29-17-4: A Tale of Two Games

I wish I could make this up but I stayed late at work to watch the Ranger game and left right after the second period. I was taping the game at home so I figured I would watch it when I got in. Leaving work I thought 'wow, this may be the best-played game of the season, I can't even make fun of Redden.' So after commuting home, I threw the tape in and some interference made it unwatchable. As MSG+'s replay wasn't until 12:30am, I figured I would just check out the final box score and kill the suspense.

Yeah.

Well, I guess the band-aid theory is a good one - just rip it off and get a quick little pain, as opposed to slowly peeling it and drawing out the agony. For you folks who sat through it, I feel for you - I stayed up to watch the replay. For those that didn't, the Rangers fell apart in the third period and allowed a 1-1 game to turn into a 6-2 loss.

It was pathetic, it was disgraceful and it was more than enough proof that Tom Renney is not the man to get the Rangers to the Cup. As I have pointed out multiple times this season, this coach cannot motivate his players, makes imbecilic roster moves and cannot adapt to game situations. Sure he is nice, but a coach isn't supposed to be the players' friend, a coach is supposed to be a ruthless dictator who demands victory and is relentless in the pursuit thereof.

When a team is as infuriatingly inconsistent as the Rangers are, a change has to be made. Let's face it, you and I both know that the coach won't go but the topic deserves to be broached as this rollercoaster ride is making me ill.

Some notes:

*Was the Colton Orr vs. Eric Godard tilt off of the opening faceoff an ominous sign of things to come? Both goons traded solid punches for the majority of the bout before Orr faded and Godard beat him down to the ice. It certainly seems like a harbinger in hindsight as Renney stupidly put Orr out for the opening faceoff opposite Godard - a flaw in his gameplan. The risk/reward of the staged buffoonery simply wasn't worth it, especially on the road.

*Granted, as I said at the top, the first two periods of play were as good as any that the Rangers have played. Of course, their power play went 0-for-3 and they outshot the Pens 18-8 in the second period without scoring but that kind of thing has to be expected of this Ranger squad. Sadly now monumental collapses are also to be expected ...

*But hey, Aaron Voros got himself a point! Somehow Voros was awarded with an assist when Brandon Dubinsky's feed hit him in the back but hey, it will be something bandied about by Tom Renney when he defends the slow-footed, cement-handed idiot's place in the lineup. To include him on a team that has problems scoring is just foolish. When Callahan came down with the flu, there should have been a call made to Hartford to bring up either PA Parenteau (if he doesn't have to make it through waivers) or AHL All Star Artem Anisimov. Both of them are averaging a point per game - something NO Ranger is currently doing. Voros can't score, he can't fight - that's him getting knocked over by Cindy Crosby ... what can he do aside from collect the salary that my season ticket money is paying?

*Now this may be considered heresy but perhaps it is time for the King to rest. After the game Henrik Lundqvist told the AP that "I just lost my game in the third, totally, and that’s definitely not good enough." It isn't good enough and it isn't like this is the first time this has happened this season. Actually, by my count, it is the fifth. When you consider that Stephen Valiquette has had it happen just once and that one time was as much as the rest of the team's fault as it was his, perhaps it is time for Valley to get a few more starts - even on back-to-back nights.

*Jordan Staal's goal was a terrible goal for Hank to allow but the worse part of the play was watching Michal Rozsival give Staal several feet of room in the corner to make the play. He should have hammered him through the boards but Rozy isn't that kind of defenseman. Sadly, none of the Ranger blueliners are that kind of a defenseman.

*A crease-clearer perhaps would have also helped out on Wang-Tang Letang's first goal of the night as Hank was clearly distracted by Malkin wandering about the crease, allowing Letang to fire it past his glove. Letang's second goal wasn't much better as he forced Kalinin to turn over the puck then took advantage of the room Paul Mara gave him to fire another puck past the Ranger netminder. Another complete failure by the Ranger back end.

*Do you think it is coincidence that Redden and Kalinin were both in the penalty box when Sykora essentially iced the game with his second goal of the night (making it 4-1)? We have gotten spoiled as Ranger fans seeing Blair Betts and Chris Drury all too-often bail out the boys when they are down 5-on-3 but when you have a sniper like Sykora on the opposition, a goal is all but a given.

