The New York Rangers (1-2-1) lost to the Colorado Avalanche (4-2-0) by the score of 3-1, tonight. For a recap and box score go to Yahoo! Sports and newyorkrangers.com.
...like I said the other day, things are going to get worse before they get better. In a game where you were looking for someone to step up in the absence of the Rangers best player and their captain, no one did.
...i was at the game and was thoroughly bored. I actually wasn't paying attention during large chunks of the game.
...the only positive I saw tonight was Del Zotto jumping Galiardi after he boarded Girardi. Don't remember the last time I saw a Ranger stick up for a teammate.
...the Rangers are now 2-17 on the power play to start the season. When did they re-hire Perry Pearn?
...best part of the night was getting to meet numerous TheNYRBlog readers. I really appreciated all the kind words.
...worst part of the night was passing out on the train and missing my stop on the way home. They need alarm clocks on the LIRR.
...why is Boogaard even in the lineup at this point? $1.6 million per for 2 minutes a game? Sending Kennedy down could be the worst move of the preseason.
...it's funny how Torts' camp is always so tough, meanwhile the Rangers seem to be outworked and outskated every game.
...Messier's faceoff practices continue to be no help as they were again below .500 (40% to be exact).
...not that anyone is looking forward to it but the Rangers next game is Thursday night in Toronto.
40 comments:
Call me crazy, but I miss the 5, 6, 7 - and - 0 starts. Even if they're going to tail off in the middle of the season, I'd rather be interested in the beginning.
What a depressing game. They just keep trying harder and harder to destroy optimism about the team. Also, why is rozy back to being god awful? I had high hopes when he started to fix his game at the end of last year, and now he's back where he started. In fact, none of the rangers defense are playing adequetly, save sauer and stall. Please dump rozy for valentenko, it would be the best move of the season/preaseason for any team.
Unbelievable how big the void left by Gaborik is. Hopefully it can be a blessing in disguise down the road if someone can step up and become a big time leader out there. dubi and callahan here's lookin at you. but yea man. one of the more boring rangers games i can ever remember
If the team is going to play like this might as well bring up McD, Valentenko, MZA and Grachev.
im really starting to hate the core of this team. we keep it intact even though NO ONE ever steps up. its a shame.
i think the most obvious thing ive seen is how none of the rangers young guns are going to be top players in the nhl...dubinsky and callahan are support players that need star players on their lines to succeed.
lets face it, drury and rosi need to go asap. they tie up nearly 14 million (around) a year and give us next to nothing in return. i love drury but im sorry, any player can throw themselves in front of shots and now hes getting injuried doing it...
we need firepower to help this young guys move along, and obviously a top dman or 2.
come on slats, work your magic
I was watching on TV and I thought the team looked good at points.
Specifically the end of the first and the whole second period they were playing fast hockey with some good chances.
Gabo and Prospal are sorely missed, but I honestly think this is a better team than last year. They may finish with a worse record if injuries continue to pile up, but keep this core together, and keep working on improving as a whole, and soon we'll see major improvements.
Teams like the 'Hawks or Pens spend years developing their kids together, and that is what the Rangers need to do here. The talent is there, just keep working on them.
What we lack most is depth. Bring up the kids, start Marty a few games and let Lundqvist breathe a bit while we wait for Gabo to heal
brett while i agree with your points, its clearly a bad idea to be placing bets on gabby carrying this team. hes far too injury prone and i feel last year was a bit of a lucky one for him.
i also agree we need depth, but in the form of some star players...and not the typical overpaid ones slats tends to sign.
andrew from your post at 2:16 you were dead on in your 1st paragragh but you are pointing the finger at the wrong guys in the 2nd paragragh. drury is injured anybody can have that happen and he was more than fine his 1st 2 yrs here leading team in goals 1st yr followed by 22 2nd yr. last yr only 1 ranger beat 22 goals so that number is not as easy as some think. and why the heck even talk about a guy who's injured until december. and do your math again you overstated the cap hit by a couple of million.
this teams biggst problem is that from 1994-2007 our drafting of forwards was abysmal - which is why 3 yrs ago they were forced to overpay in the ufa mkt. need 1 example jessiman insead of all those stars who we left out there for other teams. until we draft better we are faced with mediocrity at best. it looks like last 3 yrs have improved in the draft if so we'll be better in 3-4 yrs.
Brett C, You nailed it. They wasted 40 minutes of solid play, from the time out through the 2nd Avs goal, by falling asleep for 1 minute. Thought the game was fairly entertaining. Liked the pace of the game and that the Rangers played with a more physical edge.
This team is better than last year's edition, not a lot better, but its an improvement. There were stretches in the second when the Rangers absolutely dominated and worked Torts pressure system to perfection. Unfortunately, all they had to show for it was a couple of shots off the pipes.
