When the Rangers played the Sens last time they had some very different looking lines. This time they matched up with the Sens with a red hot trio of Artem Anisimov, Derek Stepan, and Marian Gaborik leading the way. And did they ever lead the way. Gaborik with 2 goals, Stepan with a goal and 2 assists, Anisimov with 2 assists, and probably should have gotten credit for a 3rd since it was his great play that led to Gaboriks first goal. The line is forechecking like beasts (kind of the opposite of what we saw in Tampa tonight I suppose), creating turnovers, and capitalizing on those turnovers with consistency. The catalyst for the line seems to be Derek Stepan who is playing some truly phenomenal hockey right now. He seems to be on a one man mission to extricate the puck from the opposition, and deliver on the tape to a teammate for scoring chances after scoring chances after scoring chances. The Rangers may not have had many shots on goal, but they sure had quite a few quality chances, including Anisimov basically missing an empty net, and numerous outstanding saves by Anderson.

I did not, however, agree with Torts’ decision to keep flip flopping the wingers on the 2nd and 3rd lines. First swapping Fedotenko and Dubinsky, then swapping Prust and Cally. I think the 2nd line of Dubi with Richards and Cally actually played really well for most of the game. The Boyle line wasn’t bad either, though neither generated much in the way of quality chances, they certainly didn’t play poorly. The same can’t be said for Sean Avery’s line, which looked pretty abysmal out there. One has to wonder why that trio is not broken up and maybe a callup from Hartford, a hungry kid, can’t get a cup of coffee with the team over there instead. Paging Mr. Hagelin.

I think what has really flown under the radar this season is just how well Michael Del Zotto has played defensively. Seriously, when was the last time you can say he had a bad game? He’s had a few average games, but none that would have you shaking your head in disgust. He seems to have learned the importance of protecting your own end, and then jumping in when and if the opportunity presents itself. The kid is very smart out there. I love the way he plays, though I think he may want to look at switching to a more closed bladed stick, only reason I say that is because a lot of his passes seem to be in the air, or wobbly. I had the exact same problem, then I switched from a wide open blade to a closed blade and it helped a ton. Everything was flat and crisp. Granted, I think he knows what’s best for him more than I would, but it’s just a thought.

OK, this will likely be posted sometime tomorrow since my internet is down right now and it doesn’t seem to be coming up in time, and I do need to get to bed! Later all!

Rangers Review | Comments Off

The Rangers had to have this one tonight. No ifs, ands or buts about it. They HAD to have it. Why? It’s simple, they were playing against an inferior team without most of their “name” players. No Antropov, no Enstrom….ok, well, maybe just those 2, but for a hapless team to begin with, those 2 are enough. The Jets had all sorts of injuries to their defense, and already are having issues scoring goals as it is. They were ripe for the picking, and to be honest, the score wasn’t really indicative of the play. Sure, the Rangers didn’t play their best game, but they probably should have had at least 2 more goals if not for some outstanding goaltending by Pavelec who flat our robbed Christensen of a goal, and had several other beauties to go with it.

Marty Biron probably had one of the easiest shutouts he’s ever had. Outside of the goalmouth scramble where every player possible outside of Pavelec himself was in the Rangers crease, Biron really wasn’t tested all that much. The Rangers, again, played outstanding defense, and this is why I don’t buy into the hype that the Rangers need to make a huge move to replace Marc Staal if he is out for a significant time (ie, half the season or more). The Rangers top 4 can match up with anyone, and their bottom 2 are adequate and probably won’t cost the team much in terms of defensive play. Sure, having Staal helps you balance out the minutes, but you can deal with it, these are kids, they are young, they aren’t old and decrepit like my 31 year old body. With that said, you know Girardi needs to see a lighter workload. While I dont have an issue with Torts playing Girardi, Sauer, MCD, and MDZ about 25 mins a piece (leaving about 10-12 mins for the 3rd pair) Dan Girardi should not be playing 30+ minutes a night. It just can’t keep happening. There’s playing a good amount of time, and playing too much time. After a certain point, you start risking the players health.

I really like the top 3 lines the way Torts has them currently configured, but I don’t care for the 4th line at all to be honest. I just think it needs a bit…more. If Mike Rupp is going to be out long term, I think the Rangers should consider bringing up Hagelin to replace Deveaux. Obviously I don’t subscribe to the goon mentality. I’d rather have a kid play 8 minutes a night in Hagelin who you could also utilize on the penalty kill to give higher leverage minutes to guys like Cally and Dubi.

Just my 2 cents anyway. Don’t look now, but the Rangers are 5th in the East, and if they win their games in hand, could be first. Nice!

Rangers Review | Comments Off

On one hand the Rangers played a pretty decent offensive game tonight, scoring 5 goals for the second times in 3 games. On the other hand, they gave up 3 goals, and a handful of posts and crossbars. On one hand the Rangers were able to draw almost double digits in power plays. On the other hand, they were only able to pot 2 goals if you include one that was scored just as a PP was expiring. On one hand the Rangers picked up a win…and frankly, that’s the only hand that matters at the moment.

I usually expound the importance of playing the game right, and wins and losses will follow, but sometimes you gotta take your wins where you can. Don’t get me wrong here though, it’s not like the Rangers played a terrible game. Far from it, at times they looked outstanding, maintaining offensive zone pressure for several long stretches, generating many quality scoring chances, and potting in 4 goals (plus an empty netter) against a Vezina trophy finalist who actually played pretty well. But, the Rangers didn’t exactly put forward a smart 60 minute game. I mean, they did sorta play 60 minutes. The first 20 they came out gangbusters to take the lead. The second they held off the surging Habs, and in the 3rd they more or less shut the Habs down to pick up 2 big points. But, the Rangers didn’t play what you would call a dominating game, and it was a game they probably should have dominated when you look at the Habs and how they are made up right now. Their defense is vulnerable, and while they are still crazy fast and crazy skilled, the Rangers could have pounded the Habs into the ground instead of having to take a beating and retaliate the way they did when Brandon Dubinsky was blindsided by a pretty nasty hit when the Habs player left the bench way too early.

