HenReek

Last night the New York Rangers (27-24-6) were defeated by the Anaheim Ducks (29-22-7) by a score of 4-1. Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 32 shots in his third straight solid effort and was the beneficiary of the Anaheim Ducks' most potent production in eight games. Corey Perry and Chris Kunitz scored 1:27 apart to break open a tight game in the second period. Ryan Callahan scored his second goal of the season for the Rangers. Los Angeles topped New York 4-2 on Tuesday, and the Rangers are winless against the Western Conference this season (0-7-2). They got 33 shots but couldn't make them count. The Rangers are seventh in the Eastern Conference but only three points ahead of ninth-place Buffalo. For a full recap go to Yahoo! Sports.

...the only word that comes to mind when I look at this team is frustrating. How can a team go into Philadelphia, New Jersey and Montreal and dominate then come home and lose to the worst team in the league and another that actually scores less than they do? Just as quickly as this team gave me hope of another playoff run is as quickly as they pulled the rug right out from under me. Its time to face the facts that this is not a very good team. Sure they can go on a nice 5 out of 6 streak, but they'll follow it up by losing 4 out of 5.

...two weeks ago I hoped that the Rangers would hold off on making a trade for a few weeks to see how they would come out of the All-Star break. They are 3-3 since the break and next week, when they have five days off and teams can catch up on games in-hand, will be very telling. If the teams around them start to pull away, its time to sell, if we are lucky and the Rangers are still in the top eight, I wouldn't be against trying sign Forsberg or maybe trading for a rental d-man (ie Blake) and go for it.

...now that I got that out of the way. What is up with Lundqvist? This guy has been an average to below average goaltender since December. Sure he's had some nice games in between, but when was the last time he stole a game for us? He is constantly being outplayed by the likes of Labarbara, Tim Thomas, Karri Ramo, and Mathieu Garon. The second and third goals he let up in the second period were back breakers as the Rangers had all the momentum after two fights and Callahan's goal. After those two softies, it was game over. I'd like to see Valiquette get the start in Philly tomorrow and if the Rangers win, for him to be right back in there against Washington on Sunday.

...Renney needs to start taking some heat for this season. I have always complimented Renney on how he holds players accountable. But for some reason he is not doing that this year. Why not pull Lundqvist after the second period last night? Let him know he's not getting the job done. The worst case of this was when the Rangers went on the power play at the end of the game down 4-1, Renney still sends out the same sorry bunch that once again had an o'fer. And what do they do? They can't even gain the blueline despite being 6 on 4. Renney should have sent a message by sending out Callahan, Dawes, Dubinsky, Betts, Staal and Strudwick. By the way, heard a few "Fire Renney" chants last night.