N.Y. Rangers: Strong Start Masks Weak Flank

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

Back in the City

NEW YORK RANGERS: You can lead this Tex's Ranger disciple to water, but you can't make me drink the kool-aid.

The Rangers will pay for their lack of physicality

when the Tax Man Cometh in Spring

ICYIM:

NYR: The Coach Who Cried Wolf

In the spate of three games, Tex's Rangers knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks and the Columbus Blue Jackets both on the road, then completed a sweep of their home and home against the Blue Jackets in Saturday night's season opener at Madison Square Garden.

They accumulated six quick points along the way, while doubling up their opponents by a 12 to 6 goal margin.

That's quite a first week of hockey.

Game 1: Wednesday @ Chicago - Season Opener

After a lengthy Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony, the Rangers ruined an otherwise glorious night for Blackhawk fans.  In the days leading up to the season opener, the Miller/Stalberg/Lindberg forward line generated the most concern.  As such, Oscar Lindberg dampened the mood right away with an opening goal at the 1:48 mark of the 1st. 

The Blackhawks finally tied the game at the 14:24 mark.  But he Rangers responded with two more 1st period goals by Kevin Klein and Derek Stepan providing the difference in a 3-2 victory.

Game 2: Friday @ Columbus

MattZuccs opened the scoring, but despite a 1-1 tie through two periods, the Blue Jackets arguably outplayed the Blueshirts.  Columbus, however, was unable to convert on four power play opportunities.   

The Blue Jackets out-shot the Rangers by a 23-16 margin.  In the 3rd period, Brandon Saad's finally converted Columbus' fifth PP opportunity of the game giving the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead.

Columbus then fell apart like wet toilet paper.  The Rangers registered three unanswered goals within span of just 1:14 allowing the Rangers to escape Ohio with their second victory of the season.

Game 3: Saturday @ MSG - Home Opener

An immediate fore-check resulted in three costly Blue Jackets defensive zone turnovers. The Rangers cashed in on all three, and led 3-0 after just 5:48 of play. Two Columbus goals late in the 3rd period gave Tex's Rangers opening night game its 5-2 final score.

When the Rangers have their choreography down, sometimes Vigneault's system is a true marvel to behold.  Look no further than Columbus, whom are regarded as an early Eastern Conference favorite, not to mention one of the Conference's toughest teams.  Yet, the Rangers took them completely out of their game, sparing themselves from Columbus' more punishing style of play.

The above reflects Alain Vigneault's emphasis on effort and proper positioning on defense, effective fore-checking, puck possession, then generally staying ahead of any disruptive physicality with quick decision making and passing, and of course, skating with speed.  He wants his defensemen passing the puck out of the zone quickly, and he wants his forwards in deep.

The Rangers will play well and accumulate many points this season.  I have no doubt they'll be an upper echelon Metropolitan Division force.  But, they will continue sustaining big hits along the way.  Just remember getting hit, exchanging hits, and initiating hits, all effect games differently.

Said another way, my eyes tell me very little regarding the Rangers overall condition has changed.

Vigneault wants to stay a step ahead, but opposing forwards are still following through and punishing his defensemen nonetheless.  The blue liners are blocking pucks, getting pounded from behind, and getting pushed off the puck by bigger forwards.  Teams know it's open season on Blue Shirts.  They know retaliation, for the most part, won't come.

And frankly, Tanner Glass is not the answer - at least not by himself.  Since I'm going there, when do you actually see Marc Staal use his body to separate forwards from the puck?  He poke-checks you death, but he won't hit you, much.  How many times can Girardi get blasted from behind?  How many cheap shots will the Rangers allow their goalie to endure?  I already witnessed my first questionable indiscretion against Henrik that went unaddressed.  The next incident is just a matter of time.

Yet, the Rangers get by defensively with superior positioning, stick work, and quick exits out of the zone.

Right now, everything is great.  But over the course of the season, this style will wear on them, again. Alain Vigneault wants to get things done based on talent, and talent alone.  But I will forever maintain you can't win without a complimentary measure of toughness.

If the Rangers were tougher, they wouldn't have gone as long as they did against the Washington Capitals, whom punished the Rangers, but succumbed to their better coach and collective skill.  By Round Three however, the Rangers were bruised, battered, and spent.  Their forward lines mustered nothing in Game Seven against the Bolts.

Simply put, the Rangers never had the forwards that get deep and punish defensemen off the puck.   Instead, the Rangers forwards are the ones getting pushed off.  When I watch Rick Nash get bumped around, I just shake my head.  He lacks killer instinct in that respect.  He's great when well fed, but left to stalk his own prey, not so much (not for his size and skill).

