Ill vote Ryan Callahan as the POTG today i thought he played a very solid game around the entire ice surface, winning battles, blocking shots and getting the puck deap. Very desperate solid game by him. I also thought Mcd played a real solid game today.
I didnt love Dubi's game today, too much standing and watching he cant watch as much as he did today as its obvious we rely heavily on his ability to create chances.
The redden i would i have to say is sending down Zucc when we desperately need offense.
I thought Boyle had a weak game defensively. He lost his man on the first Flyer goal. And he was caught trying to make a hit and was out of position for the second Flyer goal.
I think what the last group of games (and most of the season) prove is that we do not have enough skill up front to compete for the cup. I see only six forwards that are locks for next year's squad. Which makes for a very interesting summer and camp.
We have a first line wing - Gaborik
A second line - Cally, Ani, Dubi
A third line center - Step
A 4th line wing - Prust
Every other forward can either be moved, let go or should be competing for a spot in the fall. And yes I'm including Boyle, Wolski and Avery in this group. So, there is room for real competition for some of these young guys who actually have skill that leads to goals for US.
I thought Boyle had a weak game defensively. He lost his man on the first Flyer goal. And he was caught trying to make a hit and was out of position for the second Flyer goal.
Flashbacks to game 82 last year where they tied it up right in front of him .
Funny thing...just noticed that the choices for the "Moment of the Week" on the Rangers' site ALL come from this game
1) McCabe's buzzer beating goal
2) Fed's goal
3) EC & W2 in the SO
Guess we've been a little hard-pressed for memorable moments this past week!!!
I had the honor of sitting in one of the Flyers luxury Boxes yesterday it was on center ice and located about 25 rows up just an amazing seat. Anyway it was great because a few ex NHL players and some scouts were sitting with me and I really focused and watched the game as more then a fan. Here are few things I noticed and hope you guys can maybe expand on the points I make.
Dan Girardi was a straight up stud yesterday. The guy was all over the ice and his decisions in his own zone were perfect 95% of the time. in the last 10 mins of the game Dan and Staal played every second shift and were spot on. Dan was not pushed around one bit and hit a lot. He really is good with his first pass out of the zone.
Bryan McCabe played a very strong game and my God can he shoot the puck! He hit a lot and stood up a number of times to Carcillio's crap. McCabe is a lot bigger then I remembered
Marc Staal see Girardi wow he is going to be the next Larry Robinson
Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov were bulls on the ice. Neither one backed down from getting hit or delivering one. AA takes way to long to get his shot off but it is hard and acutate when he does. Derek is strong on the puck and played a great game in his own zone moving the puck along the boards and not up the middle.
Torts only played the Boyle and Dubi lines for the last 9 minutes and can't blame him on that call.
Boyle gets a lot of chances but man does he miss the net a lot.
Prust has balls and plays very hard with the puck down low he never loses a behind the net battle. on a side note I love the guy but man he is a pillow puncher he can't break glass with a punch.
Hank was really strong and not sure if the NBC idiots showed this but he was very pissed off about being bumped and slashed and responded by wacking the ankles and and backs of a few Flyers he was really going to town in the second on VRD who refused to move out of the crease even when the puck was at center ice.
Great game to watch live.
I once sat in a luxury box at the Garden for a Ranger game. It was great, except I wish the box was located center ice. I was sitting right behind the goal. My dad used to be a salesman for Cablevision, and they gave him 4 tickets to bring "clients". He told my mom to lie and say she was his client and my brother and I were two of her kids. Lol I would have done the same thing if I was him.
__________________
"Trust me I'm an expert, I watched 13 rangers games on NHL center Ice this year through streaming." -Starburst
"I don't even understand what the point of all this arguing is. Are you guys hoping that the other side is going to have an epiphany and go 'Oh, OH! You're right, we ARE going to lose this series!'" -Crease
I had the honor of sitting in one of the Flyers luxury Boxes yesterday it was on center ice and located about 25 rows up just an amazing seat. Anyway it was great because a few ex NHL players and some scouts were sitting with me and I really focused and watched the game as more then a fan. Here are few things I noticed and hope you guys can maybe expand on the points I make.
Dan Girardi was a straight up stud yesterday. The guy was all over the ice and his decisions in his own zone were perfect 95% of the time. in the last 10 mins of the game Dan and Staal played every second shift and were spot on. Dan was not pushed around one bit and hit a lot. He really is good with his first pass out of the zone.
Bryan McCabe played a very strong game and my God can he shoot the puck! He hit a lot and stood up a number of times to Carcillio's crap. McCabe is a lot bigger then I remembered
Marc Staal see Girardi wow he is going to be the next Larry Robinson
Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov were bulls on the ice. Neither one backed down from getting hit or delivering one. AA takes way to long to get his shot off but it is hard and acutate when he does. Derek is strong on the puck and played a great game in his own zone moving the puck along the boards and not up the middle.
Torts only played the Boyle and Dubi lines for the last 9 minutes and can't blame him on that call.
Boyle gets a lot of chances but man does he miss the net a lot.
