SB Nation - Sean Avery

Rangers News: Morning (or Mourning?) Thoughts

Jim Schmiedeberg — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:20:03 -0000

More photos » by Mike Carlson - AP

"So there I was, nice cushy job at TSN, all I had to do was sit there, smile, and bash Sean Avery. Then Sather calls, offers me this job, and what do I do? I take it. Dumb, dumb dumb."

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There's a storm front coming
White water running and the pressure is low
Storm front coming
Small craft warning on the radio

(Billy Joel, "Storm Front")

As I was reading the John Tortorella quotes from last night, that song just kept running through my head. Things are ugly right now, too many underachievers in the lineup, and it sounds like the head coach has finally had enough.I don't know if you guys were able to see them on MSG, somehow I doubt it, but I caught them on TSN in between periods of the Ducks-Nucks game.

Check out the quotes, courtesy of Ranger Rants:

On the Islanders first goal being a "dirty" goal, one gotten simply by skating hard to the net:

"That we don’t get. There’s horse*$)#@! coverage around the corners, he just brings it around the net. It’s a fluky goal. But we don’t get them."

What’s the remedy for the way the team started in the first period:

"What is the remedy? I don’t know how you want me to answer that."
What do you think you need to do: "Play ^#(^&@ harder."
As the coach, what do you need to do: "That’ll be something we’ll decide before tomorrow’s game."

More after the jump.....

Is this group capable of figuring it out as constituted:

"I’ll tell you right now, the thing that’s unacceptable about tonight’s game and we’re trying to stay positive around here, trying to work our way through it, but when we play like ^*^#@ like that for 20 minutes in a game like this in a back-to-back situation, it’s unacceptable. I’m not even going back as far as a month and are we capable. It’s simply unacceptable. There has to be something done and we’ll see along the way before tomorrow night’s game. We’ll see where we go with them. It’s just simply unacceptable how we started that game. I wish I could give you a ($@#*%# explanation about it. I can’t.

If you click the link above for Ranger Rants, there are also quotes from the players, but its pretty much the standard "we need to be mentally tougher", and "we need to set the pace" stuff we've heard for a month.

TSN has video of some of the Torts stuff on their NHL page.

So will we see changes tonight? What changes will they be? Bobby Sanguinetti is waiting in the wings, will he take Rozsival's spot in the lineup? Are undeserving forwards still going to be given bulks of ice time? I guess we will find out as the day goes on.

Finally,

Rangers Recap: Rangers woes continue, lose to Islanders 2-1

Jim Schmiedeberg — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:49:03 -0000

More photos » by Kathy Willens - AP

5 days ago: New York Islanders left wing Jon Sim (16) tips the puck past New York Rangers defenseman Wade Redden (6) as goalie Henrik Lundqvist of Sweden (30) defends the goal in the first period of their NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Do Ranger players even know this is a rivalry?

Time was, Rangers-Islanders meant intensity, bad blood, emotion, heart. The current edition of the Blueshirts showed none of that, and lost the first of a crucial eight game stretch 2-1 to the Islanders at Madison Square Garden tonight.

Throughout the game, the Islanders fore-checked the Rangers to death, and the home team seemed content to stand still and let the Isles cycle around without so much as a hint of physical play. Eventually this bit them in the shorts when Jack Hillen threw the puck towards the net (a novel idea, one apparently the Rangers will take under advisement), and it bounced off Jon Sim and past Henrik Lundqvist to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead.

Sean Avery tried to get the Rangers emotionally involved as soon as the second period started, mixing it up with Hillen, then again later in the second period. The Rangers need more of this, every night. Ranger fans have begged, pleaded, prodded this team to show emotion, to play with urgency and intensity. It has to come from more players than just Sean Avery, but he just doesn't seem to be getting through to his teammates.

The Islanders tallied what turned out to be the game-winner late in the third, when Blake Corneau scored to give the Isles a 2-0 lead.

Ranger fans voiced their displeasure early and often, with most of the venom directed at the General Manager. The Blueshirts gave them little to cheer about until the final minute, when Enver Lisin scored to break the shutout, but considering it had been well over 200 minutes since the Rangers last even strength goal, to expect them to get another one in less than a minute seemed to be asking a bit much.

Another night to forget for Chris Higgins, who should just be nicknamed "fanned on the shot" because that's all Sam Rosen ever says about him.