King Henrik's Taxes:

All this means Henrik Lundqvist will once again be asked to carry the heaviest load, and make 100 saves a game.  That said, Lunqvist (now 33-yrs old) has faced 106 shots on goal, and has stopped exactly 100 through the first three games of the season.

The problem is this:

• Game One - CHI 39 SOG; NYR 29 SOG
• Game Two - CBJ 33 SOG; NYR 25 SOG
• Game Three - CBJ 34 SOG; NYR 27 SOG
• Total - Opponents 106 SOG; NYR 81 SOG

The Rangers are operating at a deficit.

Never too early to do the right thing:

Performance wise, salary cap wise, locker room wise, and particularly fan wise, Dan Boyle has officially become the 800-pound gorilla on the roster.  He is a problem.

Meanwhile, there's a potential solution. Some of what the Rangers lack physically, and on defense, could potentially be addressed by giving Dylan McIlrath regular ice time.  It's not so much a case of Boyle's inadequacies, it's just that McIlrath addresses more important, physical matters that ultimately affect everyone, most importantly Henrik Lundqvist.

And let's face it - McIlrath can't do any worse.  Three games into the season may seem hasty, but this issue has lingered far longer than that.

The Rangers don't have to eat his salary, just make Boyle the odd man out.

N.Y. Rangers: Spanning The Globe For Six Points

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCHNER WITH THE GREATS

NEW YORK RANGERS: The Blueshirst Are Coming!  The Blueshirts Are Coming!  Battered and Bruised, Tex's Rangers Are Finally Coming Home.

A comeback overtime victory over Detroit should come with its just rewards.  Now I'm forced to be fair-minded, and at least afford the Rangers the opportunity of playing a few games at home.

After going into Newark and Philadelphia, and allowing both teams at least one day of wellness at our expense, I was beginning to wonder if we were the Broadway Blueshirts or the American Red Cross.  How ironic I thought considering we weren't allowed to know what ails Henrik Lundqvist, who has been hurt since the Los Angeles Kings game!  And speaking of the King, their is still no contract extension in place.

Outside of another loss, I guess what we got in Philly was a style much more familiar to Rangers fans.  Brandon Mashinter threw haymakers with Wayne Simmonds.  Derek Dorsett and Zac Rinaldo scrapped as well.  A misconduct penalty and a bunch of misconduct minutes highlighted the Rangers night.  Typical Rangers/Flyers, but did it make you feel any better?  I felt marginally better that they at least displayed a backbone, and that Brad Richards scored again.  Almost all his goals have come on horrible angles.  But what ever works for him works for me, as long as he continues to be productive.

Cam Talbot had himself one hell of an NHL debut.  He faced 27 shots and stopped 25 pucks.  His overall performance versus the Flyers was considerably better than the game's final outcome indicates.  For this one game at least, it was a shame the Rangers forward lines suffer from a scoring disability, as Thursday night was no different.

Then the Rangers arrived in Hockeytown last night for the ninth and final game of this road trip through hell.  Cam Talbot faced another 34 shots, and turned away 32 in three regulation periods.  Detroit did not have a shot on goal during the overtime session.  That makes 71 shots faced and four goals allowed, for a .941 save percentage.  That's a good debut by any standard.

If John Tortorella had a dog house for rogue Blueshirts, I'm still not sure what Alain Vigneault's method of madness is yet.  He did publically put Mats Zuccarello (a healthy scratch against Philly) and Derick Brassard on notice though, and has aimed a few choice words through the media at certain unnamed players along the short haul so far.  He just did it with calm in his voice.  Torts was more explanatory with his actions.  As we know, he shared nothing with the media and went through great lengths to not criticize his players publically.  You knew who was riddled with mistakes and who was in trouble when they suddenly disappeared from the ice.

Both Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard responded quickly to Coach Vigneault's chiding.  In fact, three Rangers forwards scored their first goals of the season against Detroit.  Benoit Pouliot, who also has also received an early low grade from Coach scored the Rangers first goal.  MattZooks scored the game tying goal, and Derek Brassard scored the winner in overtime.

The Rangers managed six out eighteen points to start the season.  Okay.  They will have that many more home games to come.  With only fifteen goals to date, the Rangers are currently the least scoring team in the NHL, twenty-five goals behind the Eastern Conference leading Maple Leafs, and twenty-eight goals behind NHL leader San Jose.

Defensively at least, they seem to have plugged-up some leaks.  They have allowed thirty-three goals against, but the rest of the conference is starting to catch up.  Even the two eastern division leaders, Toronto and Pittsburgh, have allowed thirty and twenty-eight goals respectively.

Next stop - Madison Square Garden, with $1 billion dollars of renovations finally complete.  Oh, and by the way, I'm sick and tired of the ticket increases!