*Crosby's goal on the other other hand was pure luck. He had a ton of room and time to throw the backhand at the net (thanks for nothing Redden) and frankly, you could have beaten Hank with a beachball by that point of the game.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Petr Sykora - two goals.
2-Sidney Crosby - one goal and three assists.
1-Kris Letang - two goals.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Ryan Whitney - His injury, much like Gonchar's, will likely prove to be quite the boon for the Pens as he will be fresh for the playoffs. He grabbed two assists, blocked five shots and skated for 25 minutes - not a bad stat line for someone who has played a month.
2-Malkin - Yes Cindy came out of this one with four points but he wasn't as good as Gina, who seemed to continually press the Rangers deep into their end. Crosby has the flash, Malkin has the substance.
1-Jordan Staal - Talking to some friends a few months back I said the Pens ought to let Staal go. He had the sophomore slump and slow start this season but he proved tonight that he has the potential to be a top flight power forward.

29-16-4: Back To Business

The Rangers returned to action tonight and weathered the Hurricanes, coming out with a close 3-2 victory. It wasn't all that pretty, there weren't a ton of highlights, but it was a good win. A team has to be thankful to beat the teams that they are expected to beat and Carolina is an intensely beatable team.

*That isn't to say that the Canes were devoid of talent. Aside from misplaying a rebound into the slot, Cam Ward did a helluva job for them. The Rangers often tested his lateral movement and smoothly moved post-to-post. Granted, he wasn't as good in this one as his opponent was. It seemed like Stephen Valiquette didn't face a single shot that wasn't tipped, deflected or redirected in the first period and on a regular basis throughout the remainder of regulation. And he turned his brain off and let his reflexes make the saves. Solid piece of netminding by the Ranger backup.

*For the first time in months, I will not call Scott Gomez the Mexican't. Sure he still can't win big faceoffs and he still can't come anywhere close to living up to his ridiculous contract, but he did score one impressive goal and did well in the final minutes to help blunt the late Carolina push for the equalizer.

*While I will give Gomez a nod, I still feel that Wade Redden is nothing short of useless. Redden is a better paid version of Dmitri Kalinin - who was soft and stupid by the way, as per usual. Where Kalinin is simply incapable of coherent play, Redden just doesn't seem to care enough. The two penalties he took were both needless and lazy and he was culpable on one of the two Carolina tallies. The official scorers and Mr. X from teh Blue Seats thought they saw something in his game tonight (he was awarded with five blocked shots by the generous scorers) but I just didn't see it.

*Where Redden was given time to feel shame, Voros managed to stay on the ice and continue his pointless lack of production. He came close to getting penalties in after-whistle scrums on several occasions and never came close to any kind of offensive contribution. Tom Renney can talk all he want about Voros' size but he has been incapable of using it productively for almost three months so what's the point? Petr Prucha must have slept with Renney's daughter to have been scratched in lieu of this oversized clown. It has been a terrible stroke of bad luck for prospect Dane Byers to have been injured so early in the season in Hartford or he would have supplanted Voros and the oversized former Wild player could be waived like Rissmiller and now Fritsche.

*On the subject of size, Colton Orr didn't have much of a role. The Canes don't have a tough guy (or any toughness judging by this game) so Orr didn't get very involved. His linemates, however, were nothing short of rock solid. Freddie Sjostrom and Blair Betts were fantastic killing penalties as per always and, if Orr can continue to progress, their unit could prove to be as good as Detroit's classic Grind Line of Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty - the line which held down the fort for several Stanley Cup winners.

*As remarkable as it sounds to me as I type this, Michal Rozsival was really quite good defensively for the Rangers. After months of outright imbecility in his own end, Rozy had himself a steady game, matching the low-key efforts of his partner Marc Staal. Marc didn't beat on his big brother Eric the way he does Jordan but he still had a good game.

*Did Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour play? This guy had been outright dominant for the Canes in recent years and barely saw him in this game (even though he assisted on both goals against). How the mighty have fallen. But on the same note, the man who wears the C for the Rangers wasn't particularly involved in this one but he gets a pass as his team came out triumphant.