One thing that can’t be ignored was the Rangers got some very fortunate calls their way, including a snowing of the goalie, which I think is a bushleague call to be totally honest. As well as a few questionable hooks, and some pretty blatant penalties they should have been called for but weren’t (Prust boarding one of the Habs in the 2nd period (or was it the 3rd?) comes to mind off the top of my head. So a lot of the good will they got, a lot of their offensive zone pressure, was at least in part attributed to the ice being slanted in their favor. Don’t forget that one when we go back to Montreal, because that house of horrors is going to get some makeup calls pulled their way almost guaranteed.

That’s all for now, I’m exhausted having just finished 4 games in 24 hours myself.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

This was one of those games where, if you didn’t really watch it, and if you are just going by the stat sheet, you’ll flat out have no idea how this game really went. I’d urge you to watch the highlights above if you didn’t watch this game to see just a fraction of the true great scoring chances the Rangers had.

According to the stat sheet the Ducks outshot the Rangers 28-25, and they outhit the Rangers 32-29. But this was not a measurement of quality. This was a sheer quantitative analysis of the game, because the Rangers, it felt like, outchanced the Ducks by a 5 to 1 ratio. These weren’t just good quality scoring chances. These were, holy mother of all that is good and pure how in the hell did Hiller make those saves. Eminger was robbed point blank. Stepan was robbed point blank. Anisimov was robbed point blank. Gaborik was robbed about 3 or 4 times. Hiller may have given up a softie to Woywitka, but he was nothing short of inhuman with the saves he made tonight. To quote a member of the HF boards…

One of the best games I’ve seen against us by an opposing goalie in a loooong time.

It’s absolutely true. The Rangers seemed to control the puck for long periods of time, but rather than just throwing everything at the net, they held on trying to find better scoring chances. Usually I’m an advocate of throwing pucks to the net, getting bodies there and going and getting some ugly goals, but today the Rangers seemed to know they could move the puck with ease and try to pick apart a rather mediocre Anaheim defense. Although the final score may have been 2-1 in a shootout, the truth of the matter is, the only reason this game was close was because of Jonas Hiller. He did to us what Henrik Lundqvist has been doing for the Rangers his entire career. Stealing his team a point they didn’t deserve. Speaking of Henrik, while he only gave up 1 goal, it seemed to me like it was a fairly stoppable shot. Granted, it was a shot through the defenseman, and was perfectly placed, but from that distance, on a wrister, I’m used to seeing Henrik stop those.

The other story of tonight had to be Marian Gaborik who has been going for the jugular all season long. Gabby played like a man possessed tonight, assisting on the lone Rangers goal, scoring the shootout winning goal, and almost willing the team to victory when it seemed like they had come up against a goalie who was in the zone. Frankly, I don’t know of any goalie who could have stopped his shootout shot. Most goalies would have to get up and look for their jock after the shot went in because of all the moves he put on.

The team seems to be playing much better as of late. Could they finally be putting it together? One can only hope.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Ryan Callahan rightfully was the player everyone gushed about tonight. He had an outstanding game, borderline spectacular, scoring 2 goals, nabbing a helper, and leading the Rangers to victory. But the player my eyes seemed glued to tonight was Wojtek Wolski. No, not because of how he cost us the game against the Sens. The reason I kept my eyes on him was because of the way he commanded the play. He seemed to make the right decision with the puck almost every time he touched it, he played a damn hard game, and really seemed to complete the line with Stepan and Gaborik very well.

Granted, he actually played pretty well against the Sens, but of course, that penalty single handedly cost the Rangers the W in my opinion. Wolski didn’t pick up a point tonight, but that trio had a consistent attack, and while the Rangers alternate top line got most of the hooplah, it was the sustained pressure of the top 3 lines that really was the key to this victory, and most importantly, will be the key to the Rangers going forward.

I really liked the top 3 lines of:

Wolski – Stepan – Gaborik
Dubi – Richards – Cally
Fedotenko – Boyle – Prust

The 4th line needs some work. I know that Anisimov had a goal and EC had 2 points, but I wasnt really all that impressed with their play other than on like maybe 2 or 3 shifts….they looked average for the most part, and Deveaux really didn’t do much for me.

Id love to see a 4th line of… Avery – Anisimov – Hagelin. Though you really could just call it a second 3rd line to be totally honest. You’d have 2 guys who are regulars on the penalty kill, an agitator extraordinaire, and you’d let Anisimov play with 2 guys who don’t have feet for hands. Then the Rangers could balance their minutes out a little better. We’ll see though.

The Rangers are now 10 games in and they are over .500. Their leading scorer from last year (Dubinsky) doesn’t have a single goal, and their all-star defenseman has yet to step on the ice. All things considered, the Rangers could be a whole hell of a lot worse off than they are now. But the key here is to not just keep playing the way they did tonight, but to get even better. To play even harder, to generate even more scoring chances, because while they did outshoot and outchance the Sharks, you’d definitely have to say that the Sharks goaltending was pretty awful tonight, and there’s no guarantee those goals go in against a goalie who is more on his game. The Ducks will be a nice test for us.

Rangers Review | Comments Off