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By Zach Schiff  January 26, 2010, at 1:15 am  Did you really expect something different than what happened tonight?
Did you expect Donald Brashear to do more than Erik Christensen or Ales Kotalik would? Look at this stat-line: 5 shifts, 5 minutes 35 seconds, 2 hits, minus-1.
With (essentially) a 6-minute power play and Michal Rozsival running the point, what did you expect? A shot to hit the net? A goal?
Get real. With Kotalik watching from above and Mike Del Zotto playing the opposite side (so he can’t get a real shot off), there was nobody to blast the puck from the point. And with no Rangers wanting to stand in the crease, even if they did, there was nobody to bang home a rebound.
Kotalik sits during the “winning streak” against Montreal and Tampa Bay, so he sits again in Philadelphia. Okay, I see that. If it’s working, run with it. They lose, but he sits again in Montreal. Interesting, but I see what John Tortorella is doing. But now they’ve been shut out 2 straight games and their cannon-shot is still not dressed, while gutless players like Brashear and Chris Higgins get to go in.
At one point during the extended power plays in the 3rd period, all four Penguin penalty-killers and their goalie were facing the same direction – towards the corner so Marc-Andre Fleury had to turn his neck left to face the puck. Rozsival, for some unknown reason, was on the left point (maybe Wade Redden was changing his tampon, I don’t know, I’m not the bench boss).
Now, if this was a team playing the Rangers – say, Montreal, Philadelphia, or Pittsburgh – that point man would have skated down so that he was facing the penalty-killers’ backs. He would have received a pass and banged it home before Henrik Lundqvist had adequate time to slide back to the other post.
However, this is Mikey Rozsival we’re talking about. What did he do? Waited for a pass. Just to pass again. Just to have the puck fumbled out of the zone, thus killing any chance of a good play.
Apparently, the PK-men on Pittsburgh weren’t the only ones not paying attention on that play.
I’m not saying that Kotalik himself would’ve saved this game. But if he was out there shooting and someone wanted to get dirty in the crease – hey, Sean Avery can’t play every shift, can he? – then maybe a garbage goal would’ve gone in and all of you would be singing the praises of this team for coming back from a 1-0 deficit and finally winning at home.
But no one wants to shoot. No one wants to get dirty. No one wants to hit.
And I guess no one wants to play in May, either.
By Zach Schiff December 31, 2009, at 1:29 am Yes, the Rangers got crushed today.
It was a 6-0 loss; first time they were shutout this season; Sean Avery was the only one who really showed up; a division rival got 2 points on home ice; Chad Johnson let up his first goal on his first shot ever.
But it’s funny how quickly people turn on the team. They go 4-0 and all of a sudden Marian Gaborik is the greatest player in the world, Henrik Lundqvist is the best goalie in the NHL, and this team is on the right track.
Then, they get shutout at home, and we need to fire John Tortorella, trade Brandon Dubinsky, and go with a youth movement.
Aren’t teams allowed to win and lose games?
Yes, no one played particularly well. Chad Johnson – he who wasn’t scheduled to start and was thrown in during an intermission – played decent. Avery played very well tonight. Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan played well, but as always, couldn’t find the back of the net.
This is a team where 34% of the Salary Cap is occupied by 3 players who shouldn’t be making a total of $3.4M. What did you expect?
A team with Michal Rozsival, Wade Redden, and Chris Drury will NEVER win a Stanley Cup, unless they are all making under $1M per year and the rest of the roster is filled with named like Kovalchuk, Gaborik, Lundqvist, Boyle, Heatley, and Niedermeyer.
This Rangers team isn’t built for a Cup run. Yes, they have a few parts (Gaborik, Hank, Ryan Callahan, and 3 of 6 defensemen), but they’ll get shutout 6-0 from time to time. Sometimes, they’ll score 7 goals. Some games, they’ll put up a fight in a 2-1 loss.
Get used to it.
But don’t expect too much.
