8-5-1: Another Day, Another Loss

If I was John Tortorella, I don't put my team on the ice on Saturday. For the final day of Hockey Fights Cancer month, I take them to Schneider's or Sloan Kettering or any number of the great hospitals in the New York area. Bring the boys to trick or treat with some of the real sick kids. The children would love it, and the team could see what it really means to fight. The patients battle every day for every day, and perhaps the Rangers would realize that the least they could do is play their game as hard as they can.

The Blueshirts turned in another half-hearted performance against a bad team on Friday night, losing to the Minnesota Wild 3-2.

There are no excuses to be had. The injury bug strikes every team and it took Marian Gaborik, Sean Avery and Chris Higgins (allegedly). The remaining roster still could have won, easily. Instead they cruised around the nice Xcel Center ice, making the home team look good while leaving their goalie out to dry time after time.

*How or why do you match the Andrew Brunette, Mikko Koivu, Petr Sykora trio with the fourth line? They don't have the speed, they don't have the skill and, frankly, they don't have a clue. The mismatch allowed Sykora do do what he does best - get the Rangers back for unceremoniously dropping him after a good season just after the lockout. In addition to a second assist on the Belanger goal, Sykora finished the tic-tac-toe passing play that opened the night's scoring. He did it against us on Pittsburgh, he did it against us again.

*That play was started by Donald Brashear. For all of those folks out there who called me out on the carpet for badmouthing Brash, are you starting to realize why yet? Not only is he inept with a hockey stick, he is a big, dumb coward who doesn't help his team in most any way. The Rangers lacked energy, the Wild dressed not one but two over-sized tough guys and yet Brash didn't dance with either. Derek Boogaard is one of the top five, if not top three fighters in the league and caused havoc around the Ranger crease every chance he got. Brashear? Nowhere to be found. Now for all of you apologists out there who want to throw the mystery injury out there, if he was too "sore" to fight, he shouldn't have been playing. If Dane Byers can make it to the arena in time to play, surely another of his teammates could have made the journey.

*And Byers scored to boot. How pathetic is it that Hartford players account for two of the three Ranger goals in the last two games? I like Byers - I think he has a future in the NHL - but the fact that he can get the puck in and Callahan/Prospal/Dubinsky/Drury/Kotalik can not is kinda sad.

*Being outshot 25-13 over the first two periods is outright inexcusable.

*Enver Lisin showed off some of that world class speed in the loss. Damn shame his linemates couldn't keep up with him.

*That the game was telecast on the Armed Services Networks is even worse. The Rangers were not just embarrassed in Minnesota, but worldwide. High class move by Brandon Dubinsky to thank the soldiers during his intermission interview. Now if he could have just scored a goal for those servicemen ... They are risking their lives every day overseas and the government 'rewards' them by making them listen to Joe Micheletti? Now that is waterboarding in it's worse form.

*Something else that really isn't funny is Chris Drury's continuing presence in the lineup. It was his ghost of a stickcheck that allowed Antti Miettinen to score what proved to be the game-winner. Accountability. Heard the word a hundred times. Sitting the captain now would show that it means something.

*Micheletti can rave all he wants to about Wade Redden's pinch on Byer's goal but if the defenseman missed it, it would have been an odd man rush the other way. There is a difference between being lucky and being good and we have learned the hard way that Redden is far from good. Granted, he wasn't particularly bad either.

*MDZ also had that kind of take-it-or-leave-it performance, which is sad seeing that he got so much ice time. His long, bouncing pass started the play that Marc Staal scored on but it was inches away from being picked off for what would have been a three-on-two. He is still a kid and still has a lot to learn.

*Did Matt Gilroy play? I couldn't tell.

*The Blueshirt blueline sure could use a Greg Zanon or a Nick Schultz. Staal and Girardi are close in capability but not as experienced. Perhaps it is time to split them up?

