...I'm agreeing with you, it looks like. The offense hasn't come to play in the last games. I also like that people say the Stepan goal in Boston was a fluke when it was a great deflection. The defense has also been fine the past games. I'm saying that Hank CAN and SHOULD win us games because he's the best in the world. You guys make it sound like it's atrocious he's winning us games when the only thing that matters is that we SHOULD be winning games.
Ok, than I'm not arguing with you, but I'm still extremely distressed.
The point is, as elite as Hank is, he shouldn't have to have a .48 GAA for us to simply go 2-1-1 (.48 GAA over the four against FLA, OTT, BOS, BUF with 2-1-1 resulting record). If he'd had a still stellar 1.2 GAA for instance, over that stretch, we could have been 0-4-0, which is pathetic.
It makes us look a lot less like a playoff team than a world-class goalie and a young but playoff ready defense, supporting a train-wreck up front. It's pathetic and inexcusable that the Rangers, in the MOST IMPORTANT stretch of the entire season, have barely been able to muster a single goal per game. What stings me the most though, is that if they would play balls-to-the-wall hockey like they do when there's 5 minutes left and they're down a goal, they would probably be sitting pretty in 6th right now. Easily. Henrik deserves it. Fans who have been here for years deserve it.
But they come out with their hearts half in it and turn in terrible performances when EVERYTHING is on the line. It's enough to drive a fan to drink, no doubt. If they would just play the way they play the final five, when the opening puck is dropped, even if they only kept that intensity up for 50% of the game instead of the last 10%, they'd have their playoff spot locked up already. So who is to blame? Is it Torts? They've been pulling this crap where the effort picks up big time in the final 5-10 minutes for months now. Is it the leadership on the bench and in the locker room? Is it conditioning? Are the guys too tired? Too much enjoying the luxuries of life in NYC? Torts doesn't skate them enough to have the legs for a full 60 minutes? What is it that prevents them from playing good all-around hockey for more than 15 minutes out of any single game?
POTG - NHL 94's best goaltender (so good he was on every roster), S. None.
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"Here we can see the agression of american people. They love fighting and guns. when they wont win they try to kill us all." -HalfOfFame
Great post, tonight was the night to get things back on track. Torts fails to challenge this team and he couldn't make an in game adjustment to save his life. Little faith that we can turn things around in these final 4. If we won tonight everything would have been on the up and up, if the Canes beat the Isles (which they will) we are headed for 9th.
Exactly, and that's why Tortorella needs to go if they choke this away.
There was no adjustment to the Ottawa speed and trap. There was no adjustment to the Buffalo speed and trap. There was no adjustment to the Islanders over pursuit and pressure tonight. Tampa has done it to the Rangers all season. Teams with speed can frustrate this team. Torts makes no adjustment for it. He is a terrible in-game coach.
That was hilarious...haha torts...but makes sense for him to do that...as reporters and fans we want answers as a coach he wants to keep his players relaxed or I guess helpem relax
Exactly, and that's why Tortorella needs to go if they choke this away.
There was no adjustment to the Ottawa speed and trap. There was no adjustment to the Buffalo speed and trap. There was no adjustment to the Islanders over pursuit and pressure tonight. Tampa has done it to the Rangers all season. Teams with speed can frustrate this team. Torts makes no adjustment for it. He is a terrible in-game coach.
I completely agree, but unfortunately he will get a pass. Besides the fact he can't make adjustments that every poster on here and even Sam and Joe can see, his inability to motivate this team and leaving it on the kids as if they were all 10 year veterans shows he is not the right man for the job. In Tampa he had top tier talent and leaned so heavily on them, he cannot do that here and it is showing.
It was almost as if he didn't even watch the last game we played vs the Isles where they killed us because he had 3 men forechecking getting trapped leading to 3-2's and scoring chances for the Isles.
I'm a little late to the party but I'll try and be amusing;
The Good: They played "You Can Call Me Al" twice, I turned down tickets from my uncle (an Islanders fan) to have an online interactive GRE Review Session
The Bad: The Rangers
The Redden: The Rangers, PP, not shooting and having to help my G/F move tonight and get up for work at 7:30 AM
Summary: Outworked since the first shift, it was a horrible effort in a game they KNEW was going to be a WWF/Gong Show Affair
WHY did Torts take Feds off the Boyle line and now is not the time for Stepan to play with Gaborik and Prospal despite some chemistry.
If he wants to change lines, just go back to the Opening Night Lines and put Stepan with Avery and Feds and some combo of Zuc or Wolski and Christensen with Gabby.
I completely agree, but unfortunately he will get a pass. Besides the fact he can't make adjustments that every poster on here and even Sam and Joe can see, his inability to motivate this team and leaving it on the kids as if they were all 10 year veterans shows he is not the right man for the job. In Tampa he had top tier talent and leaned so heavily on them, he cannot do that here and it is showing.
It was almost as if he didn't even watch the last game we played vs the Isles where they killed us because he had 3 men forechecking getting trapped leading to 3-2's and scoring chances for the Isles.
Please, tell me this- do you think that maybe the PLAYERS THEMSELVES have to motivate themselves, and actually play on the ice? Or is EVERYTHING the fault of Torts?
No matter how much a coach fires up the team, prepares them for all situations, practices special teams, etc. The onus falls squarely on the players to execute. The greatest game plan ever conceived will not win you a game if your players put in a minimal or poorly defined effort.
The human element can not be ignored when talking about effort and other attributes riddled with variables.
Coach -- takes some responsibility
Team - takes majority of it
A terrible in game coach who's using his magic powers to stop his team from being able to score on Al Montoya, Jhonas Enroth and Craig Anderson. Yep.
His inability to change things is comical. The Isles, Sabres, and Young Sens are faster teams. They would lure this team deep and counter with 3-2's or 2-1's creating scoring chances, and it finally paid off for an opposing team big time tonight.
With speedy teams and some of our d-men being worn out (Staal, McD) or having no foot speed (Girardi, McCabe) you have to have the center stay back and try to clog the neutral zone with only one forechecker. What does Torts do? Nothing
On the PP how many times did we miss the net? How many shots did this team pass up trying to make the perfect pass? Even McCabe isn't shooting as much since he joined the Rangers and that dude didn't even know what a pass was for the first ten years of his career.
Torts should not get all the blame but his refusal to make common sense changes and adjustments has cost us quite a few games.
Real bad loss the powerplay was embarrassing. I was hoping this was going to be the year we dont have to rely on winning the last game to clinche a playoff birth. But It doesn't look like that is going to happen.
This was embarrasing. Worst game of the season. The power-play really killed of any momentum we had today. It doesn`t even look like we have a real plan on the power-play.
Nothing was going right today, but I still believe in this team. I hope they are angry on Sunday in Philly.
And Jack Capuano looks like a lesbian with his haircut btw.
Please, tell me this- do you think that maybe the PLAYERS THEMSELVES have to motivate themselves, and actually play on the ice? Or is EVERYTHING the fault of Torts?
Getting outworked isn't Torts fault.
But getting outschemed is.
Putting players in positions to fail is.
All that being said, this was one of the few nights where they were just beaten. That really hasn't happened much. The players have worked hard almost all year, despite the game plans Tortorella is throwing out there.
