have chemistry from the get go as all 3 had numerous quality scoring chances. On the flip side Derek Stepan may have had his worst game as a Ranger, constantly falling down, flubbing passes, etc. He just didn’t look right…very un-Stepan-like.

I think the Habs did a great job of holding the pucks in at the point, and the Rangers vacated the points far too often when they could have made a play for some loose pucks. All in all, not a great game, but the Rangers still could have eked it out. Let’s see how they fair against a juggernaut in Vancouver on Thursday…I’m not holding my breath on that one.

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