*I have to admit to my ears perking up every time they said Scott. They were talking about Minnesota's John Scott but still. I remember when the Blueshirts called up that goon Richard Scott from Hartford and wanting his jersey. Ah, memories.

*There surely is more worth talking about in this fresh memory but dwelling on another debacle such as this is pointless. The Rangers have a great chance to rebound with a game on home ice before heading west again, let's hope they make the most of it. I don't think they will, but you never know.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Antti Miettinen - one goal.
2-Mikko Koivu - two assists.
1-Petr Sykora - one goal and one assist.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Hank - Without the bevy of kicksaves early and a good glove in the second, this game could/should/would have been much worse. The Rangers did little to clog up the shooting lanes and it showed.
2-Sykora - Nothing like a little vengeance. Too bad Aaron Voros couldn't pull something like that off.
1-Koivu - You had to diminish his brother's rock-solid career but Mikko is much more talented. He has all of the tools and once he gets them working with linemates that are up to speed, he will be outright awesome.

7-3-1: Madness In Montreal

Nights like tonight are going to happen a lot this season. We knew it coming in, so it should be no surprise. Still, it sucks. Quite a bit in fact.

The Rangers blew a two goal lead to fall 5-4 in overtime against the Original Six rival Montreal Canadiens. They were sloppy, they were lazy and they were undisciplined. For all of the tough talk from Torts, the coach seemed incapable of reining his players in. But how could he be all that mad? They played his all-attack, jump-in-the-rush system and they were burned for it by a faster, smarter team.

Just a warning, there is plenty of bitterness below:

*Since day one, this team struggled inside the blueline. Dan Girardi and Marc Staal are quite good - as three and four defensemen. They have been thrust into the top pairing and have yet to get their play to a consistent level where either one deserve it. They have their moments - loved the jump save by Danny to keep the puck in on the Kotalik goal - but neither is mature enough to be top pairing guys.

*Matt Gilroy scored a power play goal. Yay. Matt Gilroy waved at Mike Cammalleri as Cams cut into the slot to score the game-winner in overtime. Boo. Ah, the ups and downs of youth. That kind of stuff has to be expected from a rookie. But what is he doing out on the ice in overtime to begin with?

*Not only did Chris Higgins not score, he was out of position plenty, took a bad penalty and was benched for the third period. Welcome home Higs! Way to shove it in the Montreal fans' faces for being in their doghouse so often by jumping into ours.

*On the other side of the coin, the MexiCan't played a motivated game and collected a pair of assists. I gotta say, I loved that dive he took, he almost sold it too. Almost. Maybe shouldn't have grabbed the Ranger stick before falling ...

*Brandon Dubinsky saw the bench a bunch late. In the second period Dubi turned the puck over in the neutral zone, which led to the Habs second goal of the night. Tortorella seemingly believed that goal was what lost the game for the team, as he threw Dubi under the bus during the postgame for the gaffe. One turnover does not a loss like this make.

*In the end Dubi saw just 8:51 in ice time. Vinny Prospal played 24:51. And yet it was Prospal's stupid, careless penalty that jump started the Canadiens comeback. Ah, hypocritical accountability - the Tortorella way. And then Cams skated right past Prospal on his way to score the game-winner. But not a poor word was said from waht I heard ...

*Soon after that D'Agostini goal Marian Gaborik scored a tremendous one of his own to put the Rangers up by two. We knew Gabby was good, but damn is he blowing the locks off. That tap-the-puck-behind-the-back-to-himself to set up the breakaway was amazing. Shows of skill like that are just going to make it that much more painful when he inevitably gets injured.

*When Dubi and Max Lapierre went crashing into Hank it certainly appeared that our season was over. Hank writhing in pain = bad, very, very bad. It is the third time by my recollection that Hank got nailed this season by one of his own players who was rushing to backcheck. But the Rangers are playing that open-ice, all-attack system so that is what you are gonna get.