And don’t complain when they don’t show up for a game. After all, what did you expect out of Redden when he was signed? Passion? Commitment? Offensive skill?
By Zach Schiff December 24, 2009, at 1:13 am The average ice time for a forward in a 60-minute hockey game is 15 minutes.
The average ice time for a defenseman in a 60-minute hockey game is 20 minutes.
Explain to me how, in an “Era of Accountability” (my phrase), Michal Rozsival skates 3 more minutes than the average defender (23:18 against Florida).
The original intention of the writing was to praise Enver Lisin, yet wonder about how he skated 2 minutes less than average tonight (13:05).
To be honest, Lisin skating 13 minutes is 4 or 5 minutes more than he normally skates (and he only skated 4 minutes last Monday in the shootout loss to Atlanta). And on a night where Vinny Prospal, Sean Avery, Marian Gaborik, and even Chris Drury were playing good, I guess there wasn’t a ton of ice time to go around. So I’m happy with 13 minutes for Lisin.
But Rozsival rocking 23 minutes? He had over 9 in the first period! The reason Lisin didn’t play much was allegedly because he was atrocious defensively.
So is Rozsival! Or was the Panthers’ lone goal too early in the game for everyone to remember how awful he looked on that first goal. He played pretty poor the remaining 22 minutes he was on the ice as well, including his 1:59 on the power play. (To be fair to him, his penalty killing isn’t atrocious, but he refuses to look at anyone except the puck carrier, and it almost bit him in the behind twice tonight on the same Florida power play).
* * *
My pregame prediction of a hat trick by Prospal was officially killed when Gaborik scored a shorthanded goal. I figured up 3-1, Tomas Vokoun would head to the bench, Gaborik would have an open empty net, pass to Prospal, and he’d have his 3rd of the evening.
* * *
Ales Kotalik looked so disappointed after missing that breakaway on Vokoun in the 2nd period. He’s trying hard and he wants to score, it just isn’t happening today. It was good seeing him on the point on the power play, though, tonight.
* * *
I’m not all negative, you know. Lisin had a really good game. He looked like Wayne Gretzky on that first goal where he out-hustled the opponent, kept with the puck, and passed it perfectly to Chris Drury, who pounded it home. Drury got credit for the goal and Avery got the biggest applause when it was announced, but Lisin did the legwork on that one.
Drury was huge on the 4th goal though; the pass from his knees to Gaborik was money. How Gaborik put that home is still a mystery to me, but that’s okay.
I’m just happy they scored today. The Garden was rocking for the first time in two months tonight.
* * *
About those “Asshole” chants you heard towards the end of the 3rd period.
Two guys in Islander jerseys, one with a jacket, one without, were leaving the Garden. Instead of going out the gate closest to them, they – v e r y s l o w l y – walked halfway around the Garden and went out a different exit. Every section they passed yelled at them.
It was priceless.
And very ballsy by those guys. Some people were getting pissed. I found it hilarious.
By Zach Schiff December 9, 2009, at 9:43 am I’m not normally the guy who sees a losing streak and says “Fire the coach! Trade Lundqvist! Gaborik was a fluke in October and November! Fire the coach!”
However, I can see that this isn’t a “losing streak” – this is a team saddled by bad contracts and players who aren’t playing.
Marian Gaborik isn’t Superman. Sure, he’s an incredible talent and arguably the best player in the league this year, but he can’t do it all alone. There will be games he can’t score. And then what?
Henrik Lundqvist is an excellent goalie, but there will be times he lets up a bad goal. And with this team, he can’t afford to, because every game is tight. In a 1-1 game such as the game against Detroit, the bad goal crushed them because nobody could score.
