Well this was an interesting one, largely because you get to see from a very close perspective the kind of impact that fatigue can have on mental errors.
Really nothing majorly wrong with the team that can't be handles, but you're looking at a defensive tandem in McDonagh and Girardi that are past their second wind and into the dreaded tired phase.
I've been monitoring their ice time all season and been trying to guess exactly when it was going to kick in, and it appears that that time is here. Tortorella needs to find a way to limit their time and get them back to full strength whilst not completely crippling the team.
Other things... well obviously we were a man short tonight with Dubinsky going off with what will probably be a broken hand on an idiotic fight. Why he feels the need to drop the mitts when we have an entire line full of fighters on top of Bickel is nothing short of baffling, and he may not be back now until the first round at the earliest.
Callahan was obviously only at about 50-60%. Had difficulty with sharp turns, was not as physical, and didn't even look as enthusiastic about blocking shots. He played 20:20 in a game, where, frankly, he should not have played.
Staal was the best player on the ice for the Rangers tonight, though Stepan and Hagelin had some good moments.
Key turnover machines were Girardi, McDonagh, Gaborik, Richards, and Pruster. Too many icings and our defensive zone coverage was even suspect at times.
All in all you're looking at a situatio n where the Rangers have a ton of upcoming games with not much rest in between, most of them are against playoff caliber opposition. Biron is going to have another 3 starts this month, and the Rangers are going to need to try to find a way to play their game in order to stay in first place. Oh, and Brad Richards is going to have to show up.
More like 3 games in a row where the defense lets in 2+ goals. I'll blame Hank for one goal in each of the last 3. The OT in Tampa, Caron's slapper on Sunday, and Sykora's goal tonight.
It was a goal that went off Clarkson's leg, not sure how that was a bad goal. The first goal against Boston I think was bad.
The last 3 games was the Lundqvist of previous years. Considering this team around him isn't any better than previous years, this team is giving up a ******** of goals. This team is not talented offensively and the D is slightly above average at best. This team needs an inhuman game from Lundqvist 8 out of every 10 games. This is not a very good hockey team. Their standing at the top of the east does not paint the picture of how truly mediocre this team is. Look at the bottom 2 lines. It's a horror show of players that should be working in McDonalds. Our top 2 lines has guys like Hagelin and Anisimov who are not top 6 line forwards. Speaking of working in McDonalds, Bickel sucks, Scott on O and D should have a sandwich named after him in McDonalds.
Also I never want to see another person advocate trading Marc Staal ever again.
In fact, Sauer either. Sauer's non-presence is rearing it's ugly head.
As Fitzy said so eloquently (and we've all suspected all year), the minutes have finally caught up to McD and Danny. Without Staal to help shoulder the load they were overplayed big time for the first half of the season. Staal is the only one of our defensemen who can handle playing 25+ minutes consistently for an entire season.
You can't exactly wish this team anything else than what it is.
You either try to work within the confines or realism or drift into ideological normative arguments about what we "should" have done with this team. (Which are pointless)
It was a goal that went off Clarkson's leg, not sure how that was a bad goal. The first goal against Boston I think was bad.
The last 3 games was the Lundqvist of previous years. Considering this team around him isn't any better than previous years, this team is giving up a ******** of goals. This team is not talented offensively and the D is slightly above average at best. This team needs an inhuman game from Lundqvist 8 out of every 10 games. This is not a very good hockey team. Their standing at the top of the east does not paint the picture of how truly mediocre this team is. Look at the bottom 2 lines. It's a horror show of players that should be working in McDonalds. Our top 2 lines has guys like Hagelin and Anisimov who are not top 6 line forwards. Speaking of working in McDonalds, Bickel sucks, Scott on O and D should have a sandwich named after him in McDonalds.
Well hey at least we made progress going from being "a bad hockey team" to being "not a very good hockey team". Xanax would do you wonders.
I wouldn't feel bad about the loss it's not like you guys had something to play for. You have everything in the east wrapped up.
Pittsburgh refuses to lose. The Rangers are playing like ****. Despite my stance on teams that have their win totals massively inflated by shootouts, the Pens are the better team, they just weren't as healthy as the Rangers this season. I can easily see the Pens overtaking the Atlantic.
Staal has rounded into form and was arguably our best player tonight .
Benching Stralman was a mistake his play with MDZ has been under rated . He made a few gaffs lately but scored the other night and on the offensive side of the puck provides skill we needed tonight .
what he said...
there is no reason Eminger should EVER be in the lineup, havent seen such a slow footed dman since Malik. he looks like he's riding a a bike up a really steep hill in the lowest gear possible when he skates. ill take stralman's turnovers any day over emingers turnover to blown tire move that he's seemed to master at this point. eminger sucks balls.
girardi def needs a rest, im not saying now but dwon the road i wouldn't mind seeing a few of our d-men being a healthy scratch for a game. thank god we have staal back honestly. mcondagh could use a break, mdz is a little banged up. i think we should plan on sauer not returning this year.
If we were serious about this situation, Staal, Stralman, and Eminger would all shoulder heavy loads from here until the end of the season.
That is something that can reasonably be done to try to get ourselves ready for the postseason. May sound odd, but i'd rather tke the risk to go into the playoffs in 2nd or 4th/5th place with a functional top pairing than 1st with a completely gassed McD-Girardi pairing.
Going to be interesting to see how Torts handles these stretch of poor games lately since this team doesn't have much time to practice with so many games coming up.
I also think that we'll see Staal should be moved up to the first pairing so Girardi can have his minutes reduced. Staal has looked 100% these last few games and Girardi seems to be making so many mental mistakes (which I'm assuming is from fatigue).
If McDonagh and Girardi can have reduced minutes until the playoffs start it would be fantastic.
