21-16-4: Rope-A-Dope

Dan Girardi's overtime goal gave the New York Rangers a much-needed victory over the evil Islanders on Saturday night in Nassau. After watching that at the Flying Puck I ventured up to Radio City to watch some boxing, Nonito Donaire vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux. Rigo ended up winning by decision, an upset to uninformed fans of the fight game.

Heading home from the bout I began thinking of the Ranger game as a boxing match and found the best characterization was the classic rope-a-dope. For those who don't know the sweet science, Wiki explains what the rope-a-dope is:

"The rope-a-dope is performed by a boxer assuming a protected stance while allowing his opponent to hit him, providing only enough counter-attack to avoid the referee thinking the boxer is no longer able to continue and thus ending the match via technical knockout. The plan is to cause the opponent to 'punch himself out' and make mistakes which the boxer can then exploit in a counter-attack."

Pretty much sums up the Ranger/Islander game quite well. The Blueshirts largely sat back, outworked and outchanced by the Isles. Hank absorbed punch after punch until the ice opened in OT and Girardi slid down the wing, exploited Josh Bailey's blunder and scored the winner.

It was the necessary result, but it sure wasn't pretty and it doesn't bode well for the future - as we saw last season, all of those punches take their toll. Hank, McD, G, Cally ... all of the principle players are getting ground down long before the final bell and an ugly knockout is on the way unless Torts finds a new philosophy that works.

Just a few Late Hits:

*Both pugilists were saved by the bell once, or rather the ringing of the puck hitting the iron. Ok, I'm done with the boxing analogies - but they do work.

*Girardi's goal came after Derick Brassard gained the blue line and threaded the needle to the defenseman skating down the wing. Re-read that again. Brassard gained the blue line. He didn't throw the puck in the corner, he didn't go for a change ... he used his skill to skate in, draw the defense and make a great feed. Imagine that, a Ranger making the most of his ability rather than letting himself be shackled by the unimaginative system.

*Colin McDonald nails Steve Eminger, Taylor Pyatt comes by and bumps McDonald to let him know it wasn't cool. Penalty is called on McDonald, whistle blows. So my Tw-enemy Arron Asham skates in and slams him against the boards. Doesn't fight him, just gives a late shove. Two minutes for roughing. The message is not sent, the power play is negated. Remind me again what the point of Asham's presence is?

*Then again, the Ranger power play went 0-4. Maybe giving Brian Boyle - he of zero power play goals in his previous 170 games (including playoffs) - three minutes of ice time wasn't a wise move. An aside: why won't Torts try the great-skating John Moore on the man advantage unit?

*Notice that the second period Ranger post hit came off the rush, not once they got established in the zone with their usual tired, predictable power play.

*Love Cally: Lubo nailed Hagelin on the endboards as the first period buzzer sounded and the captain goes over to him. He didn't pull an Asham and do something stupid like slamming the guy from behind, he just let the Slovak know it was uncool. Lubo didn't lay another hit the rest of the night.

*How is Kyle Okposo allowed to talk trash to anyone? He plays on the Islanders, and is not a particularly good hockey player. Just shut up dude. His entire career has been a joke since he left the USHL.

*Darroll Powe really is Blair Betts II. Tenacious, good wheels and absolutely no luck around the net.

*PHW Three Stars:
3-Evgeni Nabokov - 19 saves.
2-Dan Girardi - one goal.
1-Henrik Lundqvist - 29 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars:
3-Tavares - Ok, maybe this guy has some skill. Maybe.
2-G - Over 29 minutes of ice time, helped Hank shut the Isles out, had the awareness to break down the wing as Bailey stumbled and scored the game winner.
1-Hank - Any other goaltender and the Rangers lose this one 5-0. Easy. 

Bye, Don't Let The Door Hit You ...

By now you've heard the news: come 2015 the Islanders will be moving to Brooklyn. While it does not bring the sheer joy that folding the franchise or moving it to Quebec or Kansas City would, it is still quite the delight.

This weird feeling I have now - happiness, I believe it is called - is making it hard to compose all my thoughts into one cohesive post so I will just go with my Late Hits-style bullet points:

*First off, if anyone gets on the demolition crew for the Mausoleum, let me know. I will pay top dollar to be the one to press the button to implode that dump.

*They are replacing one vile fanbase with another, as the Jersey Shore wannabe's that wandered the Coliseum concourse will be replaced by Brooklyn hipsters. That is actually great news for the Isles, as hipsters do things ironically, like adoring such awfulness as PBR and UCB. So they should come in droves for at least the opener, before they realize that irony is one thing and idiocy is another. But if Wang decided to bring back the Fisherman sweater? He may have a top seller!