*Is it me or is Nik Zherdev just thiiiiiiiiiiiis close to becoming a top flight player? Tonight he made a beautiful feed on the Dubi goal and had full control of the puck whenever it touched his stick. He also backchecked, which is just wonderful to see. But there is just something, something perhaps between his ears, that is keeping him from becoming the successful version of Alex Kovalev (the one that helped win the '94 Cup).

*The second period may have been devoid of goals and big saves or hits, but it may have been one of the most entertaining second periods in the Garden this season. The game opened up and featured nice passing and end to end action. Trippy.

*There was actually a guy in the next section over from me wearing a Henrik Lundqvist player tee from the All-Star Game. Why in the world would anyone want to commemorate his six-goals-on-21-shots second period in Montreal??

*Here is an interesting thought: with the essential demise of the Whalers, how could would it have been for the MSG music director to play Brass Bonanza at some point on this evening? That woulda been awesome. It amazes me how the guy/girl does such a bad job during the game (playing Chelsea club music at obscene levels during most breaks) and they do such a good job after the game - tonight they played The Scorpions "Rock You Like A Hurricane" (and they have played the Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil" after we beat the Devils).

*The Garden was half empty at the opening faceoff but filled out nicely. Unfortunately it filled with people who weren't all that pumped to see hockey, leading to one boring building. There was little energy and few chants - I don't think there was a single "Let's Go Rangers" that made its way all around the arena.

*Oh, and thanks to Lauri Korpikoski for making his way back into the arena. By sliding back into the lineup and scoring a goal after being senselessly subbed against Anaheim, he helped prove that Tom Renney is clueless when it comes to his lineup and he needs to leave things that are working alone. If it ain't broke ...

*And on a side note, I doubt I will be able to get to a Peepin' Foes for tomorrow's 7:30pm tilt against the Penguins. I'm sorry about that but I have a hunch work will be quite busy. All you need to know is that Cindy Crosby is likely to make a miraculous recovery from whatever injury it was he used as an excuse not to play in the All Star Game and is expected to face the Rangers. That means that the calls won't go the Ranger way and that the broadcasters will spent a significant amount of time bowing down to the Cole Harbour Queen.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Brandon Dubinsky - one goal.
2-Markus Naslund - two assists.
1-Scott Gomez - one goal and one assist.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Gomez - This is painful but I have to give credit where credit is due. Did you see his goal? What a shot!! I still don't like him in the least, but I can appreciate beauty when I see it ...
2-Dubi - Not only did the kid had the game winner, he also went a remarkable 13-2 in the faceoff circle. Dubi is capable of dominating but he just needs to get all of the aspects of his game happening at once.
1-Stephen Valiquette - Valley has already proven himself worthy of more starts than he gets and continues to come through when actually called upon. It is nice to have at least one capable goaltender you can rely upon every night.

Peepin' Foes: Carolina Hurricanes

The Rangers return to action tonight after the All Star break. Three Blueshirts made it to Montreal, and one of them actually did well - Marc Staal. Henrik Lundqvist gave up six goals on 21 shots, Brandon Dubinsky spent a ton of time trying to set up his YoungStarteammates to no avail while Staal chipped in two goals for the sophomores in their loss. I always said he needed to be more involved in the offense ...

Where We Are: It really is hard to say as the team has been off for a week. All momentum is gone, both good and bad. These guys didn't play, they didn't practice until Monday ... this just sounds worse and worse.

Where They Are: That's the good thing - the Whalers are coming off of the same vacation. However, they had just one player at the ASG, Marc's brother Eric and he managed just one of the East's 11 goals (the second one). Granted, few of their other players deserved to make it. Rod Brind'Amour has been horrible so far this season (and is helping to kill several of my fantasy teams) and Cam Ward has been insanely streaky.

Who To Watch For: I guess Staal isn't so bad but keep an eye out for the strong Scott Walker, the slimy Sergei Samsonov and a personal fav of mine, Ray Whitney. Walker is a power forward (something we wish we had), Samsonov has an impressive tendency to pop up out of nowhere to score and Whitney is leading the Canes in scoring. He has been one of the most underrated players in the NHL for 1,023 games; he was San Jose's second pick in their first entry draft back in 1991!!

