Tuesday, October 19, 2010

1-2-1: Dreadful


You can look at the Rangers' 3-1 loss to the Avalanche (and the next month of action) one of two ways:

1- What did you think would happen? Marian Gaborik, Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal - arguably three of their most valuable forwards are injured. Without them, well, the Rangers can't be expected to compete with healthy, skilled, well coached teams.

2- Even without the injured trio, the Rangers still have Henrik Lundqvist and that makes them competitive against anyone. If only a few breaks went their way ...

I, as you surely guessed, refuse to use the crutch that is the first option. But, that being said, the players who aren't hurt and the coach who runs their bench have to come together and give Lundqvist something to work with. You make your own luck and on this evening the Rangers did not. Desperately grasping at the straws of the barren cupboard of forwards, Tortorella slapped together some lines that were utterly devoid of chemistry or capability. The Rangers had no idea of where their teammates were, had no idea what do to with the puck the rare times they had it and were completely outworked by the younger, hungrier Avalanche squad.

The box score, in it's black and white way, allows an observer to say that it was just a momentary mental/defensive/whatever lapse in the third period that gave Colorado two goals in 26 seconds and decided the game. But it was so much more than that, and so much more painful. Sure it was just the fourth game of the season but it was just the fourth game of the season - how can the team already be so far off the message and look so disorganized?

Notes:

*Without Hank, the Aves would have put up a 10 spot. He was surely culpable in the goals he allowed but the barrage of good scoring chances he endured was ridiculous.

*We knew that the defense would be bad, but really, who thought it would be this atrocious. As in the days when they were saddled with the incompetence of their partners Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi are regressing. They are trying to do too much and end up doing far too little. Rozy is still far from the player he was when Jagr was here and Michael Del Zotto simply does not know how to play his position. The third pairing of Steve Eminger and Hobey Gilroy isn't fit to play in the AHL, much less the NHL. How and why Tortorella insisted on bringing them back again after the Toronto game is utterly beyond me but the two should be sent to Greenville ASAP. Reinsert the quietly capable Mike Sauer and either re-sign Anders Eriksson (who I believe was released from the Isles) or bring up one of the kids from the Pack. Eminger is a journeyman for a reason and Hobey was a great college player but is not a NHL caliber guy - at least not yet.

*The lack of chemistry was painfully obvious. Colorado would skate as a unit to gain the zone, moving together with smart, short passes and some actual puck carrying. The Rangers just kept panicking and going back to their classic dump and change - not dump and chase. Not to mention the utter incompetence of the power play unit. Different year, same complaints: no decisive QB, telegraphing passes, painful shot selection (if there is a shot at all) and no one battling in the crease.

*If Mark Messier can't teach the Rangers how to win faceoffs, how do you people expect him to take over the GM job and run the organization? The centers couldn't win a draw to save their lives and it allowed the Aves to dictate the play from the drop. Being at home is supposed to give you an advantage at the dots ...

*Chris Stewart is everything I had hoped Brandon Dubinsky would be when they moved him to wing. Instead Dubi mucks about in a north-south game looking to pass to guys who can't finish. He should be the finisher, a power forward willing to drive to the net.

*When the Rangers were bored and listless and going through the motions with it tied at one, it woulda been great to see Derek Boogaard go out there and make something happen, huh? And his intimidation factor is so great that it, like totally, stopped TJ Galiardi from boarding Dan Girardi, right? Oh wait, it didn't and MDZ took a retaliation penalty that negated a Ranger power play (not that they wouldn't have blown it like the other five, but still).

*I honestly did not notice Erik Christensen was in the lineup until the 16 minute mark of the third period. I did notice Todd White several times and thought that seeing that 12 jersey skating around doing nothing was awfully familiar of too many nights last season - when both Kotalik and Jokinen donned the digit.