Prust has balls and plays very hard with the puck down low he never loses a behind the net battle. on a side note I love the guy but man he is a pillow puncher he can't break glass with a punch.
Hank was really strong and not sure if the NBC idiots showed this but he was very pissed off about being bumped and slashed and responded by wacking the ankles and and backs of a few Flyers he was really going to town in the second on VRD who refused to move out of the crease even when the puck was at center ice.
Great game to watch live.
Regarding Anisimov. AA doesn't have a snap shot a la Gaborik. He uses a regular wrist shot. "Quick wrister" doesn't exist because it's an oxymoron. My concern with him is not his shot, but his endurance to physicality that may be the issue comes playoff time.
Boyle is fine. Those who play bottom 6 do not have to snipe. He tries to place the puck next to post and not to hit the G. Misses are normal.
Dubi was not his regular. May be still not well after flu.
I had the honor of sitting in one of the Flyers luxury Boxes yesterday it was on center ice and located about 25 rows up just an amazing seat. Anyway it was great because a few ex NHL players and some scouts were sitting with me and I really focused and watched the game as more then a fan. Here are few things I noticed and hope you guys can maybe expand on the points I make.
Dan Girardi was a straight up stud yesterday. The guy was all over the ice and his decisions in his own zone were perfect 95% of the time. in the last 10 mins of the game Dan and Staal played every second shift and were spot on. Dan was not pushed around one bit and hit a lot. He really is good with his first pass out of the zone.
Bryan McCabe played a very strong game and my God can he shoot the puck! He hit a lot and stood up a number of times to Carcillio's crap. McCabe is a lot bigger then I remembered
Marc Staal see Girardi wow he is going to be the next Larry Robinson
Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov were bulls on the ice. Neither one backed down from getting hit or delivering one. AA takes way to long to get his shot off but it is hard and acutate when he does. Derek is strong on the puck and played a great game in his own zone moving the puck along the boards and not up the middle.
Torts only played the Boyle and Dubi lines for the last 9 minutes and can't blame him on that call.
Boyle gets a lot of chances but man does he miss the net a lot.
Prust has balls and plays very hard with the puck down low he never loses a behind the net battle. on a side note I love the guy but man he is a pillow puncher he can't break glass with a punch.
Hank was really strong and not sure if the NBC idiots showed this but he was very pissed off about being bumped and slashed and responded by wacking the ankles and and backs of a few Flyers he was really going to town in the second on VRD who refused to move out of the crease even when the puck was at center ice.
Great game to watch live.
I was lucky enough to be a box yesterday as well. And while I agree the Rangers looked great. I am still concerned about the play infront of Hank. JVR's goal is one that can be avoided by being stronger infront of Hank.
no thoughts on Tortorella closing up the neutral zone after the first? nothing about the Rangers aggressive game giving philly no time for anything outside of maybe 6 shifts the entire game?
Truth to be told, my expectations on a team in the situation we are in and a few games left of the season -- that is, when having a lead halfway into a game, not to fall apart defensively or break down in their own end. That's a ability that atleast 25 teams have in this league, all you need to do is take a regular look at nightly scoreboard.
I do not get the "-ing", I think we are inexcuseably bad in some aspects. If Torts want to play a game were we do not take the puck to the net untill we have passed it around the boards 3-4 times, it is a gameplan. Get it below the hashmarks, then attack. His gameplan. It has advantages and it has disadvantages. That gameplan includes cutting off unnecessary offensive moves heading up ice, just make a long pass to a winger standing still and have that guy re-direct the puck into the attackingzone. So far so good.
Then comes games against teams against which that approch do not work. For example, against the Devils a while back, Lemiere dropped back with a D so deep in his own end, that they could gather the puck after a dumpin and move up ice seconds before our forechecker reached the puck. In a extremely important game we got 16 shots on goal, and thats a flattering number for us considering how the game looked. The Islanders wasn't as extreme, but they also collapsed very deep on us, and counterattacked. Not just last week, but go to nhl.com and watch the highlights from our 6-3 win on March 15, the Islanders had a insane amount of 2 on 1's in that game that Hank saved.
I have two problems with the above.
First of all, our inability to adopt against teams that are adopting against us and ends up taking advantage of us. Its not my biggest problem, I am not sure how wise it is to adopt too much on your own during the regular season. With Tom Renney here we changed our gameplan against the Devils, and out-trapped them basically, and got a tremendous record, but then afterwards that gameplan seemed to spill over and disturb how we played against other teams. It became a bad habit to back down. But in the end, I still think that it is not excuseable to have so few alternatives to the long-tipin pass transition play.
Second of all, look at the west, look at the successful teams in the east, we are very alone at being so darned scared of making offensive plays in the neutral zone and taking the puck to the net right away. All teams use that long pass, by using it they puch the other team back, when that have been done they take advantage of the open ice they have created in the neutralzone. When we try to do that, out passing is horrible, we loose the pucks and give up 2 on 1's. I am sorry, but that is just a drilling issue from the coach point of view. If the other team put pressure on us, that long pass is a great option. Its in the situations were the other team is stretched out over 3 zones we need to be able to pass the puck up ice, and to fail in those situations is not ok, no matter how many kids you have on your team.