*Picking at an old scab, when you take stupid penalty after stupid penalty, your penalty kill had better be great. It wasn't, but don't worry, the muscle of Voros and Boyle was much more important than, say, Blair Betts' selflessness would have been. Hope everyone enjoyed the beating Boyle laid on Matt D'Agostini.

*But Chris Drury was out there to kill penalties. The captain, like Torts' pal Prospal, hasn't heard a bad word from the coach yet and continues his poor play. Dru took a penalty, had one shot and went 9-9 in the circle. Certainly not the kind of effort expected from the captain of the New York Rangers.

*Sean Avery did not get credited with a single hit. How is that possible?

*Before I get to the stars and call it a (miserable) night, I just want to say RIP to the Big Whistle. My dad had fond memories of the man who, I must admit, I thought had already passed. I've mentioned it before but my first memory was when I was three and my dad was yelling "Shoot the puck Barry" at the tv - the line Bill Chadwick is best known for from his day as an announcer.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Marian Gaborik - one goal and one assist.
2-Brian Gionta - two assists.
1-Mike Cammalleri - three goals and one assist.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Paul Mara - Mara had the quiet, workman-like effort that he so often had as a Ranger and we so desperately miss now. That is not to say that Rozy and Redden were bad (they actually weren't) but there is no calm personality that can settle things down anymore.
2-Gionta - That feed to Cams from his belly was awesome.
1-Cama-lama-ding-dong - Tip of the hat to the hat trick. Cams has a helluva lotta speed and is making the transition to the East look easy.

3-6-1: Rangers Get Raked By The Leafs 4-1

So, I, uhhh, wrote that post this afternoon never imagining that the Rangers defense would fall to pieces to Toronto of all teams. I was unable to make it to this home game due to work but thanks to Rangers Rewind I still caught this massacre so onto what I saw:

*The offense still isn't working. No shock there.

*The defense was suspect, and that hurts where it counts. Stupid turnovers and soft play in the Rangers zone cost them the game. Not to mention that Hank should never, ever, EVER come out of the crease to play the puck.

*I love seeing Prucha and Dubi on the power play but definitely on alongside Jagr. They add speed and energy while he kills all momentum.

*At what point does Renney start giving ice time based on how the players are playing rather than how they played in the past? Reputation only goes so far.

*Goddammit take the f-ing C off of Jagr's jersey. Listen to the post-game sound on MSG (they have Shanny's here). Jagr just mumbles how they need to score more while Shanny calls the team out.

*Big Nik Antropov went from human disaster to Leafs scoring ace. There is hope for Malik yet.

*All of Chris Drury's best scoring chances this season have come while on special teams, particularly shorthanded. He truly does need some sense of urgency to step up his game. And unfortunately, I don't know if that is a good thing anymore considering the dearth of offense right now.

*Speaking of such, when Gomez was knocked into the Leafs net by Sundin, he hit his head on the crossbar as he fell over Toskala. It didn't show itself tonight, but maybe the blow knocked some sense (some offense?) into him.

*Paul Mara is getting paid good money to play the point on the power play but for his salary he should at least be serviceable in his own end. I would rather see Andrew Hutchinson because he brings the same things to the game at a much cheaper pricetag.

*Marcel Hossa was the only Ranger to come through the game +1 -- further evidence that plus/minus means nothing.

*Speaking of no skill players, you are down two goals, why the hell isn't your enforcer trying to pick a fight?

*At least the Islanders were embarrassed 8-3 tonight. That makes me smile.

*PHW Three Stars:
3-Jagr - lone Rangers goal.
2-Toskala - 32 saves.
1-Kaberle - he had two assists, big deal, they should have gone to Rangers players.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars:
3-Hal Gill - 25 solid minutes and pissed off Jagr every shift.
2-Pavel Kubina - 26 minutes, goal, assist, good luck to get +3 for his fantasy owners.
1-Toskala - He covered the bottom of the net, which was all he had to do as the Rangers couldn't get a shot in the air on net.