*All of you guys who tore me apart for being critical of Arty Anisimov, are you finally seeing what I saw from day one? For his size he can be pushed off the puck 99 percent of the time by a strong gust of wind. His skating is lacking - he kept falling down in this one. And he simply doesn't have the drive. Call me Don Cherry but it is a trait shared by fellow former communist Alex Frolov. Frolov seems to believe that doing the same move 18 times coming out from behind the enemy net will somehow have a different result some day. The bottom line is that both of these guys are obviously talented but they just don't seem to have that extra oomph that would make them reliable night in and night out.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Alex Frolov - one goal.
2-Craig Anderson - 31 saves.
1-Chris Stewart - two goals.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Hank - Two of the three goals against came when shorthanded. Its been said before and will be said again - the Rangers are wasting away what appears to be the prime of his career.
2-Paul Stastny - He doesn't have the flair that his dad seemed to have but he certainly has the grim determination and will to win. Stastny was battling all over the ice and had no trouble taking his fight to Hank's doorstep.
1-Stewart - Prior to the game I pointed out to a friend - a lapsed Avalanche fan - that Stewart was the hottest player on the Aves entering the evening and he proved me right. The strides that he has made in his career have been remarkable and, judging from what we saw tonight, he still has yet to reach his peak.

20 comments:

mike said...

OK--now the other day Drury was going to "screw up any chemistry" the Rangers have....but now he's a valuable forward whose injury hurts the team. Which one is it? You've lambasted him for being a shit captain and a mediocre player, but you know what? This team needs him.

The kids are not regressing--maybe they weren't that good to begin with. Girardi, Dubinsky, Callahan--where have any of them been this season? At least Staal makes his share of solid plays before his inevitable turnover...

And once again Lundqvist was so distraught by giving up the 2nd goal that he wasn't concentrating on the 3rd. Again, I know the Rangers are terrible in front of him on most nights, but how many times will he give up cheap goals on the heels of an earlier goal? How many times does he spit back leads in the third period?

I'm not going to freak out yet though--look at how badly a good start has worked out for the Rangers in recent years.

mike said...

Next point--your hatred of Anisimov is so irrational that you are incapable of judging his game. For a guy who supposedly sucked last night you neglected to mention that he had the Rangers' best 3rd-period chance while the game was still tied 1-1. A couple of bounces the Rangers way and this game would've gone to OT--they hit two posts and both Frolov and Artie caught weird bounces on rebounds with semi-open nets waiting in front of them.

Calling him and Frolov Communists is a cheap shot, I'll bet good money that at least one of their families suffered under that regime while it lasted, but you feel like it's good material for comedy. Maybe you should lay off the ethnic insults for a while, that sort of shit went out with the last century. They weren't funny with Gomez or Antropov either.

You're slippin', Scotty--you need to relax. That's why people go to the relatively inferior Blueshirt Banter these days....

Anonymous said...

I'm just glad we have Boogard there. He's doing so much better than Orr would have playing 1/3rd of the minutes for half again more money. Sathers death in a Fire cannot come soon enough.

-Sather Die in a Fire

OUCH said...

whoa...that was depressing.

This team is bush-league...

Anonymous said...

Scotty is absolutely right about Anisimov. He is beyond soft, he gets pushed off the puck EVERY time he temporarily has possession, he's not good on faceoffs (although he did win one to open the third period). Quite simply, he's a terrible player and should never have been counted on to produce points for the Rags. Now I can say that about many other players, too, but that's besides the point. A couple of bounces here and there and it's a different game? Baloney. Scotty is tight again when he said you make your own luck. 4th game of the season and we get this? Feh!

-Pavelich

Anonymous said...

A couple of bounces in a 1-1 game usually do make a difference, actually....

Dennis said...

I never realized how slow Del Zotto was. The way he struggled to get back on some of those breaks I had to do a double take that it was a 4 on his back and not a 33.

Nice to see the good old Ranger PP is back where they just keep pushing the puck down low and shoot at the side of the net. When will they learn to shoot from the point? Cowards all of them.

Anonymous said...

As an Islander fan, I really hope Sather continues his reign as Rangers GM. He has done a wonderful job of developing young talent and signing quality free agents to reasonable, cost efficient contracts. Keep your heads up Ranger fans, the future is bright as long as the venerable Sather, the architect of five Stanley Cups in Edmonton a lifetime ago is at the helm.

Faraway Fan said...