Lots, lots more after the jump......

Final Thoughts:

Someone, anyone, explain to me how after the Rangers score to make it 2-1, they take a timeout to discuss strategy, and somehow decide that Michal Rozsival should be on the ice for the final minute with the goaltender pulled.
Speaking of Number 33: 24 minutes of ice time, seriously? Are they that scared of Ilkka Heikkinen?
Marian Gaborik's delay of game penalty in the first period, how is he supposed to stop his momentum after he trips over a players skate and slides into the net?
As someone said in our open game thread, you know the Rangers are playing bad when even Joe Micheletti criticizes them. Joe also said its time for the Rangers to "reassess playing time".
I loved seeing Enver Lisin get that late goal, even though it was meaningless. Lisin was glued to the bench for most of the game again, for whatever the reason, and I liked seeing him get some redemption. Out of all the issues the Rangers have, to single out Enver Lisin is just plain stupid. I can think of at least five players who are a bigger problem than Lisin.
One plus is that it may have been the Rangers best night on face-offs, only Brian Boyle lost more face-offs than he won.
Full marks to the Islanders. Yes, we hate them, but they come to play most every night, and will rarely be outworked. We can't say that about the Rangers.
Props to you guys that were with me in the open game thread, we had over 700 comments, great job by all of you.

I will add the notes and quotes from the Rangers either later tonight or in the morning.

[Note by Jim Schmiedeberg, 12/16/09 10:44 PM EST here are the notes, no quotes tonight]

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES

December 16, 2009 - New York Rangers 1, New York Islanders 2 (Game #33, Home #17)

Click Here For The Official Game Summary

The Rangers were defeated by the New York Islanders, 2-1, in front of a sold-out crowd (18,200) at Madison Square Garden.
New York have sold out 173 consecutive regular season games, dating back to Nov. 5, 2005 against New Jersey; the last regular season non-sellout was Oct. 31, 2005 vs. Montreal (17,697); including the playoffs, the Rangers sellout streak is now at 187 games.
The Blueshirts are now 14-16-3 (31 pts.) on the season, including a 7-9-1 mark at home.
The Rangers won 31 of 51 faceoffs for a 61% success rate; Vinny Prospal led all skaters with 11 faceoff wins and went 11-16 (69%) in the faceoff circle.
Enver Lisin tallied one goal and two shots in 9:14 of icetime; he now has two points (one goal and one assist) in four career games against the Islanders.
Brandon Dubinsky recorded one assist and won 10 of 17 faceoffs (59%); he also logged a season-high 24:28 of icetime.
Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves while starting in his seventh straight game, which ties his season-high.
Dan Girardi notched an assist on Lisin's third period goal and recorded three shots in 22:57 of icetime.
Marian Gaborik led all skaters with six shots and 26:51 of icetime; Christopher Higgins led the team and tied for the game-high with five hits.
The Rangers return to action tomorrow, Dec. 17, when they will face-off against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum (7:00 p.m.), in the second game of a home-and-home set and the Rangers fourth game in six days; the game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.
Prior to the game, the Rangers pre-game skate is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at Nassau Coliseum.

Blueshirt Banter Radio tonight at 8 PM!

Jim Schmiedeberg — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:46:38 -0000

Tonight on Blueshirt Banter Radio, we will be joined first by Leslie Treff from Hockey's Future. Leslie is one of our go-to experts when it comes to Ranger prospects, and what is also going on with the parent club.

Then we will be joined by our friends Adam Raider and Russ Cohen, the authors of "100 Ranger Greats. If you;ve heard them on our show before, you know it's always entertaining radio. You can click the link below to listen to the show and join the chat, or use the player below the link. Hope to see you there!

Blueshirt Banter Radio With Jim and The Mouth on Blog Talk Radio

Kings Gameday: Replacing Wayne & I Heart Cliche

RudyKelly — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:34:10 -0000

Next Game

Los Angeles Kings
@ Vancouver Canucks

Monday, Dec 14, 2009, 7:00 PM PST
General Motors Place

Complete Coverage >

-Not to put a damper on the whole "Kings are in 1st place (and the Ducks are in last)" thing, but I'm still really bummed about Wayne Simmonds. There are injuries that you hate to hear about because it hurts your team (Ryan Smyth), and there are injuries you hate because you just feel bad for the guy. I feel bad for Simmonds. I mean, hes only 21 and he's been the driving force behind the team for 3 weeks, but now his whole season is probably lost. He'll be back in about 6 weeks but it usually takes a lot longer for a player to feel comfortable after a knee injury. Will he still have the same explosiveness? Will he still play with the same fearlessness? I don't know. I'm scared. Poor little guy.