What To Watch For: I would say watch out for a slow start but the Rangers were horrible for the first 10 minutes of their game against the Ducks last week and look how that turned out ...

What We'll (Hopefully) See: The Ranger special teams remaining special, Marc beating Eric in the battle of the Staals and Stephen Valiquette to get more goal support than he did the last time he started - the 2-1 shootout loss in Buffalo back on January 9th. I was sick to my stomach that day and hopefully will escape this night without the projectile vomiting.

Also Check Out: Red and Black Hockey, Canes Country and Lord Stanley's Blog.

As always, I recommend people check out Sam Weinman's Ranger Report for up-to-the-minute updates on our boys. He scared the hell out of me yesterday by saying that Renney wasn't going to change the lineup - leaving Voros and Fritsche in - but that proved to be incorrect information. *whew*

Hmmm

After allowing six goals on 21 shots, do you think Henrik Lundqvist was wishing Wade Redden and Dmitri Kalinin were around to help him out a little?

Just wondering ...

C'mon Already ...

The woman who founded the Special Olympics is a wonderful, wonderful lady. But for Versus to waste a full intermission segment on a long-winded feature about her during the NHL All Star Game is a slight to the league. This is a "showcase" event for the NHL and Versus doesn't want to talk about hockey. It was bad enough that the lead-in for the game was a bicycling race, but this is ridiculous.

And Gary Bettman is happy with the league's partnership with them? Just how desperate is he?

Advice To File Away

Luckily next year we won't be subjected to the awfulness that is the Versus All Star Skills experience due to the Olympics, but here is some advice for the network (or, hopefully, their replacements) for the 2011 broadcast:

*The biggest thing is that less is more. Less replays, less camera angles, less graphics, less announcers.

*On that last note, Versus has gotten it right by mic'ing players. Marc Savard did a much, much better job giving colour and insight than Brian Engblom did. Engblom was completely useless and got in the way of Doc calling the action. One of the best parts of the skills is that the players are out on the ice actually having fun. Letting them talk actually shows that these guys have personality and only helps sell the game. Listening to Engblom does not.

*When players like Zdeno Chara do something wonderful - like putting up their own money to make their event more exciting and charitable - it is the broadcaster's job to tell you that it is happening but not after the fact. Listening to Engblom and Doc go back and forth trying to figure out how much money was actually given to Right To Play as Chara was getting the trophy was infuriating. It was probably the best story to come out of the night and it should have been bandied about throughout the telecast or at least previewed with a short feature interviewing the players involved.

*An aside - as a friend pointed out to me, it would be nice if the entire ASG was for charity. Like NHL players need the extra stipends? But while that would never happen, the league itself should partner with the NHLPA to at least put money on the line for the YoungStars exhibition. Any kind of motivation would be nice as the kids clearly were out there killing time playing a boring game of shinny.

*Speaking of the YoungStars, if the rules stay the same - running time, six minute periods - then the host broadcaster would do well to actually save the replays for the breaks. Yes, it is common sense but the production clowns at Versus clearly doesn't have any as they missed half of the action and several of the goals.

*Trying to be fancy with tons of cameras also ends up in lost action. Versus made the mistake in using unorthodox angles to show the breakaway competition. It's cool to see the ice-level action, but that is what replays are for. Using the usual high-center ice game angle to show the live action would show just how different or special these plays are compared to the normal run-of-the-mill shootout attempts.

*What happened to the pin camera inside the targets for replays in the accuracy competition? It was always cool to see the puck coming right at the camera. Or did McDonalds not allow that this year?

*For the hardest shot competition, a ice-level super-slo-mo camera would have been perfect to show the sheer power of the shooters. Here is a simple fact: things look cool in super slow motion. There is an entire awesome show dedicated to that on the Discovery Channel.

*Hire a professional to man the audio boards. Whoever Versus had did a terrible job jockeying the levels and us fans at home paid the price. The audio tech would jarringly open and close mics so you didn't really hear what was going on. During the intros, we caught the ovation for Vinny04 but missed most of the boos for Kaberle and the Bruins.