To summarize, we play a style thats different then all good teams and that was widly used before the lockout. Other coaches have altered their game plan, our have not. Thats facts. Our coaches also seem to have a overbelief in that gameplan, since we are completely unprepaired when we have to alter from it.
Thats just my opinion. Many critizise Torts for how he uses certain players. Many take it at him for how he behaves in interviews. Many have a problem with him always deflecting all the blame after a loss on others while always, almost without exceptions, loves to take all the credit for a win. But, I do not have a problem with that. I think he have what it takes to be a motivator that can take his team all the way. But when it comes to the above, I am going to call him out for it.
Truth to be told, my expectations on a team in the situation we are in and a few games left of the season -- that is, when having a lead halfway into a game, not to fall apart defensively or break down in their own end. That's a ability that atleast 25 teams have in this league, all you need to do is take a regular look at nightly scoreboard.
I do not get the "-ing", I think we are inexcuseably bad in some aspects. If Torts want to play a game were we do not take the puck to the net untill we have passed it around the boards 3-4 times, it is a gameplan. Get it below the hashmarks, then attack. His gameplan. It has advantages and it has disadvantages. That gameplan includes cutting off unnecessary offensive moves heading up ice, just make a long pass to a winger standing still and have that guy re-direct the puck into the attackingzone. So far so good.
Then comes games against teams against which that approch do not work. For example, against the Devils a while back, Lemiere dropped back with a D so deep in his own end, that they could gather the puck after a dumpin and move up ice seconds before our forechecker reached the puck. In a extremely important game we got 16 shots on goal, and thats a flattering number for us considering how the game looked. The Islanders wasn't as extreme, but they also collapsed very deep on us, and counterattacked. Not just last week, but go to nhl.com and watch the highlights from our 6-3 win on March 15, the Islanders had a insane amount of 2 on 1's in that game that Hank saved.
I have two problems with the above.
First of all, our inability to adopt against teams that are adopting against us and ends up taking advantage of us. Its not my biggest problem, I am not sure how wise it is to adopt too much on your own during the regular season. With Tom Renney here we changed our gameplan against the Devils, and out-trapped them basically, and got a tremendous record, but then afterwards that gameplan seemed to spill over and disturb how we played against other teams. It became a bad habit to back down. But in the end, I still think that it is not excuseable to have so few alternatives to the long-tipin pass transition play.
Second of all, look at the west, look at the successful teams in the east, we are very alone at being so darned scared of making offensive plays in the neutral zone and taking the puck to the net right away. All teams use that long pass, by using it they puch the other team back, when that have been done they take advantage of the open ice they have created in the neutralzone. When we try to do that, out passing is horrible, we loose the pucks and give up 2 on 1's. I am sorry, but that is just a drilling issue from the coach point of view. If the other team put pressure on us, that long pass is a great option. Its in the situations were the other team is stretched out over 3 zones we need to be able to pass the puck up ice, and to fail in those situations is not ok, no matter how many kids you have on your team.
To summarize, we play a style thats different then all good teams and that was widly used before the lockout. Other coaches have altered their game plan, our have not. Thats facts. Our coaches also seem to have a overbelief in that gameplan, since we are completely unprepaired when we have to alter from it.
Thats just my opinion. Many critizise Torts for how he uses certain players. Many take it at him for how he behaves in interviews. Many have a problem with him always deflecting all the blame after a loss on others while always, almost without exceptions, loves to take all the credit for a win. But, I do not have a problem with that. I think he have what it takes to be a motivator that can take his team all the way. But when it comes to the above, I am going to call him out for it.
How come when you complain about Torts it's 100% painted as his fault by you and you neglect to mention anything positive but when we win you only give him partial credit and still take time to point out all he does wrong. It's called bias and that's why you got the head shake. Then again it's just human nature to complain about something you dislike so I can't fault you too bad. You are a little unfair in your Torts ciriticisms though most of the stuff you say is correct even if it is a little colored.
How come when you complain about Torts it's 100% painted as his fault by you and you neglect to mention anything positive but when we win you only give him partial credit and still take time to point out all he does wrong. It's called bias and that's why you got the head shake. Then again it's just human nature to complain about something you dislike so I can't fault you too bad. You are a little unfair in your Torts ciriticisms though most of the stuff you say is correct even if it is a little colored.
I only give him partial credit because I do not think he deserves 100 percent of the credit when we win. Its as simple as that. I think we have a good roster and should win our fair share of games.
At the same time, I am sure you are right to a extent. You argue your case so to speak, and its easy to be a tad biased.
I question my self for sure. Like I wonder if maybe Torts is thinking something like -- "This year I am going to keep it extremely simple. We have a very young team, and I am going to pin down the basics, it will cost us, but its better to get one thing right instead of doing everything half-arsed. Next year we will build on it and expand our game". It's perfectly possible. But he is still having this young squad doing the same mistakes as his first roster in NY did, and his last roster in Tampa did.
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