The Rangers should have backup scoring. Ryan Callahan (5 goals) should be able to score. Chris Drury (2 goals) is embarrassing. At one point you have to stop being paid to be a defensive forward and actually put the puck in the net. Chris Higgins (3 goals) is cheap and shoots a lot, but he needs to be counted on the score. Brandon Dubinsky was a holdout. Normally, players who hold out score more than once every 6 games (3 goals in 18 games). The list goes on and on and on… Enver Lisin (3 goals), Aaron Voros (0 goals, 1 assist in 19 games after his huge October last year), Donald “More Offense and Money Than Colton Orr” Brashear (0 goals, 1 assist, 19 games), Michal Rozsival (1 goal), our $6.5M man Wade Redden (1 goal), former 1st round pick Brian Boyle (3 goals), Sean Avery (4 goals). Yes, Avery has been getting better and better each game, but he has also only scored in 2 games this year, both times potting home two goals.
What am I getting at here? I’m not solely blaming John Tortorella – though he does need to take some of the blame and stop placing it all on the players – and in no way am I saying Tortorella needs to be fired.
I’m saying… look above. Look who rewarded a lot of these players. How can someone reasonably give Wade Redden $39M over 6 years, or Michal Rozsival $20M over 4 years. Chris Drury getting $7.5M per year was ridiculous, but he just happened to be one of the best players during that free agency period (Scott Gomez and Daniel Briere were the other 2).
It’s time for GM Glen Sather to take the leave. He hasn’t done much in his tenure. Yes, he drafted Petr Prucha and Henrik Lundqvist… in late rounds. He took Mike del Zotto, Marc Staal, Alexei Cherepanov, and Artem Anisimov as well. But he also drafted Hugh Jessiman, Al Montoya, Bruce Graham, Darin Oliver, and Lauri Korpikoski in years he could have taken Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Wojtek Wolski, Mike Green, Dave Bolland, and David Booth.
If James Dolan watches hockey and keeps track of the Rangers – and, to be honest, there’s a chance he has no clue what’s going on with this team – he needs to make a change. And that change is at the very top.
By Zach Schiff November 6, 2009, at 12:02 am I try not to be one of “those fans” – you know, the type who sulks and glooms and says the team is horrible after a loss, but they’re the first one to chant “We Want the Cup” after a convincing win.
However, tonight was a good game. The difference between Edmonton and Vancouver, between 1,160 kilometers or 721 miles (thank you, Google Maps), was the offense. It was firing tonight. They took advantage of power plays. (The 0% on the power play was misleading in Vancouver, by the way. Chris Higgins scored a second after one expired.) They swarmed the net. They passed well. But more importantly, they took shots. Take a shot, you never know what will happen.
They had 23 shots in Vancouver – 14 in the second period and then 9 combined in periods 1 and 3. Tonight, they had 39. Phil Esposito always says – and I’m sure Alex Ovechkin will concur – you can’t score if you don’t shoot. Dan Girardi had a great pass/shot today that Sean Avery deflected. It didn’t go in, but it was close. Get the puck to the net. If they don’t get the puck to the net, Marian Gaborik doesn’t one-hand that last goal home.
The effort was definitely there tonight…
Aaron Voros - Horrible 1st period, but he did play better in the 2nd and 3rd… saving his job for another day. Granted, he probably only had another 3 minutes all game, but they were better than his first minute, where he took 2 penalties. When he swung his stick at an Oilers’ knees (can’t remember which Oiler) and took a two-minute minor, did you see how *shocked* he was? How could he be surprised! It looked like he was cutting down a tree!
(By the way, I’ve never used the two asterisks on a word before in my life.)
Brian Boyle – Good ol’ T-Bone. How many open nets can a man miss in one period? The answer, it seems, is two… twice. But he had a few good shots, a couple of good hits, and played like a 4th line player should: Good enough for the coach not to be nervous to put you out on the ice.
Chris Higgins - I won’t profess him a great pickup yet, although we’re all happy he is here instead of Scott Gomez. However, isn’t it amazing how much better he is playing since he scored one goal? He has another goal already and played inspired, tough hockey tonight. If only he would do a move on a breakaway. Every time he gets one, he just shoots, and so far, it hasn’t worked.
Ryan Callahan – “Gritty.” Good word to describe his play tonight, as far as most nights.
