Guest Writer: Outside Looking In
Nov 21, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; The referees confer and wave off a goal scored New York Rangers defenseman Anton Stralman (6) against Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen (32) during the second period at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out what another fan thinks of the New York Rangers? Well, we now have that chance.
I got a message on twitter last night from Max Baker, who asked if I could throw his opinion up on the site. I gladly said yes as I figured it would be good to see what he thinks of the team so far this season.
He is a Dallas Stars fan, and here is what he had to say about the Rangers, a team he doesn’t get to see very often.
First Impression of Rangers Hockey in 2013/2014
Good evening Blue Line Station readers. As a reader of this blog you’re probably used to well thought out analysis and reaction to New York Rangers hockey games from long time fans who have been working hard to cover the team all season long. Well, that’s not what you’re going to get with this post. You see, I am a Dallas Stars fan; the Dallas Stars are the NHL team located in this barren, flat, hockey abyss called North Texas. They were also, of course, the Rangers opponent last night and I have taken the liberty to give you my analysis of your team from a completely neutral perspective and only looking at one game as a sample size.
As you probably already know, the Rangers defeated the Stars 3-2, but why did the Rangers win last night? The answer is simple; it is because the Rangers are a better hockey team than the Stars. The first thing I noticed was how well Alain Vigneault had his team prepared to take on the speed of the Stars. Speed is the name of the game for Dallas and New York was ready for it, they dropped back into their own zone and let Dallas come to them and didn’t over pursue their skill guys. Dallas is not one of those teams that you want to trade chances up and down the ice with and the Rangers never let Dallas get into that groove. Dallas was also incredibly fired up for this game; it was their first home game in 3 weeks and their first game in 4 days. They came out fast and they came ferocious and the Rangers were ready for it and even got on the board first from a moment of absolute brilliance from Rick Nash (who OF COURSE has to come back from injury against us).
But the story of this game and the story of the New York Rangers is Henrik Lundqvist. Fantastic, world class, sublime, handsome, you run out of adjectives to describe this guy. He’s been voted the Rangers’ player of the year for each of the last 8 seasons and he showed the world why tonight, making 41 saves and the 2 goals that went by him weren’t even his fault. The first goal, which I might add was Dallas’ first power play goal at home since April 25th, was a deflection off of Dan Girardi who was preoccupied with trying to move a forward out of the low slot and the second was a lapse in concentration by the defense and a pretty shot by Alex Chiasson that I don’t think many NHL goalies would have stopped. There’s a reason they call him The King and it is because he is the best at his position in the world.
My final thoughts on the game are how effective the long, stretch-pass is by the Rangers, they created 4 or 5 fantastic chances as a result of perfect, and often banked off of the side boards, passes from inside of their own hashmarks. My one grievance was some boneheaded penalties; a better power play team could have put the Rangers on the wrong side of the scoreboard in this one but with Lundqvist as lights out as he was tonight I’m not totally sure that would have mattered.
Thank you for reading Rangers fans, you guys are some of the best in the NHL and New York is without a doubt the greatest city in the world. Wish you guys the best of the luck the rest of the season and hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Max can be found on Twitter @MaxwellJayDFW
Thanks for reading!
-Andrew (@a_graz24)