Friday, April 1, 2011

41-32-5: Shame


The word embarrassment will be bandied about quite a bit in the next few days in reference to the Rangers' 6-2 loss to the Islanders. Embarrassment is the shame you feel when your inadequacy or guilt is made public. Shame is a painful emotion caused by a strong sense of unworthiness, or disgrace. This was not embarrassment, the Rangers inadequacy has been on display all season long but many were willing to ignore it for a few points in the standings. This was shame. What the Rangers did was disgrace their jersey and the passion and faith of their fans.

It is well acknowledged that the rivalry with the Islanders has cooled as the Isles have become one of the doormats of the NHL. But that doesn't mean that there isn't one. And the Rangers played the Isles they would play the Blue Jackets. Or the Sabres. In fact, the Rangers played much the same game in Buffalo that they did on the Island - they gave far less than 100% and played like garbage. The difference is where the Sabres sat back, the Isles pressed and pressed and pressed. They dominated the way a NHL team would dominate an AHL side, you know the way the Rangers should have dominated the Sound Tigers.

Having grown up on the Island, my loathing for the Islanders comes close to that of the Jews for the Nazis so you could say that I don't care for them. And bearing witness to this beating was unpleasant to say the least. Where I would normally re-watch the game to fill in blanks I would rather have my teeth pulled, sans anesthesia. So feel free to help out in the comments ...

Notes:

*Good friend of the blog Eric - of NHL Live infamy - turned to me and said that the first five-on-three would be the turning point in the game. Personally I felt that the second one was. Even though the Rangers escaped the first period ahead 1-0 I turned back and asked 'why does it feel like we have already lost?' And then the second period proved it.

*Earlier in the day Pat Hoffman posted an interview with me where I lashed out at Tortorella and I hope that these back-to-back results have ended the illogical Jack Adams talk. He is a blowhard who has shown little ability to make his team successful. Seventy-eight games in and the power play is just as pathetic as it was at the start. Seventy-eight games in and the team is still as inconsistent as they were at the start. Seventy-eight games in and Torts still scrambles the lines at the first sign of struggle. As I wrote to Pat, that Torts is a character has little to do with the players having character.

*The only player to show any in this one was Sean Avery. Sean was the one Ranger to come out hard and battle every shift. Of course, he ruined it all by fighting Micheal Haley. Avery wouldn't throw down with David Clarkson a few years back because Clarkson was a 'minor leaguer.' And tonight he got his ass handed to him by Michael Haley. If that isn't a sign of how Torts has screwed with our sparkplug I don't know what is.

*That was the second of four fights in this disgrace. That the Rangers threw down well after the result was settled was shameful. That the Rangers lost three of those four fights was even worse. Dubi beat up Jack Hillen, Avery lost, Fedotenko was on the worse ended of his bout with Dylan Reese and Zenon Konopka landed more than a few on Brandon Prust.

*Trevor Gillies scored for chrissakes. Trevor Gillies.

*Second game in a row that the Rangers dominated at the faceoff dot and were dominated by the other team. Just sayin'.

*Nice hit by Marian Gaborik on Frans Nielsen. It was like Gabby waited for Nielsen to turn into the boards before hitting him. What an idiot. We can only hope that the Slovakian Slacker gets suspended because the team - as a whole - was far better when they were without their "sniper."

*Hank was horrid, again. Back-to-back games where he allowed goals on shots that he clearly saw come off the stick. Unacceptable.

*Mike Sauer and Ryan McDonagh played like rookies. Anisimov, Christensen, Girardi, Callahan, Gaborik and Prospal (goal aside) all played like garbage.

*Even though you really risk getting tetanus at that atrocious building they call an arena, the Garden brass has a cause to be worried. Ticket prices are coming down in that dump and are far cheaper than in the city - even when you figure in the outrageous $10 to park. How pathetic.

*Third period, Rangers down 4-1 and on the power play and Bryan McCabe was coasting around the ice. So happy we added this career loser to help out.

*Mats Zuccarello had no place being in the NHL right now. We may be big fans of the little guy but he couldn't handle the puck, he refused to shoot it and he was outmuscled all over the ice. Torts benching him took away whatever confidence he had and now his presence is pointless.

*New York City subway hero Joe Lozito was honoured early in the third period. The Islanders stood on their bench, banging their sticks. The Rangers sat slumped on their own bench, barely paying attention, completely and utterly out of it. Summed up the entire evening.

