Rangers Recap: Capitals defeat Rangers 4-2
by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 17, 2009 10:51 PM EST
in New York Rangers Recaps
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Suddenly, the Rangers 7-1 start seems like a lifetime ago.
After losing last night to the Washington Capitals 4-2, it is safe to say the Rangers have real problems. Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik are the only forwards making anything happen right now, and no one else is stepping up to help.
The injuries to Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky are killing the Rangers on puck drops. The Rangers only won 4 out of 13 face-offs in their own zone last night, which helped the Caps dominate play for a good portion of the evening. Artem Anisimov was a woeful 4 for 14 on face-offs overall.
After Gaborik's second goal of the night tied the game at two in the third period, Wade Redden made a costly mistake and was beaten badly for a goal by Matt Bradley, who had earlier made a substantial blood donation thanks to the fists of "Boom Boom" Voros.
The Capitals added an empty netter to put the Rangers away.
Final thoughts before we get to the notes and quotes from the Rangers:
- What in God's name were Wade Redden and Michael Rozsival doing on the ice with the goaltender pulled? As we said in the game thread, put 4 forwards out there, and Gilroy and Del Zotto.
- Sean Avery seems to be finding his game again.
- I think the Rangers have to make a callup, and try and get something going, this just isn't working. Corey Locke, Evgeny Grachev, Bobby Sanguinetti, somebody, anybody that can put a charge in this team.
- Sometimes I think DirecTv customers are lucky not to have to suffer through games on Versus.
NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES AND QUOTES
November 17, 2009 - New York Rangers 2, Washington Capitals 4 (Game #21, Home #10)
Click Here For The Official Game Summary
- The Rangers were defeated by the Washington Capitals, 4-2, in front of a sold-out crowd (18,200) at Madison Square Garden to drop to 11-9-1 (23 pts.) on the season and 6-4-0 at home.
- New York have sold out 166 consecutive regular season games, dating back to Nov. 5, 2005 against New Jersey; the last regular season non-sellout was Oct. 31, 2005 vs. Montreal (17,697); including the playoffs, the Rangers sellout streak is now at 180 games.
- The Rangers are now 14-5-0 in their last 19 regular season games at MSG, and have out-scored their opponents, 65-40, during the stretch.
- Marian Gaborik opened the game's scoring at 1:16 of the first period, and added a power play goal in the third to post his ninth multi-point effort of the season; he has recorded a point in 17 of 19 games this season, including nine goals and 15 points in his last 10 contests; Gaborik also logged a team-high 24:03 of icetime.
Plenty more after the jump..........
- Sean Avery tallied one power play assist and registered three hits in 16:03 of icetime; he now has five goals and eight points in eight career regular season contests against Washington.
- Rangers defensemen Dan Girardi and Marc Staal each recorded an assist on Gaborik's goal at 1:16 of the first period; New York defensemen have now combined for 45 points (13 goals and 32 assists) this season.
- P.A. Parenteau recorded an assist on Gaborik's power play goal at 8:23 of the third period; the assist was his first as a Ranger.
- Ryan Callahan registered five hits in 21:21 of icetime; he currently leads the NHL with 82 hits on the season.
- Christopher Higgins led the team with seven hits, and won seven of 13 faceoffs (54%) in 18:00 of icetime.
- The Rangers next practice is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 19 (11:00 a.m.), at the MSG Training Center.
- The Rangers return to action on Saturday, Nov. 21, when they will face-off against the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.); the game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.
POST-GAME QUOTES
John Tortorella on tonight's game...
"I thought, for most of the game there, we played. Obviously our biggest weakness is that we are not getting any secondary scoring. We played in surges at times. We held them to 11, 12 scoring chances. We just aren't creating enough with our secondary scoring."
Henrik Lundqvist on tonight's game...
"You have to be positive and you have to think you'll turn this around. We had a big win the other night and we just need to have a couple in a row and get going. Now we're back to square one again. We have a couple of days off between games and we have to make sure we're ready for the next one."
Marian Gaborik on tonight's game...
"We've got to capitalize and try and score on those hardworking, grinding plays. We just have to cut down on taking penalties and go from there. We didn't generate a lot of shots, that was a problem there. We came back in the third, we had some good chances down low and we need to keep the puck down low more often."
Wade Redden on creating offensive chances...
"I think a lot of things stem from getting the puck in their zone. It starts from our end, where we get good passes, chip it in and forecheck. It is not just shots, it is creating momentum. I think we just have to rely on the simple little plays to create chances for ourselves."