Once again, the loss doesn't bother me as much as the lack of guts shown while losing. The Avs had it way too easy in the Rangers' zone. If you're going to the net, you have to be made to pay a price. With the Rangers, that doesn't happen. Teams know the Rangers are soft and they adjust their game accordingly.
I give DelZotto credit for jumping Galiardi, but really, you want Michael Del Zotto doing your heavy work? The next time Galiardi stepped on the ice, Boogard or Prust should have been there waiting for him. Not with the Rangers, and not in the kinder, gentler NHL.
I don't care if they go 0-78 for the rest of the year as long as they step up and make people dread playing at MSG. We are not going to score a lot of goals, so there's no way we can let other teams have free rein in our zone.
Brett C, you are seriously comparing the ranger "youth" to the penguins and hawks players?
this blind devotion to the "kids" is just wasting time. bring up the kids! play the kids!! if you havent noticed, the kids SUCK.
dubinsky and callahan just continue to prove every game that they are barely 3rd liners, and they have been given EVERY chance and have not improved one bit.
without gaborik this team is a collection of nhl role players (avery, boogey), 3rd and 4th liners (callahan, dubinsky), washed up never-was's (frolov, fedotenko) and AHLers (christenson, boyle, todd white)
you can single anyway one anymore -- they are all terrible.
and those of you saying this years team is better? why? how? more cluelessnes
throw in a clueless coach and you have one of the worst teams (if not the worst) in the NHL, with a great overworked and stressed goalie.
dont understand why some guys are on boogaard already. torts doesnt even give the guy a chance to play! he has not hurt the team with penalties and shows some energy at least. so what if he takes a penalty or two he should be out takin the body. so he doesnt score. nobody else on the team does either!
Kev - I've fallen asleep many times on Metro North...sucks. Remember that your Cell Phone has an alarm clock my man.
The only goal scored was off an Aves defensemen. No one can score and, they don't skate hard, and you might as well just not have defensemen on the ice
Worst of all; they still show NO passion on the ice.
Maybe MSG is cursed...like maybe when NY Rangers come here they're all excited to play for new york. then when they step on the ice, some magic gas rises up from the ice and steals all enthusiasm, excitement and passion.
That's the only way I can explain how the past decade of NY Rangers players have come here and just been dead fish on the ice.
the worst part?
as kevin pointed out, they are BORING.
nothing wose than boring. at least if youre going to suck as much as they do, turn avery, boogey and prust loose and make it interesing
do something
anything.
its october 19 and the fans have already had enough.
Kevin, you say to bring up McD, Valentenko, MZA and Grachev? Wasn't that supposed to be the youth movement everyone was talking about? Ranger Brass talk a good game. Good thing I gave up my season tickets this year. the Kennedy move was HORRIBLE!
Not sure why Kennedy would be considered an answer to a team problem. Lack of being competitive.
Because Kennedy competes every play.
I don't know what was worse last night. Watching Emminger and Rozival consistently fail on D or listening to the god awful Versus telecast team of Sam Nosen and Darren Eliot.
Kevin, you nailed it right on the head, Kennedy competes every shift. That is what the kid showed us in preseason so that is what we think he adds to this team. He goes in the corners, to the net and plays bigger than he really is. I said it once and I will say it again the supposed youth movement was bull! And the crap about Biron being a great pickup is bull. Do we really think that he will play in 20 games this year? That is the number Torts and Slats put out a couple of weeks ago. NO WAY! As you can see I am in a very BAD way this morning. Frolov got a lucky goal last night. That was it for us.
this is what I love about this organization:
Tortorella. “We’re going to try and balance our lines; and Boyle, for one, is going to get more time because he deserves it the way he has played here.”
Brian Boyle played a total of 12 and a half minutes.
Only Boogard, Christenson and White played less. Boyle played awesome the other night and this is how he is rewarded. WHAT A JOKE!!!!!!
wow, all this discussion about kennedy once again highlights just how bad this team is.
if anyone thinks kennedy is the answer to anything, you are more clueless than totalretard.
Anyone else notice the 'A' on Staal's chest last night??
Too much Anonymous!!!! Please use a name so it's easy for everyone to respond. Thank you.
Kevin, I don't think it is just one anonymous. You might want to eliminate "anonymous" as one of the options.
I think everyone is a little testy today.
Anon Y. Mous, yeah I know it's more than one. Unfortunately with Blogger I can't turn off anonymous without asking everyone to sign up for Google.
Anon Y. Mous, that is absolutely hilarious. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I don't think Kevin even gets it!
Actually, I think they looked great for the majority of the game. They were hard on the puck and controlled most of the action. The power play was great and got numerous chances, but they just couldn't convert. I attribute that to a good PK and strong play by Anderson.