Lundqvist, Avery, Avery, Lundqvist, Lundquist, Avery..wait, NO comment about Avery? What's up with that...aren't he and Lunqvist the only Rangers worth something? Drury is no good, Dube is no good, you told us about Artie. First it was Redden, now its Rosival. I agree with Mike, you do need to relax. And you can't tell me those guys respect the water bottle throwing, beat you up at the bus stop coach. His tirades don't seem to be working yet this year. He's doing a great job so far....Sickening, and YOU Scotty make it all the worse bashing the guys left and right. True Blue? Sure you are...

Sammael said...

I wouldn't say that Callahan and Dubinsky have been absent... Dubi already has a few points in 4 games, and Cally always hussles out there. I think they get a pass.

Avery needs to wise up, he has to stop with the meaningless penalties, but he did redeem himself after getting out of the box against Toronto.

Frolov has not impressed. At all. I never notice him out there.

I don't know how I feel about the rest just yet, but this team sucks. I am getting a '93 vibe from them. And not the half of '93 that got us a cup.

Pete said...

Regarding that obtuse "a couple of bounces" statement: those kind of statements are just crap. I mean, sure it's "true," just like if a couple of things went differently for me, I'd be a millionaire...or I'd be a crackhead. Like my Dad use to say "...and if the Queen had balls, she'd be King." Yes, I think we can all agree that if things were different, then they'd be different.

The upsetting thing is that this kind of tripe also floats around the locker room after games. It's the type of feel-good statement that takes focus away from people who aren't working hard, or hard enough, from the head office down to the guys on the bench.

I also think that Dubi is working hard at making something happen (tied at 5 with Avery for most shots in the last game, i believe), but I can understand the disappointment factor with his development into a marquee player, which is to say that he isn't developing in that way. But I still say he's one of the few guys showing SOME effort out there, and that should be applauded, if you're grading on a curve. And let's face it, with this team, this year, you're going to have to grade on a curve, or you might as well not watch. It is NOT going to be pretty.

Pete said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mike said...

What is a puck bouncing off a goalpost then, if not a bad bounce? It's not tripe or speculation, it's reality. And in a 1-1 game a bounce DOES make a difference.

I understand the point you're trying to make here, but come on--internet tough guy acts get so goddamned stale. If the team makes you and Scotty suffer so much go do something else with your time or acknowledge yourself as masochists.

Scotty Hockey said...

We're Ranger fans, of course we are masochists.

Pete said...

Internet tough guy act? Aren't you the guy who started this whole conversation by posting two drawn out comments about how the author of this blog is being petty and is "slippin'?"

All I was doing is pointing out that your line of thinking is flawed. You can't look at the luck of the situation and say that it is the pivot point between a good game and a bad game because luck is the same for everyone. Games are decided by skill, which offsets luck in one way or another.

And you completely misinterpreted my final point. While any sports fan is saddened when his team is shitty, I am intentionally trying to look for the good parts of this team night after night, in order to not be the suffering masochist that I would be if I wrote the team off completely and saw nothing but gloom and doom. In that regard I think Scotty might see things differently from me, but he quite literally has more invested in this team this year than I do, and I can understand his disappointment and/or outrage if this team winds up being a complete suck hole this year.

mike said...

Pete--Actually, I was using reason to detail my problems with Scotty's assessment of the Rangers in general and Anisimov and Drury in particular.

Nowhere did I use profanity to describe my problem with Scotty's writing; rather, you are the one who used terms like "crackhead" and lame jokes that referenced "balls" in order to belittle my statements. So to clarify things here--I made no personal attacks on Scotty, but you felt the need to defend him with weak cliches that depended on the crassness of their language to make your point.

Way to go. I stand corrected, you're not a tough guy at all.

Scotty Hockey said...

Children, children. Keep it civil.

Anonymous said...

Very much appreciate what you're doing here!

Pete said...

I'm sorry if my crassness offends anyone's delicate sensibilities. The boys at the Harvard club would never forgive me for being such a boor. Just yesterday I was playing squash with Buffy and Chad and chad told me I was downright churlish for my use of vulgar language on the polo fields a fortnight back. But never before has a chastisement cut me to the quick as this. I will truly seek to nevermore be such an uncouth lout.

Go, ye Rangers! Give 'em heck!

mike said...

Actually the only thing I'm offended by is your lack of wit.....