Sunday, April 11, 2010

Flyers 2, Rangers 1, SO


The New York Rangers (38-33-11) lost to the Philadelphia Flyers (41-35-6) by the score of 2-1 in a shootout, today. For a recap and box score go to Yahoo! Sports and newyorkrangers.com.

...Jokinen? Jokinen? Really Torts? I've been pretty easy on the Rangers head coach this season, but that move alone should be grounds for firing. I know Gaborik has been terrible this season in the shootout (2-for-18 in his career) but with the season on the line is there really anyone else that should be taking that shot for the Rangers?

...having said that with the way the Rangers played (outshot 47-25) they were lucky to even be in the shootout.

...got to feel bad for Lundqvist, he laid it all on the line tonight and ironically got beat where he normally excels in the shootout.

...despite not making it to the playoffs and a guaranteed first round exit to the Capitals, I loved the way this team played down the stretch and am actually excited for next season as I don't expect that much turnover (cap being the main reason) on the team.

...did you ever in you wildest dreams think that Shelley, Prust and Eriksson were going to be key components in the Rangers late season surge? I'm actually hopeful the Rangers re-sign all three this off-season.

...while it's sad to see the season end at least the Dolans will be losing money with the Ranger not making the playoffs which may mean no ticket price increases next season.

14 comments:

NYCat69 said...

With Anaheim winning today, the Rangers get the 10th pick. Not bad.

I wrote after the Buffalo loss that Hank - for whom I have the utmost respect - wasn't "clutch."
Even though the SO didn't go our way, I take it back. He was phenomenal today, and just got no help.

Andrew_794 said...

kinda glad we didnt make the playoffs, no longer can we hide behind the fact we make the playoffs, our team is now truly shown as a non playoff contender, which will hopefully mean some changes coming.

we cleared up some cap space by shipping kotalik and higgins to calgary for jokinen (assuming we dont sign him)

we need to send redden to the minors...his cap hit is absolutely killing this team, and with him gone we could make a run at kovalchuk.

id like to see who people want back next season..

NYCat69 said...

Agreed about the no hiding.
I want Prust, Shelley and Auld back.
Jokinen: no way.
I would trade Gilroy.
As for the free agent market, a first line center or a strong D-man (my preference) (Hamhuis/Volchenkov/Seidenberg.)

Unknown said...

Despite no playoffs, this season ended pretty much the same way it did last year. Very good goaltending and little_to_no scoring. It's that simple.

Figure if the Rangers won this game it was because Lundqvist would have had to make nearly _50_ saves with only SHELLEY scoring the goal. That is ludicrous.

Jokinen...I'm not really mad at that.

Another season I feel really bad for Lundqvist.

chef dave said...

I want to change my vote in the blame poll from Sather to Torts. This defense should be better than last years, but the team has given up way too many shots in too many games this season. It just asks too much of The King.

Having said that, I don't think this team needs to reinvented during the offseason as they played much better down the stretch. I hope that Slats has figured out that sometimes chemistry takes longer than 1 training camp to develop.

Right now this team shouldn't be thinking about this loss, it should be thinking about all of the winnable games against lower tier, beatable teams that they simply came out flat for and lost(I'm lookin at you, Torts). How many times we lose to the Islanders this year? How about Atlanta? Lets not forget those OT losses to Toronto or Carolina.

I thought Torts was supposed to get the team engaged and going offensively, but even with Gaborik the offense still sucked and the defense got worse too. We only scored 12 more goals than last year...WTF!

Unknown said...

Even tho this is what I wanted, it still hurts! I feel bad for Hank, who once again single-handedly kept the team alive. I said it before and I say it again. Clutch... Hank IS clutch... Almost 50 shots!!!

Let's rebuild the squad now and start by replacing our beloved GM.

sio's lover said...

id agree with chef-" I don't think this team needs to reinvented during the offseason" there are rotting branches that need trimming(redden?and Sather!) and we need to get some Defense that will consistently protect the king!

we played well at the start and the end of season, now we need to rebuild with what we got over the off season, and hit the ground running!

fleisch said...

You are all being fooled but what this team did down the stretch....
We beat the worst teams in the league to climb back into contention....
Since the Boston loss on march 21st we played:
Toronto-2
Isels-2
Tampa-1
Florida-1
Devils-1
Bufffalo-1
Philly-2

Phiily is as bad as we are, Buffalo kicked our ass, and the Devils was he only quality win we had....

In what was basically a game 7 yesterday, our best line was our 4th line....

Dont be fooled by the last 2 weeks all we did was beat up on the worst teams in the NHL

http://www.ehow.com/members/stevemar2-articles.html said...

Great game! It was exciting to see this come down to a shootout to decide the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Lundqvist really kept the Rangers in this game though. Additionally, Philadelphia hit the posts and crossbar so many times. They could have easily scored four or five goals!

422fan said...

...despite not making it to the playoffs and a guaranteed first round exit to the Capitals, I loved the way this team played down the stretch and am actually excited for next season as I don't expect that much turnover (cap being the main reason) on the team.

?????????????????????????????? You Loved the way this team played down the stretch ? As FLEISH stated, don't be fooled by them beating up on the patsies of the league..against Buffalo = FLOP, and in the biggest game of the season = FLOP......and you dont expect much turnover ?? They dont make the playoffs and you want the same people back ??

!JustDance said...

Fleish, agreed. We played crappy teams and won.

Some other notes:
-Is there anyone you would rather have a goalie than Henrik? Dude is top 5 goalie all the time, and HATES losing, more than anyone on Rangers.

-Staal is still maturing and becoming real fun to watch

-Prust is like a mini-avery. Has really, really good hands and vision.

-Yeah....Olli over Gaborik? ouch.

-Even though we would have been decimated by caps, it still blows that we don't have at least 4 more games to root for hockey.

-I'd like to see Lundqvist play 60-65 games next season. 55 points from Dubinsky and Callahan.

-We need a #1 center.

Thanks, RangersBlog, for a great year.

Kevin DeLury said...

Yes I loved a 7-2-1 record down the stretch. If they would have beat on bad teams the entire season we'd be talking playoffs right now. A win is a win I don't care who you're playing.

Andrew_794 said...

agreed nyrfan, if you lose aganst a "worse team" then your team is apparently horrible...if you beat up on a "worse team" then people dont think your anything special...

to be honest, any team in this league can win on any given night, just depends on certain factors (and the talent level of the team they face)

fleisch said...

NYRFAN,
In todays NHL you need to beat the teams in front of you in the standings if you want to make up any ground and make the playoffs...Not to mention those are the teams you will be playing against to try and win the cup....We couldnt beat boston in March (we didnt even show up) and we got killed by Buffalo when we just need a point

It should be expected that you would beat team like toronto and the islanders....

We all know they would have been swept by the CAPS...For all the money we spend and the talent we have, this team should be in the middle of the playoff pack and probably lose in the second round....
All of tht still doesnt eaqual a Cup...we need help...bringing this team back as is...would be stupid!!!