Finally, here is video of Marian Gaborik's first goal:
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No Creativity, Low Trust Factor
Watching this Rangers squad reminds of the Bernie Nicholls days. It’s a team that – on paper – seems to have a terrific mix of skill (on both sides of the ice) yet fails to display it in terms of execution.
If you take a step back and note game flow alone, you’ll recognize long stretches of disjointed, deliberate play by the Team in all areas of the rink in exception to in front of their own crease. Ironically enough, the Rangers’ best cerebral play tends to be on positioning when overmatched down low.
The Powerplay is robotic, with shots coming from 30 degree angles, no cycling, little in the way of screens, and horrific finishing of checks in the corners. It seems only the defencemen – most notably Girardi and Del Zotto – understand this offence. Thankfully, penalty kill is strong, with Callahan, Redden and Gaborik standing out as highlights of this system. Their man-on-man coverage is superb in most instances. Otherwise, we’d be blown out of most games.
Comparisons to Nicholls allude to he (aka Prospal) and Gartner (aka Gaborik) attempting to bail out their club on a daily night. And let’s not forget Beezer, er…King Henrik.
Most shifts, it appears as if Gaborik is taking on the world with little help from his peers. For all the praise Kotalik has earned, his plus/minus is abhorrent due to his even man play. Simply put: the man can’t backcheck.
I’m not calling for Torts’ head, but this system is broke. Deliberate play equates to a lack of trust, and with it the transition game we’re longing for. Quite frankly, an offense powered by board-induced passes is inexecusable in the NHL, let alone AHL.
My recommendation would be to temporarily abandon the dump and chase (Voros and Brashear are awful at repossession; only Avery seems to know how to play this tactic). Have a D or Winger begin to carry the puck through the neutral and into offensive zone. Set up more behind the net versus D from the point. Better spacing should lead to better passing.
For all its faults, the Renney system worked since it relied on positioning. It’s time this club remembers simple breakout logistics and drop passes. The poor fundamentals of this team is becoming an eyesore. (No wonder we went after Forsberg to instill offensive flow.)
Terrific X’s and O’s breakdown liebs
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 18, 2009 8:34 AM EST up reply actions
for as long as i can remember the rangers have seemed to always follow up winning streaks with horrific play, and long losing streaks, i’m not the least bit surprised that this is happening. after the all star break they’ll make another late playoff run as long as they dont lose key players for too long.
Yuck
I only got to see some of the game last night (just subscribed to NHL Game center) and from what I did see I was pretty upset about a couple things I noticed.
First off, I watched 6-8 shots on goal that were absolutely beautiful rebounds but not one ranger (maybe brash) was the only one near the freakin net during those rebounds. The reason Gabby gets so many goals is because he knows to go to the net everytime and his second goal was a good example of him getting into position near the net. We need to crash the net. These days were lucky if we have any pushing matches in front of thier net. See what happened when avery did his thing, the mood of the game changed.
The second thing that annoyed me, was in the last few seconds of the game when they just kept trying to feed gabby the puck. I know they hoped to get him the hat-trick, but just getting the goal was much more important, if you don’t have a shot push the puck up towards the net. Stop relying on him!!!!
Overall, I like torts conditioning and work ethics but where’s the fire? Whats his deal lately? He still looks like he’s taking naps during intermissions. And thats great that he can bench players, but he can’t seem to motivate them to win. Is he out lollygagging around the city with the boys every night? I’ve said it before resturants should only be allowed after wins. Thats all these guys ever talk about is who’s buying dinner this time. And Is Hank not playing up to par because he’s out joyridding his lambo? I mean who takes their ambo to practice. If I was coach I’d have these guys running laps around the F’n streets of manhattan after every loss to let them see the people they are dissapointing. And lets start making moves. This team is way too soft. Get rid of these old washed up players for pete’s sake no matter what it costs. Bring up younger and more hungry players. I keep asking santa for jordin tootoo for xmas but it doesn’t look likely. I mean All these old guys care about it getting those big paychecks, otherwise they’d retire, because they don’t love playing hockey and winning games anymore. Heck, they said last night brash has been in the nhl for like 17 years now and all he wanted from the caps was another multi year contract.
Well, I sense you are a tad frustrated, ha ha.
The problem is, getting rid of the “old washed up players” is a lot easier said than done. No one is going to take on the contracts of Rozsival and Redden. You might find a taker for Rozy if someone is convinced his problems in NY are “system-matic”, but even then, the Rangers will have to take bad salary back.
I just don’t see a scenario where the Rangers aren’t saddled with about $18M in bad contracts the next few years.
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 18, 2009 8:50 AM EST up reply actions
Correct. Too many loose pucks and not a Ranger to be seen. Bad breakout passes, turnovers just inside and just outside of both bluelines. The forwards are the only ones back-checking hard. It goes on and on.
