Archive for October, 2009

There’s not much new to say.  The Rangers, again, were out-hustled, out-worked, and out-played in a game that they should have won.  Even without the injured Gaborik, Avery, and Higgins in the lineup.  The Rangers were dominated in both ends of the ice, and seemed to lose the will to fight in the third period.  The best players — and I am searching to find compliments — were Anisimov (+2) and Dane Byers (who netted his first NHL goal as a last minute call-up).  Not exactly a list of the Rangers top offensive forces.  I suppose Redden was acceptable.  He did [...]

If Tortorella wasn’t irate about the Rangers play before last night’s game on the island, then he certainly became so after it.  I’ve seen more coordinated play — offensively and defensively — in pick-up street hockey games.  We lost faceoffs 36-19.  We lost virtually all the loose puck battles on the boards.  We consistently got beat by the Islanders speed going past our defensemen.  And we could not finish what offensive plays we did muster (hitting at least 5 posts:  while some of that is luck, good finishers, like Gaborik…, hit the net).  The Rangers were thoroughly dominated by an abysmal (record-wise, [...]

Looks like former Ranger Colton Orr didn’t want to stop fighting George Parros last night.  So much so that he actually pushed the linesman away.  Take a look… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7FC6DXW_JI&feature=player_embedded

The real story of the game, and perhaps the season, was Gaborik.  He was dominant through two and a half periods, scoring twice and adding an assist.  The line of Gaborik-Prospal-Lisin was firing on all cylinders, creating scoring chances and goals (including a rocket by Lisin and a multi-pass beauty by Gabby).  BUT, Gaborik left late in the third with an obvious leg injury.   There is no news yet on the severity.  Gaborik claims it is not related to either his hip or groin — let us hope.  While the team is greatly improved skillwise from last season, should Gaborik be [...]

The Rangers dropped their third straight in another wild trip to Montreal.  (They did get a point since the loss was in overtime.)  They jumped ahead 3-1 after a solid first period, but had yet another dreadful second, after which the game was tied at 4 apiece.  Neither team scored in a mostly defensive third period.  But Mike Cammalleri fired the game winner over Lundqvist’s shoulder, off the iron, and in — his third goal of the game — 2:42 into overtime.  It was a successful reunion for Scott Gomez and Paul Mara, both playing their first game against the [...]

The Rangers fell to New Jersey 4-2.   (With the last goal an empty netter.)  The Devils controlled the first period, scoring two goals.  The first off of great passing, and a misplaced Girardi.  The second a beautiful deflection after Staal was caught out of position.  Not a good period for the top defense pairing.  The Rangers then played their best second period of the season scoring two of their own to tie the game.  Gaborik, as usual, with Brodeur being screened by Callahan (who was playing with the flu) and then a beautiful shot by Kotalik off a long pass from Girardi.  The [...]

Even though not invited to the U.S. Olympic team’s orientation this past summer, Brian Burke, the team’s general manager, recently announced that Dubinsky is being considered for the Olympic team.  (Callahan and Drury were at camp and are still being considered.)  Remember, Tortorella is a coach on the U.S. team.  I am a BIG Dubinsky fan.  Have been since day 1.  He has the potential to be a top, if not elite, playmaking pivot.   And he’s shown flashes of that, especially this year with Gaborik.  That said, and maybe this is part of the reason (along with the holdout) why [...]

Let’s not sugarcoat it.  The Rangers were demolished last night at the Garden by a previously underperforming Sharks team.  San Jose was better in every facet of the game.  They had better goaltending, displayed more talent, pinched more effectively, cleared pucks effortlessly from around the net, and, most troubling, worked harder.  After storming out of the gates with another excellent first shift by the top line, the Rangers followed it up with more good shifts and quickly led 2-0, including another power play goal by Del Zotto.  (Perhaps he was buoyed by the news – and really, it was a [...]