*The stink - and not just the one of failure - may remain the same. The Coliseum had many problems with its piping and many parts of Brooklyn already smell like sewage. Tasty.

*In all seriousness, this could hurt the Rangers a little bit. If the Isles keep prices low to attempt to actually fill the 14,500 seat Barclays Center, it would draw many of the disillusioned hockey fans that have been ostracized by Dolan and company. Bringing in those Blue Bloods - and not just for games against the Rangers - would help a franchise that averaged 13,200 announced fans last season and just 10k two years ago. (In fact, not including last season, the Isles had the lowest attendance in the NHL since the lockout - lower than the Devils, Thrashers and the Coyotes.) I, for one, will be attending more than my usual half-dozen Islander games a year now that the train goes right to the building ...

*But those cheaper prices will be key - the Devils play in a nice new building that is easy to get to but they still barely pull in warm bodies. Then again, they are the Devils and no one wants to go to New Jersey if they don't have to so perhaps that is not the best comparison.

*Sure the Isles have a legitimate superstar and a legion of high draft picks in the pipeline but the odds of Charles Wang and his sycophant staff figuring out how to develop those kids into winners is about the same as me replacing Del Zaster on the Blueshirt blueline. The one plus now is that free agents will more more willing to come to town, seeing as they can live in a real city and avoid the traffic on the Meadowbrook.

*But more mercenaries won't be the key - as we've seen with the Rangers. Growing those aforementioned kids into a competitive team is what will truly help the Islanders. They'd be able to fill the falling-apart Fort (UsedTo)NeverLose if the team wasn't such a failure. Hell, they wouldn't need to move to Brooklyn as it would be easier to attract fans, sponsors and voters to help buy Wang that new building he initially wanted.

*The new proximity to the Garden is meaningless for the rivalry - plenty of puckheads rate the Pens and Flyers as the Rangers biggest rivals nowadays over the Isles and Devils. Many times over the last decade it seemed like I was the only one left who still truly loathed the Isles with every fiber of my being.

*This is another slap in the face to Canada, for several reasons. If I recall, Bettman made True North guarantee that they would have 13,000 season tickets sold in Winnipeg before allowing Atlanta to relocate. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that the Isles could pull that off now. Both Quebec and Toronto could sell 20k tix a night and Bettman would rather wait to rape them for expansion fees rather than give them a broken down, underperforming, mismanaged joke of a franchise.

*It is worth noting that the franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro will still be under contract for the first six seasons that the team is in Brooklyn. DiPietro is currently spending the lockout in the German second division - a league so simple that plugs Chris Stewart and Wayne Simmonds laughed and left to upgrade to the mediocrity that is the Czech Extraliga. And, while in that piss poor German league, DP has played two games and allowed eight goals. Yep. Wonder which will be more rusty in 2015, DP or the exterior of the arena he plays in.

*Bettman saying in the presser that things are coming full circle with the Isles coming into Brooklyn after the long folded Americans (who never played there) is hilarious. The NHL and the Rangers colluded to ensure the Amerks never came back after World War II. The terrific Third String Goalie did a great piece on the history of that franchise.

*This dashes my hopes of a return of the Rovers. The Rangers long-time minor league team used to share the Garden before going the way of the dodo. With the XL Center's lease and AEG's contract to run the building set to expire in August and Barclays sitting empty the elements were there to bring the baby Blueshirts back to the city. Sadly Barclays will instead host a bush league franchise in 2015, rather than a minor league one.

0-1-2: Rangers' JT < Islanders' JT

I did not see the game and won't even pretend to. The box score, the lowlights, the post-game quotes and actions taken by the Rangers paint a grim picture, one that is only amplified by the utter shame that is a loss to the Islanders.

Hatred of our rivals aside, it is time to admit that the Isles are a young, hard working team that has lost enough to accumulate some decent talent. John Tavares is coming into his own and Mark Streit has always been a solid offensive defenseman (one the Rangers should have signed instead of Wade Redden). Once the incapable, glass-jawed Rick DiPietro removed himself from their crowded crease, they were bound to improve.

Meanwhile, the Rangers are a cobbled together collection of semi-capable players led by what has been an incapable coach. The failings of this franchise this season (and the last two) have little to do with the guys wearing the sweaters. Rant about the shortcomings of guys like MDZ, Arty and Gaborik (as I often do), the sum of the parts should be far better than the results they've gotten.