-On the plus side, Simmonds' injury does open the door for yet another call up from Manchester to either play great or get injured in their first game. I really, really hope they end up calling Marc-Andre Cliche for a shot. If you don't remember, Cliche was one of the people involved in the Sean Avery trade and he was the shutdown center for Canada during the World Junior Championships in 2007. I have an unreasonable and unrequited love for Cliche and I am convinced he is going to take Jarret Stoll's place as the shutdown center for the Kings some day. Call up Cliche, so that I may unfairly credit him for fortuitous bounces and concoct elaborate scenarios to justify him staying up with the Kings.

-With Simmonds out I think it's only a matter of time before Alex Frolov is put back alongside Michal Handzus. Terry Murray loves spreading out the scoring and that line is going to look pretty weak unless someone is moved down to shore it up. Oddly enough, I kind of think the Kings should look at replacing Kopitar, not Simmonds. I think Fro and Justin Williams have a lot of chemistry together and the Kings should think about keeping them together. When Smyth gets back I wouldn't mind seeing:

Smyth-Kopitar-Purcell/Moller/Me

Frolov-Stoll-Williams

Parse-Handzus-Brown

Ivanans-Cliche (hooray!)-NOT Harrold

I don't know, just a thought.

Marketing Exec: "Well, we've been at this for 3 days and we still don't have anything. C'mon guys, this is important. If you can't come up with something then I'll find someone who will!" *leaves, slams door

Copy Writer #1: "Jesus, this is ridiculous. Guess we better start preparing our resumes."

Copy Writer #2: "I mean, what does he want from us? We're not geniuses. We've given him 30 different titles and we still can't find one he likes."

Copy Writer #3: "I know. Oh well, I'll put on another cup of coffee. ...Eek!"

Copy Writer #2: "What's wrong?"

Copy Writer #3: "Ahh, nothing, I just burned my hand a little. Boy, that was embarrassing. I think I squeaked instead of yelling."

Copy Writer #1: "Wait a minute... squeak... sequel... I'VE GOT IT!!! LET'S CALL OUR MOVIE 'THE SQUEAKQUEL!!!!'"

Copy Writer #3: " The Squeakquel... why, that's genius! You've done it! We're saved!"

Copy Writer #2: "To The Squeakquel!"

Copy Writers #1, 2 and 3: "Huzzah!" *clink coffee cups together

***

"'Joe,' our driver, was willing. His name was not really 'Joe,' but that's what we'd been instructed to call him. I had talked to the FoMoCo boss the night before, and when he mentioned the driver he was assigning to us he said, 'His real name is Steve, but you should call him Joe.'

"'Why not?' I said. 'We'll call him anything he wants. How about Zoom?'

"'No dice,' said the Ford man. 'It has to be Joe.'"

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I don't know why but that kills me every time I read it.

Prediction: Kings win, 4-2. Goals by Parse, Kopitar, Doughty and Moller.

Rangers Analysis: When Dubinsky Returns.....

NYRBlogger — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:00:22 -0000

by Paul J. Bereswill - AP

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Who will get the boot out of the lineup? Well, considering that forward Aaron Voros has been a consistent scratch, I would assume that one of Enver Lisin, Brian Boyle or Erik Christensen will start to watch from the sky box. Do not get me wrong, each of these individuals have been playing fairly well, surprisingly, but when push comes to shove, Tortorella will most likely not scratch Brashear or Anisimov. I feel as if Christensen has not gotten the look he deserves, only receiving 6:01 of ice-time against the Sabres, leaving Boyle as the healthy scratch for the time being.

Having multiple healthy scratches a night would be a bit ridiculous, so I think it is about time GM Glen Sather rids himself of Aaron Voros--waivers would be the best way to go. There is no need for Voros and his $1 million salary to chew up cap space if he is not even contributing to the team in anyway other than staying out on the ice after everyone else has left for the showers in practice. Voros is useless at this point and that is final. It is time he is waived or in some way, removed.