With the goalie pulled, why was Gaborik at the point? Where was Kotalik and Del Zotto?
Nice game from Avery, good draw of the pentaly after he sucker-punched Varlamov.
Higgins is becoming my favorite player with how he back checks and works in the d zone. Goals will come, he gets 3 or 4 good chances a night.
The Redden bashing is getting old
Outside yesterday’s mistake, (which btw both Gilroy got back for, Bradley just made a hell of a shot) he’s been one of our better defenseman this year. No, he’s not worth $6.5m but in the job of preventing goals….well no Rangers defenseman has been on the ice for fewer goals than Redden. (side note, Henrik has his highest sv% with Redden on the ice as well, cause and effect here can be questioned)
Now, Redden’s point production isn’t there and that is as much a reason why Sather threw 39m at him in the first place (assuming there was a reason beyond “duh, why not?”). He’s also hella-soft in front of the net, so that gives you two reasons to bash him.
But before we go back to bashing him for every mis-step…realize that defensively he’s had a good season to date….in most respects better than everyone than Staal (who hasn’t been any great shakes himself, but he logs our toughest minutes so he gets a tiny bit of a pass)
Oh and one last note…at some point someone needs to start calling for Girardi’s head, if we’re going to get rid of people who are killing us defensively. He’s had a bad, bad season.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
I don’t think he’s being “bashed” per se, but the guy made a bad mistake at a critical time in the game, and it led to the Rangers losing. I also don’t think it’s bashing him to say he is not the best choice on the ice (nor is Rozy) when you have the goalie pulled for an extra attacker.
I’ve defended Redden numerous times this season, and said his play has been better.
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 18, 2009 10:42 AM EST up reply actions
wait wait
I was one of the first to comment about R&R being on the ice in the last minute last night. That was obviously as baffling a decision as Torts has made and it makes me question whether he actually understands how bad Rozsival has been.
This wasn’t a shot at you persay Jim or the game report as a whole (so maybe I should’ve fanposted this instead, whatever).
My main point is that everytime Redden sneezes there’s 20 people here calling for his head, while Girardi, who hasn’t made any blatant mistakes but has been on the ice constantly for opposing goals, just gets a pass, presumably because he’s homegrown and didn’t get one of the Sather Specials as compensation.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Nov 18, 2009 10:47 AM EST up reply actions
No worries, Smurfy. You are absolutely right about Redden, but I think we both know why his mistakes will always be magnified.
Girardi hasn’t been good either, you are absolutely right. Really only one guy on defense is exceeding expectations, and he is 19.
Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 18, 2009 11:21 AM EST up reply actions
Time For A Change
After 21 games, the Rangers find themselves in a tie with the Islanders for the worst team in the Atlantic Division. While the Flyers also have the same number of points, they have played four less games. The Rangers, with the obvious exceptions of Gaborik, Prospal and Lundqvist, are not playing well and are not responding to Coach Tortorella. Is the problem a deficit of talent, the wrong mix of talent or the inability of Totorella to get the best play from his players? Glen Sather drastically changed the personnel during the offseason to get the kind of players Tortorella wanted for his system to work. The team is not responding. Much of the time the players look lost on the ice…out of position…unable to pass the puck…unable to clear the puck…unable to keep the puck out of our net…unable to put it into the other team’s net. Isn’t it time for a change? If it’s a talent deficit, can’t we bring some new players into the mix and sit some obvious nonperformers? If Tortorella is the main problem, can Sather prevail on him to change his ways or leave?
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Atlantic Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Rangers
|
55 | 37 | 13 | 5 | 79 |
|
Philadelphia
|
56 | 31 | 18 | 7 | 69 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
56 | 32 | 19 | 5 | 69 |
|
New Jersey
|
56 | 32 | 20 | 4 | 68 |
|
New York Islanders
|
56 | 24 | 24 | 8 | 56 |
(updated 2.15.2012 at 8:59 AM EST)
Rangers Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
Chicago
|
Thu 02/16 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
Columbus
|
Sun 02/19 | 8:00 PM EST |
|
@
Pittsburgh
|
Tue 02/21 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
@
New York Islanders
|
Fri 02/24 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
Buffalo
|
Sat 02/25 | 7:00 PM EST |
Last 5 Games
|
@
Boston
|
Tue 02/14 | W 3 - 0 |
|
Washington
|
Sun 02/12 | W 3 - 2 |
|
@
Philadelphia
|
Sat 02/11 | W 5 - 2 |
|
Tampa Bay
|
Thu 02/09 | OT - W 4 - 3 |
|
New Jersey
|
Tue 02/07 | L 0 - 1 |
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