Brandon Dubinsky – Was he even out there tonight? I noticed his play as much as I noticed Healthy Scratch Donald Brashear.
Wade Redden & Michal Rozsival – Weak games as well. Redden reminds me of myself, when I was 9. Any time I got the puck, I would get scared and pass it to the nearest teammate. That’s what he does. Don’t believe the hype in his “great pass to spring Higgins on a breakaway.” It was lucky, he was just clearing it. And Rozsival? For a defender, he sure doesn’t defend. I wouldn’t want him on my team during an autumnal game of capture the flag, let alone near my crease in an NHL game.
Steve Valiquette – The team played good in front of him – especially Girardi and Marc Staal. It was huge for him to win this game, especially after the Sharks game where he got shellacked. Now, like Boyle, John Tortorella should feel safe putting him into a game.
Now, let’s not be overly optimistic. Edmonton is a mediocre team. They were .500 going into tonight, and they were on a slide. Sheldon Souray is hurt, significantly impacting their power play. Mike Comrie was sick. A lot of other players got hit with the flu bug also the past 10 days.
So, what did the Rangers really do? They beat up on a weak team. And sometimes, that’s just what you need to get back on track. Now, let’s see if they can keep up the pace against the 9-4-1 Flames, who suddenly are an offensive team.
(By the way, I love these 9:30 games. I leave work at 8:20, clean up, eat, and I’m ready for pre-game and the opening faceoff.)
By Zach Schiff October 28, 2009, at 11:02 pm The Rangers played tonight like they played all of last season – tentative, over-thinking hockey. While they had over 30 shots, most of them were bad-angle shots like Chris Drury, Markus Naslund, and Scott Gomez did over 89 games last season.
While I’m all for getting the puck to the net to see what happens (you never know how it will get deflected or where the rebound will land), these soft shots from the boards at awful angles are going to be scooped up by the goalie or easily cleared by a defender.
Nearly everyone tonight passed up shots, most notably Michal Rozsival and yes, Michael Del Zotto. Get the puck to the net! See what happens!
Marc Staal and Dan Girardi played well tonight, regardless of their accountability on the 2nd goal. They were physical and cleared the crease for Henrik Lunqvist a bunch of times. Staal hits nearly everybody who gets near Lundqvist, and Girardi has started to protect him after the whistle, getting between him and an opposition forward who is still skating towards Hank.
Lundqvist had a good game tonight, and for the Rangers to be competitive, he had to have had a good one. Without Marian Gaborik out there, the Rangers often looked lost. With Gaborik, it would’ve been a whole different story. That 0-for-3 on the power play probably would have changed, and there were a lot of times where you could tell Vinny Prospal needed him out there but had Enver Lisin or P.A. Parenteau on his wing instead. Not that they are bad players – not at all. But there is a world of difference between them and Gaborik, and that was evident in the 3-1 final tonight. (This is not meant as disrespect to Lisin or Parenteau; in fact, Parenteau had a very good game, especially for an NHL debut, and I would love to see him on the ice instead of Voros or Brashear in every single game not against the Flyers, Ducks, or Maple Leafs this season.)
Just look at who replaced Gaborik on the power play to see why they didn’t score on it. Rozsival played the point for an entire 2-minute power play in the 2nd period, and he was just as ineffectual as last year during those 2 minutes.
* * *
You can fault Madison Square Garden all you want for being expensive, but a 22 ounce beer there is $9, and that comes in a mug you can keep and with a pretzel. A 16 ounce plastic Bud Light at the Coliseum? $8.50. That’s crazy! I know you have to fund Rick DiPietro’s salary somehow or another, but that’s ridiculous. I’ll stick with my overpriced, oversyruped Diet Coke.
Even my pretzel twist was poor tonight. It tasted like hot, salty dough. And the gridlock in those narrow Coliseum hallways must be what Hempstead Turnpike and the Meadowbrook Parkway are going to be if the Lighthouse ever gets built.
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