Murphy with another outstanding game. Great shorthanded goal, 2 more assists, excellent on the PK, broke up a lot of plays. He's looking better than ever.
6-2 Rangers win. Tyler Randell might have played his best game since returning from the pros. Unfortunately, it may be his last.
No call on the play, but a direct shoulder to the head of Artur Gavrus by Randell will likely result in an 8-10 games suspension. Gavrus is out with a concussion and Ireland is irate and wants a review.
Faksa should be out at least the next 2-4 weeks. The last thing you want to do is rush a head injury. Big win for Owen Sound last game. Rookies Chris Bigras and Zack Nastasiuk stepped up big in the last game. Kitchener's D has to find a way to shut down the Attack's speedy forwards to close out this series. Kitchener hasn't really had a problem scoring goals, they will just need to keep them out. Last game was definitely not Gibson's night but I expect him to come back very strong. They must limit the time and space of guys like Smith and Catenacci.
Faksa should be out at least the next 2-4 weeks. The last thing you want to do is rush a head injury. Big win for Owen Sound last game. Rookies Chris Bigras and Zack Nastasiuk stepped up big in the last game. Kitchener's D has to find a way to shut down the Attack's speedy forwards to close out this series. Kitchener hasn't really had a problem scoring goals, they will just need to keep them out. Last game was definitely not Gibson's night but I expect him to come back very strong. They must limit the time and space of guys like Smith and Catenacci.
Bigras has played well the whole series, and had the highlight goal of the series, so far. Smith and D. Catenacci have been too busy trying to jump into hits and play badass that they really haven't been much of a factor in the series, or not to the extent you'd expect.
Bigras has played well the whole series, and had the highlight goal of the series, so far. Smith and D. Catenacci have been too busy trying to jump into hits and play badass that they really haven't been much of a factor in the series, or not to the extent you'd expect.
But Kitchener does need to end this tonight.
Bigras has played well all year. Both Chris and Zach have been playing big minutes for rookies. Although Smith and Catenacci haven't been fairly inconsistent in this series there are times when they just fly around the Kitchener defense. Last game Smith skated by Sol like he wasn't there but couldn't convert on the shorthanded breakaway. Personally I don't think Randell should have received a 10 suspension but the loss of Faksa and Randell could result in this series being extended. Other guys need to step up, Francisco comes back into the lineup for the Rangers tonight.
Radek Faksa:
He's out with a concussion. Being the playoffs, you won't hear anything definate about when he returns until he does. The sooner the better I say. But I'm fearing that we'll hear, on every game day, that "he won't go tonight, but we hope he'll be ready for the next game" until he does come back.
Jesse Young:
Has been a huge surprise these playoffs as the 6th d-man. Never expected him to get into the lineup. I thought Gilbert would be ahead of him, but considering his play, especially in game one at Plymouth, you just cannot take him out of the lineup. He and Genovese played strong minutes at Plymouth and did so playing against that deep Whaler team. Yes, they are the 3rd pairing, but because of Young's emergence, are rounding out into a nice option when it comes to allowing the top four to play a few less minutes than they have been lately. That will bode well in a long series.
10 min miscs:
Obviously, the game plan of the Whalers will be to get our best players off the ice whenever possible. Last night, they were successful on two occasions. At the tail end of one scrum, Aleardi was able to get Rieder off the ice for 10 minutes and Devane was successful in getting Sol off for 10 as well. These were terrible tradeoffs as far as the Rangers were concerned. This can't happen. But also, I believe the refs should be able to determine what the Whalers are up to and not get sucked into handing out miscs when they arent really deserved.
Our Draft:
Nice to see we finally drafted some size. Hopefully, there will be some meaness along with the size.
For the first time in awhile, I actually see the right kind of players being brought in from the draft on Saturday. Really happy with Matt, Ryan and Darby being selected with our first 3 picks. By the sounds of thing, Matt and Darby will be at rookie camp and hope to make the lineup this year. With Ryan and his USNTP committment for another year, we won't be seeing him until next year (at the earliest).
The only thing I wish is that a goalie would have been taken in the later rounds. I know we picked up a few last year but I like seeing a pick every year for a goalie because you never know how they pan out or who reports.
Great Game last night! Looking forward to the game 7 showdown tomorrow night. Is Randell back for the game?
Yes Randell will be back tomorrow night. He was in a suit on the ice at the end of the game last night when the boys were coming off the ice. All giving him high fives and what not. Looked like he was part of the motivation for the guys. Part of the other, was the fans last night. It was loud and they seemed to feed off of the fans. Way to Go, one more to go tomorrow night!
Oh how I wish we could've seen this team just one man short all season let alone full strength instead of missing 3 or 4 1st or second line players.
Or even seen a full lineup for more than about 4 games.
Great game last night, and Tuesday is yet another challenge. When you stop to think that the game last night included 2 OA's and the rest of the players were 16, 17 and 18, it's pretty amazing.
Or even seen a full lineup for more than about 4 games.
Great game last night, and Tuesday is yet another challenge. When you stop to think that the game last night included 2 OA's and the rest of the players were 16, 17 and 18, it's pretty amazing.
I don't think we had a full line-up all season.
Murphy was away in the NHL and Matia and McEneny were injured almost right way. Even though the Rangers had time to adjust for these absences there's no doubt in my mind that both were due for big season. IMHO McEneny was looking to be a solid 2nd round draft pick and and top 3 d-man on the Rangers. While MM struggled a bit when he came back from his concussion(s) he was finally hitting his stride when he hit the rut in the ice in Erie and went crashing into the boards.
IMHO getting these two players back next season is like making a blockbuster deal bringing in two top-end talents while giving up nothing.
Last edited by Ward Cornell: 04-17-2012 at 09:37 AM.
I love the heart, determination and never-say-die attitude of this team. I was not expecting a lot out of this series, but the Rangers are better having had to fight tooth and nail to get the win.
Interesting stat -- Kitchener killed off all 22 Plymouth PP's during the series. I knew the PK was good, but that's pretty damn impressive!
Bring on the Knights! The team we love to hate more than any other - this is going to be fun!
Awesome game last night!
Hopefully the work ethic is there vs the Knights.
Great experience for this young team and have exceeded what some of the critics were saying.
CG, the PP/PK is what could be the achillies heel for the Knights...we all know how much they hate Murphy.