*Getting back to the announcer part, do you really need to have talent talking during the breakaway contests? Just so they can go "wow," or explain what you just saw? Why not just keep the arena and player mics on so the television feel like they are there? Like I need Engblom telling me, "look, he's using props" as Ovie puts on a hat? I can see that, thanks. I would rather hear the players on the benches asking 'what the hell is he doing now' or something to that effect.

*And this is more for the league than for the broadcaster, but enough with the live rock music. The players are the spectacle, as you can see from the pic at the top of this post. We don't need some random woman who can hardly sing butchering rock classics with some organist playing like he is in Amadeus.

But whatever, as I said, this is just some thoughts to file away as there will be no All Star Game next year. Instead we will get to see the best players in the game actually trying as they play for national pride in the Olympics. That will be great and you can be assured that NBC, who didn't want the ASG, will handle them better than Versus handled Montreal.

Sloppy Seconds

Horrific

That is the only way one can describe the All Stars skills broadcast on Versus right now. It may be the worst telecast of a sporting event I have ever seen, which includes the disgraceful display that Versus made with indoor lacrosse a few years back. The camerawork is poor, the directing is terrible, they are missing live action for bad-angle replays, they are not showing some replays, the ugly graphics promoting non-hockey garbage are everywhere, the announcers are doing a poor job (sorry Doc) ... wow is this awful.

If the NHL thinks they are going to sell the sport this way, they are sorely mistaken.

Killin' Time: Friday Night Edition

After staring blankly at my computer for a few hours trying not to write the same NHL-All-Star-Game-is-a-complete-waste-of-time piece, I figured I would revive the Killin' Time feature from this summer, which featured some random ramblings. So here are five thoughts on this late Friday night:

*On the All Star Game, with the suspensions (or non suspensions depending on where you read it) of Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom do you think this was a calculated move? Ken Holland is a well acknowledged hockey genius and before the season started had to know that some of his top guns would be selected to the ASG. So you think that he petitioned the NHL at the time to schedule Detroit's first game after the break against a perceived softie of a team in Columbus? Let's face it, before the rise of Calder Trophy contender Steve Mason, the Jackets were a joke (even with the offseason additions, and especially compared to the Wings). Hmmm ...

*Here is a terrible thought: What would happen if Henrik Lundqvist got hurt this weekend in Montreal? If anyone is up to build a lynch mob to storm the NHL Store to find Bettman, lemme know. And doesn't the pic of Gary to the right just say it all? Smug SOB.

*Even though it was not important enough to make the game story in the local paper, the Canadian rags are jumping all over the Klotz story from Philadelphia where an AHL player suffered seizures after being knocked out during a fight. The subject of fisticuffs in hockey has been a hot topic of late and with the big guns congregating in Montreal, Klotz going down certainly does not bode well for us fight fans. And that is especially so since it comes days before a game that, no matter how bad it really is, the NHL will hail as a complete success. And you can be sure that the heartless display of the league's greed will pass without a single bout. So if you can have such a 'successful' game without any fighting, why should they allow fighting regularly??

*While a lot of eyes in Montreal will be on West Islip's Mike Komisarek, I randomly came across a news tidbit about another Long Island native - goaltender Bobby Goepfert. Goepfert, a goaltender from Kings Park, has apparently left the toil of the North American minor leagues to join the Red Bulls in Salzburg, Austria. Yes, there is a hockey team named after the energy drink and yes, it is a professional organization. Best of luck to Bobby in his new world.

*And if any of you are betting folks, and are really hard up for stuff to lay your money on in this disgrace of a hockey game, take a look at the experienced mid-level stars for your MVP. Taking a look at prior MVPs - aside from Wayne and Mario - many of the players to take the honour came into the game with little to no expectations. The big stars usually have a ton of press commitments so the game is an after-thought and the young players are in too much awe to play their best, leaving quality players with some experience under their belts to rise up - guys like Briere and Staal the last two years, and Bill Guerin, Mark Recchi and Vinny Damphousse among others in years past. That being said, since I would hedge my bets, my picks are Shane Doan from the West and Marc Savard from the East ... enjoy the festivities!

I Hate The Penguins ...

... But I have to tip my hat to them for this story.

There are some things that transcend rivalries and even the sport itself.

Great work guys.

(Credit to Puck Daddy for the find.)