After watching Drury have yet another tough game Saturday night, I would pick Dubinsky to center the second line and move Drury down to the third. Dubinsky centering Sean Avery and Ryan Callahan is an energy line and I think that it definitely could account for some goals. As we saw on his powerplay goal on Saturday, Callahan is a player that needs to be set-up for his goals, and by that I mean he is not really capable of creating his own chances, but rather an individual who can bury pucks when a linemate feeds him. Both Sean Avery and Brandon Dubinsky can pass, so I think Callahan would benefit from that as well.

All three of these players hit, all three of these players skate, and all three of these players have heart. I truly believe that they can be a combination that, if given the opportunity, that has the ability to become a key part of the secondary scoring, which is lacking from the Rangers' game right now. This would leave Drury on a line with Artem Anisimov and either Ales Kotalik or Enver Lisin. Kotalik has been horrid as of late, so my personal choice would be Lisin. John Tortorella seems to dismiss the fact that Anisimov and Lisin were gelling in the beginning of the season, with both of them being Russian. The two forwards have not played with eachother since the beginning of October.

Dubinsky has only played in eighteen games this season before breaking his hand in Calgary on November 7th. However, the Anchorage, Alaska native is somehow eighth on the team in scoring with just ten points. He started off hot, but leading up to the injury, cooled off. Thus far in his career, Brandon has been an inconsistent streaky player, which John Tortorella pretty much swore he would change. During his time in the linuep this season, I cannot really say that I have seen much of a difference besides the fact that he has been shooting a bit more.

Monday's tilt with the Atlanta Thrashers seems to be the game that Dubinsky will return, but there has been no confirmation just yet. If this is true, the below layout is how I think the Blueshirts' offensive lineup should look against the surging Thrashers.

Higgins - Prospal - Gaborik
Avery - Dubinsky - Callahan
Drury - Anisimov - Lisin
Brashear - Christensen - Kotalik

To The Five Boroughs - Hawks 2, Rangers 1 (OT)

McClure — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:33:32 -0000

More photos » by Paul Beaty - AP

Dustin Ovechkin? Where the balls did THAT come from?

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If you can find anything to complain about from the Hawks from this game...you're wrong. The fact of the matter is, for nearly 64 minutes, the Hawks dominated this game, and the only thing that kept the Rangers in it was Henrik Lundqvist. The one sequence that the Hawks gave Marian Gaborik any room to work with in the first he found an open Chris Higgins who beat Cristobal Huet from the left circle with a perfect water bottle wrister. Other than that, however, the Rangers didn't get a sniff, as evidenced by the 3 shots COMBINED in the third and OT, and totaled 18 for the evening.

In the offensive zone, the Hawks mauled the rangers for a total of 41 shots for the night, and the game would have been out of hand early if not for Lundqvist's heroics. Every line for the Hawks produced offense, and it finally took four Hawks jamming away at King Henrik with 6 minutes left, and on a power play, to finally prod one past him to equal the score, and consequently force the overtime.

Once in OT, the Hawks kept the pressure on, and then came one of the most ridiculous things I've seen at the UC in a long time. Dustin Byfuglien picked up a loose puck at the top of his own rings and led a one-man rush down the ice and slid the puck past Lundqvist for the game winner. Buff has regularly been a whipping boy of this blog, and this play is part of the reason why. Seeing this, we all know he has it in him, and yet he is still quite often a passenger on whatever line he happens to be playing with. It's confounding, but even still, it resulted in my maniacal victorious laughter at the end of the night, so all's well that ends well. Hawks win 2-1.

Observations

The second line of Sharp, Kane, and Brouwer looks quite promising, as Sharp was everywhere tonight, despite not making it onto the score sheet
I TELL YA, DAT HORSA GUY CAN BACKCHECK
Nice to see Troy Brouwer throwing his weight around again
It seemed like the book on Lundqvist was to go high, which the Hawks adhered to, but it led to many, MANY shots over the net and rung off the end board glass. Had they not gotten too cute, the shot total would have dwarfed the 41 that was put up.
The Hawks have only scored 4 even strength goals since the San Jose game.
I cannot believe a game that involved Donald Brashear, Sean Avery, and Ben Eager did not contain a single moment of unbridled numbskullery.

Player of the Game

In spite of Buff's goal, and even though it ended up being a losing effort, there is no denying that King Henrik had the best game of anyone on the ice tonight.