It was an extremely entertaining game. If they hadn't had another 3rd period meltdown and had scored just one on the PP to make the game a W with a score of 2-1, I'm sure every comment here would be about how the team looks great and the core is strong and how we're going to be a great contender.
One game, two games, three games - it means nothing. You need a REAL sampling to make a judgement. Wait until mid-November, then tell me what you think about the team. Stop making snap judgments. Ups and downs are a natural part of any NHL team. This team is going to be especially prone to it with an EXTREMELY young defense. Let them learn the NHL game and grow as a team before you start beating on them.
joe... 22 goals for 7.5 mill a year is still not right in my opinion...if he wasnt paid so much we might have room for an actual point producer..
andd rosis cap hit is 5 mill a year..drus is 7.5...so 12.5 mill a year instead. thats still too much to be paying them. look around the league and see what else 12.5 can get you. its not even fair lol.
and the play injuried till december is gabby i assume? i brought his name up solely for the reason that we CANNOT bank on gabby staying healthy, its far too much of a gamble.
After a horrendous start, the Rangers came on and played pretty well in the 2nd and early 3rd. They had plenty of chances and could and probably should have been up 3 - 1. Unfortunately they gave up a power play goal and then a quick 3rd goal that took the starch out of them.
I thought that Duby gave a great effort after the time out trying to lead the team and it did seem to inspire them. I was also very impressed with Boyle's improved skating. I know that the Rangers were on the power play a lot and that limited his minutes but you have to find a way to have him on the ice a lot more, even if that means power play time.
i agree with the boyle assessment rusty, just throw him in front of the net on the pp and see what happens...
Great to meet you last night rusty.
Same here Kevin. The pleasure was definitely mine and it was probably the nicest part of the evening. My wife always tells me to have a good time as I leave for the game and my reply always is that it's up to the Rangers to determine how good of a time I have.
I just don't see the love affair with Kennedy. We are looking at another 3rd line player at present who skates and thats about it. I saw throughout the game last night where we throw a check and bounce twice. Whats a guy who is St.Louis size and 170lbs going to do in being competitive. We lost the battles on the boards with players like Callahan Dubi Prust Avery Feds. Those are also our energy guys right? Sorry guys, but I got a different view on the answers and it doesn't include Torts or Slats.
i was so depressed today. I though the Mets season was already over?
andrew - drury is 7 mm not 7.5, and with escrow of anywhere between 10 and 20% he is making anywhere up to 1.5 mm less than that. before taxes.
so for cap purposes its 12 mm combined. in real dollars its more like 9 or 10.
and again read the rest of my post. if the rangers drafted better from 1994-2007 they would never have had to delve that deep into the ufa mkt. the rangers biggest issue BY FAR is at the draft table. anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves as 90% of ufas are overpaid. think parise instead of jessiman for starters
anonymous - several great posts this morning. not sure if its same person but quite a few were very good
rick at 5:46
agree completely on all fronts
Ryan Taussig, great post!
I agree with you. I thought they looked good and played hard. In fact, I think they have played hard all four games and really 4-0 was not that far from happening.
Take away the 5 on 3 late in the Islander game, where the Isles score two pp goals to take the lead ( on a bogus trip call to begin with) and we are 2-0.
The Leafs game was one they were outplayed, but they still fought back from a 2 goal deficit to force ot, and got a point. They had the momentum in that one until another shaky call. Im not one to complain about refs, but you rarely see a pp in ot unless its very flagrant, and that wasnt. Who knows what happens if there is no pp. I like Hanks chances in a shootout. So, very easily , maybe 3-0.
And Monday, thought after a slow start that they came back to tie it and it could have went either way until the Aves pp and that 26 second breakdown. Even if you write this one off, they are still 3-1 if a few things happen or dont happen, maybe 4-0, they hit three or four posts in the Aves game. Just score on one of those five pp's and go up 2-1 and who knows.
Im not trying to make excuses for them or such, Im just saying I think they are playing hard and I do like the team. Some of you sound like you are already giving up on them. Im saying this team was not that far from 4-0. I agree with Ryan, lets revisit this in mid November.
the 4 games haven't made me think they were a bad team. i thought that when they passed on kovalchuk and also realized just how young this team is (2nd youngest d and 9th youngest overall). that plus injuries leads to a top 5 pick something they desperately need in the system
The bottom line is that no one on the team except for Gabby is a finisher. You can see it on the Anisimaov line. They seem to be able to keep the puck in the zone so well & generate shots, but shots don't count, goals do. It's really painful to watch because they work so hard sometimes, but at this level thats just not enough.
Also at this level, the ENTIRE team needs to realize that if you play 59 minutes a night YOU WILL LOSE. We saw it alot last year & we just saw it again. 2 goals in 26 seconds? wtf?
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