We were sold on a rebuilding team last year and that was fine ... hell, it was wonderful. We finally had the chance to see youth blossom on Broadway. Well, so much for that. I agree with Larry Brooks, Torts had his team picked long before camp opened. Several guys played well enough to make their way onto the club but saw their jobs go to other guys because, as Torts told Brooksie, "there's a bank account." Dale Weise, Sean Avery and Mats Zuccarello have all been banished because they didn't have enough 'banked' with the head coach.

At what point should the bank fire its branch manager for poor decisions that don't pay off?

Since singlehandedly driving the Tom Renney-built team out of the playoffs in 2009, John Tortorella's failing to find chemistry and a capable power play has doomed the Rangers time and time again. He reshaped the team through favoritism and it flopped in the first round in April before stumbling out of the gates this season. Has it been just three games? Yes. Is it time to panic? No. But something should be done sooner rather than later because his account has just about run dry.

Torts didn't want to use Europe as an excuse for this loss to the Isles. He didn't use the injuries to his top defensemen as an excuse either. Instead he claimed it was discipline that did his team in. Well, who is responsible for keeping the team disciplined? Tortorella is placing the blame where it belongs - on himself. While it is nice to see him finally admitting his own mistakes (albeit not in so many words), he needs to do something about them quickly.

Apparently he felt that swapping Zuke for Kris Newbury was the lone personnel step needed to put the team headed in the right direction. When the puck drops in Vancouver we will see if a fourth liner will be able to power the Rangers to victory. Somehow I don't think so but it is early enough to suspend some disbelief.

That being said, this week's trip out west had better see the best from the Blueshirts because if they limp into the Garden at the end of the month then there will be hell to pay. It will be time that the bank will finally foreclose on the coach.

Only On The Isle

The reign of stupidity in Uniondale continued today as the Islanders fired Ted Nolan.

I almost feel bad. Well ... no, not really. It will be all that much easier for the Rangers to beat the Islanders. But still, I mean, seriously: are they trying to lose? First came the dismissal of Neil Smith, and now this??? All Nolan did was keep a pathetic roster competitive and they fired him. Quoting "philosophical differences," Garth Snow made the announcement without having another coach in mind. I think Bozo the Clown would be the perfect candidate because that franchise is just a joke. Charles Wang seems intent on replacing capable personnel with friends of the family, to the detriment of the product on the ice.

Man, I hate the Islanders. This is awesome. Keep it up Fishermen!

Going Somewhere

So today, thanks to the graciousness of some of the *gasp* Islander brass, I will be photographing the Isles Caps game at Fort Never-win, I mean, the Mausoleum, I mean Nassau Coliseum. Gotta be nice ...

As you can see, I have shot there once before, and managed to catch your friend and mine, Tom Poti in the action of putting his team shorthanded. What an idiot.

I will also be bringing my camera along tomorrow to NYC as the NHL is holding an exclusive media preview to the NHL/RBK store in midtown. Hopefully my boss lets me out for lunch so I can attend. I should be able to so expect more info and pics in this very space.

And I don't think I will bring my camera but I will be back in Uniondale Wednesday to watch the Rangers go for win number two. As I will have a quick turnaround for work, my thoughts/observations/rants will likely be delayed until sometime Thursday. Sorry.

Sorry also to cut this short, but I gotta go find my Potvin Sucks tee shirt ...

Wow, this hurts

As those that know me well know the depth of my loathing for the other New York hockey team. So you can imagine how difficult it is for me to say this, but the Islanders did something classy and I am impressed:

"Hall of Fame coach Al Arbour will return to Long Island to coach his 1,500th regular season game with the Islanders on Saturday, November 3 when the team hosts Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Nassau Coliseum at 7:00 pm. The legendary coach celebrates his 75th birthday on November 1. Earlier this week Arbour accepted an invitation from Ted Nolan to run the team for one last game and reach the milestone of 1,500 games coached with the franchise he led to four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980 - 1983. Arbour will sign a one-day contract on Friday, November 2 and lead the team the following night against the Penguins."

Granted, they are doing it to get a sell out at a game that isn't against the Rangers, but the end result is great as the fans can honour a great hockey mind. I just wonder when they will stop clinging to their four Cup wins back when people still played with Rubik's Cubes ... my bet? Never. But that is ok, because that means they won't get their grubby hands on the hallowed silver chalice.