Rangers Recap: Blackhawks defeat Lundqvist 2-1

Joe Fortunato — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:14:10 -0000

More photos » by Paul Beaty - AP

12 days ago: New York Rangers' Sean Avery right, moves the puck down the ice against the Chicago Blackhawks' Marian Hossa in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Chicago, Wednesday Dec. 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

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What can you really say about a game like this? The New York Rangers were dominated for a full 60 minutes, blew a one goal lead late in the third, continuously handed out power plays (which is incidentally how they blew the lead) and lost. I am not happy about this game but I am so numb to this team right now that it doesn't matter.

Chris Higgins opened the scoring with a beautiful goal off of a pretty feed from--you guessed it--Marian Gaborik. But from that point forward the Blackhawks dominated play and literally had continuous pressure on the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist must have read Nick's story about him, because he played the best game I have seen in a long time. Once again the boys let you down tonight Hank.

As usual I have a little bone to pick with John Tortorella who benched Artem Anisimov after a bad penalty in the third but apparently saw nothing wrong with Chris Drury bear-hugging a Hawk in the neutral zone to start the third period penalty parade.

You know as this season continues to spiral out control I wonder when John Tortorella is going to snap. How he can sit there and keep saying "I thought we played well we just didn't get the result" is beyond me. He needs to do something, make a point, make a stand. Maybe Michael Rozsival should have been scratched for Ikka Heikkinen.

As for you Glen Sather maybe you should do something, and if you are trying to do something then try harder please. You have watched this team for 30 games, please do something.

Empty Netters:

Why is John Tortorella putting Chris Drury and Michael Rozsival out there on the power play. If you don't want to score on the power play John just decline the penalty.
Did you laugh out loud when Joe suggested that Drury would score in OT because he "scores clutch goals"? I did.
Marian Gaborik trys to hard to help this team. He got back before Matt Gilroy did on the game winning goal, it says something about his character.
Tell me Tortorella isn't losing this team after that game? Did you see all of those penalties in the third? The old Tortorella would have had someone's head on the bench and then taken his anger out on the media.
Also I am beginning to re-think this Sean Avery on the first line thing. He doens't have the scoring touch to help Gaborik produce and since no one else is scoring other teams are blanketing Gabby thus Avery can't make him room.
Jesus this team has problems.

I'm done. Vent please.

Rangers GameDay: News and Notes, Scouting the Blackhawks

Jim Schmiedeberg — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:28:36 -0000

More photos » by Paul J. Bereswill - AP

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Some news and notes heading into tonight's game with Chicago:

The NY Daily News today talks about Sean Avery going back to the top line:

The initial reason was that a two-game audition on the first line for Artem Anisimov showed the rookie center, while improving, isn't ready to handle that sort of two-way responsibility.

After initiating "a couple of very pointed conversations" with Avery in recent weeks, Tortorella also believes the agitating winger has responded by rediscovering his aggressive and grating style to play his most effective hockey of the season over the last several games.

Granted, the first line has not played up to speed the last two games, but is two games a fair assessment of a rookie's ability to play as a first line center?

For better or worse, looks like Wade Redden will be ready to play tonight against Chicago:

USA Today MVP Poll now has Marian Gaborik at the top, moving up from number 4. Of course this always raises the old question of "can a last place (or close to it) team really have the MVP of the league?"

More after the jump........

Rangers and Blackhawks head-to-head

	STATS
29	GP	28
14	W	18
14	L	7
1	OT	3
29	P	39
0.500	P%	0.696
2.79	G/G	2.93
3.03	GA/G	2.18
20.2	PP%	21.4
83.9	PK%	84.5
29.1	S/G	32.0
29.9	SA/G	24.4
47.5	FO%	53.5

As you can see, the Rangers have their work cut out for them tonight.

Blackhawks Notes:(courtesy of NHL.com)

After fashioning an eight-game winning streak last month, the Hawks have struggled to regain their groove. Chicago has lost three of its last five games, and much like the Rangers, the Blackhawks' offense, too, is struggling. The Hawks have yet to win in regulation since that eight-game stretch, while scoring only seven goals in the process. An obvious source of concern might be Patrick Kane. While the winger has been setting up teammates, Kane is nearly three weeks removed from his last goal, a game-winner against the Oilers on Nov. 21.

With the exception of longterm injuries to Adam Burish and Dave Bolland, the Hawks will have a full lineup Wednesday.

