Tonight the New York rangers (17-14-3) were defeated by the Minnesota Wild (20-12-2) by a score of 6-3. Marian Gaborik posted the NHL's first five-goal game in 11 years for the Wild. Michal Rozsival, Martin Straka and Nigel Dawes scored for New York, which fell to 2-5-1 in its last eight. Henrik Lundqvist has allowed at least four goals for the fourth time in six starts. He was pulled in the third period after giving up six goals on 18 shots. For a full recap go to Yahoo! Sports.
...let me start by saying I never like giving excuses, but that had to of been the most one-sided officiated game I've seen in a while. Whether it was the elbow to Prucha's head, Drury being cross-checked in front of the crease or Kim Johnsson leaving his feet to check Gomez nothing was called on the Wild. Then to make matters worse the officials call two unsportsmanlike conducts on the Rangers for arguing. I don't remember the last time I saw a game with one penalty for arguing let alone two. Then they cap it off by calling Gomez for goaltender interference after he was checked from behind into Harding. And of course the Wild capitalized on every opportunity. The referees from this game need to be reprimanded for their absolutely atrocious officiating tonight.
...now that I got that out of my system, the Rangers lost their cool tonight. They showed no composure at all. Sure the calls weren't going our way, but a strong team fights through it not takes cheap shots like Gomez and Rozsvial did. By doing so they only made things worse and the Rangers look childish in the process.
...now to the actual game. Do you think the Rangers could have put somebody on Gaborik tonight? That guy was left unchecked and wide open all night. If Valiquette doesn't make a tremendous save on him late in the game he would have had six goals. I know Gaborik is good, but c'mon.
...when I'm wrong about things on this blog I don't run and hide from them. I confront them. We need Marcel Hossa in the lineup. The penalty kill looked terrible. Hossa's defense has rarly been questioned and it was sorely missed on the PK tonight. He has to be on the 4th line tomorrow with Hollweg or Orr watching from the press box.
...the Rangers better put this game behind them real quick as they travel to Colorado to take on the Avalanche tomorrow. If they don't find a way to turn this around, we all know what the upcoming schedule looks like, these next few weeks could get real ugly.
2 comments:
For the 1st time I agree with everything you said. I posted yesterday that Hossa should be in the lineup for his speed and defense. Since he cannot score he could be any excellent 'Jan Erixon" type player when we need another player shadowed.
As far as Garborik and the penalty kill. Gaborik's hands are sick, as he knocked in 2 goals out of midair. It was nice to finally see him play. However, can anyone take the body on the Rangers. This guy was standing on the crease looking for rebounds all night. A little lumber across the back or back of the legs would have been helpful.
I would not sit Orr as he has been playing well. He works hard, takes the body and has carried the puck well in open ice, dumped in and forechecked hard. While also doing his job as enforcer. Hollweg, find a nice suit o wear and enjoy the view from the luxary box
The refs were bad but I agree with Fleisch, somebody please take the body. The Rangers didn't make any type of adjustment whatsoever on Gaborik. If your the coach and your team out shoots the other team and has the puck in the other teams zone most of the night, you gotta walk out with a win. I'm not trying to bash Renney, but we're never gonna win a game because our coach out-coached the other guy.
And to the blogmaster (NYRFAN), yesterday you seemed very happy with the fact that coach Tom kept the same lineup. Today you're calling for Hossa, make up your mind.
By the way your pin-up boy Nigel Dawes scored last night. You must have been very excited and probably needed some alone time.
FLeisch14 keep up the good work!
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