*PHW Three Stars
3-P.A. Parenteau - one goal and one assist.
2-Radek Martinek - one goal and one assist.
1-Al Montoya - 25 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Dylan Reese - Who? Three assists, +4 and a fight edge out Blake Comeau's goal, +3, 5+ minutes of shorthanded time and team-high four takeaways. That shorthanded time would be more impressive if the Rangers power play didn't suck.
2-Parenteau - Nothing like sticking it to the team that unceremoniously dumped you and said you couldn't cut it in the NHL, is there?
1-Jack Capuano - Second straight game that the opposing coach made Torts look even more awful than he already is. JackCap had his team ready to play their most important game of the season and he didn't let them rest for one minute. Sure he couldn't keep their composure late but by then it didn't matter - if anything, the beat downs added an exclamation mark to the occasion.

8 comments:

NYR34 said...

Well, my bad for having you along to this one, since this night was all around lousy, huh?

I am still enraged at how this one played out like a trifecta of maximum satisfaction for Isles fans:

1. Hank gets chased with an awful performance.
2. Sean Avery gets his ass handed to him on Mausoleum ice, to the tune of ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man".
3. 2004 1st rounder castaway Al Montoya gets first star (even though he didn't deserve it).


I'm still wishing this whole thing was actually a bad April Fools joke, in which our organization thought "what's the most amount of excitement we could possibly bestow on their fans tonight?"

Anonymous said...

Scotty, thank you for continuing to recognize how awful Tortorella is, despite the rest of the media buying into his smoke and mirrors.

jack adams? what a joke.

Facts are facts.

as you said, game 78 and the power play is as bad as it was on day one, and he is experimenting last night with zucarello at the point.

sad.

Anonymous said...

SCOTTY, Turn out the lights.....the SEASON is over..the Rangers will lose ALL 4 remaining games(in regulation,too)and end the season on a 'pitiful' 6 game LOSING streak!!!!!!DO YOURSELF A TREMENDOUS FAVOR....DON'T RENEW YOUR SEATS!!!!ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!.....AMEN

Lorenzo said...

Scotty,

Thanks for keeping it real on a game by game basis. I thought this team could sneek into the playoffs as the 8th seed and it looks like they won't get in.

The Islander season was last night, and they came to play. While the Ranger season is on the line they looked like the team playing out the string.

Just a disgrace.

Well only 4 more to go & you have to wonder how they play out - I'm thinking 1-3-0, and miss out again.

Anonymous said...

I agree with most of the assessment here, except the fact that Hank was horrible "again"? He let up 1 goal in Buffalo! How is that horrible? We expect greatness out of him, because he's the best goalie in the NHL, but he's also human too. That Connelly shot was a SNIPE, and it caught him by surprise. How he played a bad game is beyond me.

Secondly, although you're quite the negative man, your opinion about Tortorella is spot-on. His line juggling is one of the most comical, insane things I've ever seen. Also, his misuse of Sean Avery is also insane. The guy averages about 6 minutes a game on most nights, yet he'll give Zuccarello (who I agree, doesn't deserve to be in the NHL) 3x the amount of minutes.

Our Power Play is nauseating to watch. Literally, stomach churning, to the point of needing Pepto Bismol after watching it. I'd rather see 5 on 5 hockey than see the Rangers get a Power Play.

Gaborik is disgusting to watch this year. He padded his stats by scoring at will against awful teams, and has done next to nothing the entire rest of the season. Every time he gets a great scoring chance, he shoots a shot horrifically wide, or directly into a goalie's pads. If I were the coach, I'd have him take 1,000 shots a day at targets, until he was shooting lights out.

In conclusion, I pray we don't see a 2007 or 2008 New York Mets collapse. The Rangers had the playoffs signed, sealed, and delivered, now we're on the verge of blowing a 7 point lead and missing the playoffs altogether, which would be "just about right".

KellyR24 said...

Scotty,
You were right not to re-watch this one. Micheletti was as bad as the Rangers! I kept yelling at my TV to get him to shut up..wish that could actually happen.

Anonymous said...

Scotty O,
Glad to see you got your tetanus shot before the game. I've been to so many games at Le Mausolee that I got the clap. question: why does Botta blow your doors as far as number of comments?
Love ya bro ...
Jerome

Anonymous said...

that don't deserve to be in the playoffs and with Carolina winning last night its not looking to good... at least Baseball season is right around the corner..............