Patrick Kane's seven-game goal-less streak is his third of five games or more this year. While they are not the longest stretches of Kane's career -- he endured a 12-game drought last December and January -- and Kane does have five assists over his current dryspell it is still a worrisome trend for the Hawks. Kane only had three goal-less streaks of five or more games all last season.

NFL Ruins historic ad campaign for Blackhawks and Bears (Puck Daddy, Yahoo Sports)

Marian Hossa "slowly getting there" (Chicago Trib)

Gaborik the focus of Blackhawks attention (Chicago Breaking News)

For more on the Blackhawks, check out Second City Hockey, the SBNation home of the Chicago Blackhawks

Something new I am going to throw into these previews, just for fun:

SweaterRating: A

Original Six teams always lead the pack when it comes to hockey sweaters, and the Hawks home reds have always been among the best in the league. They also get props for a great Winter Classic sweater.

Blueshirt Banter Radio Live at 8 PM with Emile Francis and Gilles Villemure!

Jim Schmiedeberg — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:56:40 -0000

Emile "The Cat" Francis

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Remember tonight at 8 PM, we will be on the air live for Blueshirt Banter Radio. Tonight our guests are Ranger legends Emile Francis, and surprise guest Gilles Villemure. Emile was a player, coach, and GM for the Rangers, and Villemure was an All-Star goalie for the Rangers, and shared the Vezina with teammate Eddie Giacomin in 1971. You won't want to miss it when we talk to Ranger Royalty, tonight at 8, only on Blueshirt Banter Radio!

As always, you can click the link above, and join the live chat during the show, or listen right here:

Rangers Recap: Detroit 3 Rangers 1

Joe Fortunato — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:08:35 -0000

More photos » by Paul J. Bereswill - AP

15 days ago: New York Rangers goalie Steve Valiquette (40) makes a save against the Detroit Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg (40) during the first period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

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Well you can't say that they didn't have their chances. The New York Rangers had every opportunity to win this game and they simply didn't. I can cite Sean Avery botching a wide open net on one of the Rangers 4 power plays (3 of them late in the 3rd).

Marian Gaborik didn’t get a shot on net for the first time all season (I believe someone check that for me) which was a small problem but he did set up a few plays that (obviously) didn’t go in.

Honestly the bulk of this game falls on Ryan Callahan and Chris Higgins. I don’t care how many scoring chances they are generating or how well they are playing them not scoring directly lead to this Rangers loss. Callahan didn’t convert a penalty shot and he also flubbed a semi-breakaway. Higgins couldn’t finish two brilliant chances all alone in front and he also missed a breakaway opportunity. I have said this before and I will say it again: them not scoring goals are costing the Rangers games.

Also Jim brought this up after the game: once again when the Rangers relied on Chris Drury he let them down. He took the final face-off of the night (and definitely the most important) for the Rangers and lost it clean. When he is not winning face-offs he is useless and he proved that again tonight, 2 goals so far this season is a horrible thing for me to have to look at night in and night out.

As for Henrik Lundqvist I don’t really know what to say. He was brilliant all game except for one mistake which coasted the Rangers. Looks like the Rangers of old eh? They can’t score, they play well and they lose yet another 1 goal game.

This is way too important for the “empty netters” section below so here it goes. Stephen Valiquette (remember him) was sent down to the minors to find his game after a relatively disastrous season so far. Well his game isn’t in Hartford either. So far he has started both games and been pulled from both of them but not before giving up 10 goals in what amounts up to three periods. This is slowly turning into a HUGE problem for the Rangers, who now don’t have a viable option to run with as a back-up. Keep an eye on this one because we may see a shake up soon.

Empty Netters:

Michael Del Zotto played the most minutes of any defenseman on the team and has handled his step up in ice time very well. He is easily the best defenseman overall on this team right now.
Even when Gaborik isn’t playing well (and this was by far his worst game as a Ranger) he is still noticeable and makes a difference when he is on the ice.
Enver Lisin has one of his best games as a Ranger tonight, good for him we need him to step up.
Erik Christensen is making a successful start to his Rangers career. He is awesome on face-offs which has helped the Rangers massively. (Maybe you should take notes “Captain Clutch”)
Also it should be noted that it is looking more and more like John Tortorella has lost this team. He better turn this around soon before things get worse.

Nothing else to say about this, it was a rough game to accept. Vent out in the comments.