Mike.BTB

N.Y. Rangers: Blueshirts Need To Overcome More Than Just Game One

From the desk of:   RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

2012 - 2013

National Hockey League Playoffs

Round Two - Semi Finals

 

BOSTON LEADS SERIES 1-0

I - BOS 3; NYR 2*

*overtime

 

 

GAME TWO

 

NEW YORK RANGERS

vs.

Boston Bruins

FROM

Not The Old Garden
Northside of Beantown

NEW YORK RANGERS - Getting Pushed Off The Puck;
The Blueshirts Needs To Grow Some...Physicality By Game Two.


Now what?  You do not practice NOT taking penalties.  You just try not committing them.  Boston scored the tying goal on a power play.  But that third period shot by Torey Krug was not deflected, nor was Henrik screened on the play.  That's right, I'm going there.  Lundqvist had a clean look.  I'll leave it at that.  The simple solution is to remain penalty free like the Rangers did in Game Six versus Washington.  That's not realistic however, so we shouldn't be making that the issue of Game One against the Bruins.  There are currently more pressing issues conspiring against the Rangers.


Game Two is all about making corrections and adjustments.  So, I hope they learned something from Game One.  That would be to shoot the puck.  Boston out-shot the Rangers 32-20 in regulation time.  That's ponderous to me considering how physically compromised Boston's blue line is, minus three starters.  Even more disturbing, the Rangers were outshot by an absurd 16-5 in overtime.  And if you haven't noticed, getting woefully outshot in overtime has become an alarming trend.  The fact Henrik Lundqvist is 0-3 in O.T. this tournament doesn't concern me nearly as much as getting outshot 8-0 in Game Two, by a less severe 8-6 margin in Game Five against the Caps, and then again Thursday night.  That equates to a 32-11 differential.  On that, I have two points - first, this is a Rangers problem as this occured against two different opponents.  That points directly at Coach Torts.  Secondly, and obviously, your chances for losing skyrocket when you allow that many chances.


In all, Henrik Lundqvist faced forty-eight shots, versus thirty-five for the Rangers.  That's wholly unacceptable, and doesn't even take into account the times Boston hit the post.  Credit the SOG differential to an even bigger problem.  With Ryane Clowe and Darroll Powe out with concussions, it will be hard to match-up size wise against Boston.  Game One proved that, as the Rangers were out-hit, and got pushed off the puck.  As a result, the Blueshirts turned the puck over four times as many (17-4) as the Bruins.  The Rangers also lost the face-off battle, something they did very well against Washington.


If that's going to be the case, the Rangers better start optimizing their opportunities.  They need to keep creating chances like Carl Hagelin and Derek Stepan did in the third period, as the Rangers continue to generate offense from the dots.  This time the Blueshirts picked off a puck in the neutral zone, and as Hagelin arrived at the right circle, connected with Derek Stepan in the slot for their third period goal.  That's been a very successful formula in the playoffs for them.


Rick Nash truly is the 800-pound gorilla on the ice.  In Game One, he led the Rangers with six shots on goal, and by far has more shots in these playoffs than any Rangers forward.  Yet he remains scoreless.  If you recall, Nash had eight shots against the Caps in Game One, then was effectively shut down.  Defenses will target him, as they should.  The Rangers are now 4-4 in the playoffs.  Considering Derek Stepan now has three goals, Carl Hagelin two, and Brassard has nine points, one has to wonder how a few goals by Nash could have improved Blueshirt fortunes.  But as a coach, when you start trying to force feed your star unwarranted opportunities, there are bound to be ramifications and repurcussions somewhere else on the ice.  In Game One, that came in between Henrik's pads.


There was no reason to be double-shifting Rick Nash during overtime - None!  That's 100% on Coach.  As a result, Boston's game winning goal started back in the Bruins defensive zone with a horrible cross ice pass attempt by Derick Brassard trying to force the puck to Nash.  The pass was picked off by Chara and the play went the other way.  Enter Matts Zuccarello, who had little chance of covering Brad Marchand rumbling down ice.  The fact MattZuccs and Ryan McDonagh were switched out of position is another matter.  While something needs to be done in order to get Rick Nash started - agreed - however, I do not think double shifting Nash in overtime was the way to go. Was he a fresh skater?  Perhaps, as he was only appraoching twenty minutes for the game.  But you let the game come to you.  Sound familiar?  You do not force the game where it doesn't belong.  The only reason Brassard's pass was picked off was because Rick Nash was on the ice, and that was John Tortorella's decision to put him there.  That pass should have gone into the slot to Derek Stepan, like they've been doing sucessfully all playoffs long - like in the third period.  However, the coach's  mandate was on the left wing with his stick on the ice.


On a side note, MattsZuccs looked like he was trying to stay away from getting whistled.  Maybe he should have been more blatant by actually bringing Marchand down for a real penalty.  That's twenty/twenty hindsight.  But it could have been a smart penalty.




Mike.BTB