Pretty miserable effort from the rest of the squad though. Tough to watch.
Offense needs to get back on track, I'm looking at you big guns.
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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
GOOD: if any, then soon buried by subsequent turnover
BAD: individual mistakes in turnovers
REDDEN: no coaching strategy to break the Habs defensive core
Pretty miserable effort from the rest of the squad though. Tough to watch.
Offense needs to get back on track, I'm looking at you big guns.
Hagelin always has good games. He has speed and uses it. He actually can protect the puck and spin off of checks to create time and space. Irrelevant though since he isn't on pace for 40+.
If the Habs sneak into the playoffs at the 8 spot and we finish 1st, we are going to have a very tough time as we cannot win in Montreal and beating them at home is no sure thing either. I really don't know what it is about Montreal, but every Ranger team seems to forget how to play hockey when we play them. Hopefully we get Dubi and Feds back for Nashville on Tuesday.
Hagelin has been impressive but he's no finished product. In 2–3 years, when he figures out what to do AFTER spinning off checks and using his skating to buy time, he's going to be a hell of a player. 60 points is not out of the question a few years down the road.
Hagelin has been impressive but he's no finished product. In 2–3 years, when he figures out what to do AFTER spinning off checks and using his skating to buy time, he's going to be a hell of a player. 60 points is not out of the question a few years down the road.
I don't know, I don't think Hags has the scoring touch to be a 60 point player.
I defended Wolski during his injury saying he should get a chance. Well, his chances should be over. He is a waste of space. Gaborik and Richards need to be put together to get each other going again, too.
This epitomizes exactly how the Rangers should NOT play. Weak on the puck, high risk passes in the neutral zone, and too much overall panic in the defensive zone. The defensive play in this game was akin to that of a last place team. All of those goals were very preventable had the team made the simple, efficient play. Instead, they decided to try the pass-to-nowhere and leave their man along the wall and in the slot. It was simply too easy for Montreal to control the puck in the Rangers' defensive zone. Also, the Rangers were entirely too soft all-around tonight. What happened to the 50+ hits we saw last night? Maybe it wore them out, but I don't think I could count the number of legitimate checks the Rangers made tonight on one hand. They made it so easy for the Montreal D to just exit the zone unpunished. The Rangers will not win any games playing this style. They beat themselves tonight.
Gaborik, Callahan, and Richards NEED to be better, too. Watching them fail to produce anything in the offensive zone shift after shift is getting very frustrating. I love Gaborik, but right now, we're watching the Gaborik that MSG the place to be constantly describes...terrible puck carrier, shies away from contact, and defended with ease. He needs to start finding the seams and stop turning the puck over on every rush. Richards has been very disappointing in my eyes. The GWG are nice, but where is tghe premier playmaker that was sold to us over the summer? 58 points is simply unacceptable from a player being paid what he's being paid....hoesntly, he's starting to move into that "bad contract" category. He's different from Drury/Gomez because of the other elements he adds, but his play right now is just hard to watch. Callahan has been his typical all-around self, but he's got 1 point in the last 5 games. Again, he needs to pick it up.
Of course, this team never wins in Montreal, so maybe I'm over-examining this, but I still have my concerns.
Hagelin always has good games. He has speed and uses it. He actually can protect the puck and spin off of checks to create time and space. Irrelevant though since he isn't on pace for 40+.
That's one thing about Hagelin that stands out to me. For a kid that's 5'11 and 180, he is very, very strong along the wall, and uses the speed to his advantage greatly.
Thanks
