Rangers Analysis: The West Coast Swing
by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 3, 2009 7:15 AM EST
in New York Rangers Analysis
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PrintThe Rangers took their 9-5-1 record and boarded a plane for parts west yesterday morning, and this swing to Alberta will be a good test for the Rangers. They will be up against the current 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place teams in the Northwest Division, and all three currently have winning records.
For some reason, I had remembered the Rangers not playing particularly well on these west coast swings, but when I looked back at the numbers, they've been fairly average, coming in right around .500 over the last 5 seasons on these trips. But, the Rangers haven't won in Vancouver since a 6-3 win in October of 1997. I'm guessing some of us were still in elementary school then, while others didn't have quite as much snow on the roof.
Keys for the next 3 games:
Getting Henrik some rest: Only Craig Anderson of the Avalanche and Evgeny Nabokov of the Sharks have started more games than Henrik Lundqvist. This trip will be the perfect opportunity to get Stephen Valiquette between the pipes. Then we just have to hope he plays well enough to finish.
Get the forwards off the schneid: This trip could be a chance for guys like Christopher Higgins, Ryan Callahan, and Brandon Dubinsky to find their game. Sometimes it's good for players to get away from home for a few days, and get out of the spotlight.
Improve the face-offs: The Rangers have been terrible on face-offs the last 3 games, especially Brandon Dubinsky. They will need to improve in this area, but it won't be easy against the Canucks, who boast three centers well over 50% in face-off wins. (Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Ryan Johnson)
Stay out of the box: This one belongs in the "broken record" department, but it bears repeating. Calgary and Vancouver are 3rd and 4th in the league on the power play, and the best way to limit a power play's effectiveness is to not give them too many chances. The Rangers really need to play smart hockey, or else the Flames and Canucks will make them pay.
A little team bonding: 5 days on the road away from the distractions of home could help this team bond, maybe get the chemistry going.
After this trip, the Rangers will finally get a break, four days off before their game next Thursday night at home against Atlanta.
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Anderson is on the Avs.
Henrik should play against the Canucks, Vally against the Oil, then Henrik again against the Flames. With all the days off after that, they can start Henrik 2 out of 3.
But given Tort’s propensity to start Vally against the Campbell Conference, we’ll probably see Vally 2 of 3.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
no way
the Rangers need these wins too badly. Vally will see 1.
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by Joe Fortunato on Nov 3, 2009 9:12 AM EST up reply actions
Why any???
They have a 4 day break, why play Valley at all?? Henrik is the horse we need to ride if we hope to get to the post season. There’s no way we should sit him with a 4 day break just 5 days away. Save these days off for when the schedule gets tighter. 2 points tonight = 2 points in March.
Henrik is coming off a shutout, shouldn’t we capitalize on that? I suppose a bad performance tonight or Thursday could be followed up by a night off, other than that, I would play him.
For all the talk about not burning out Hank and playing Valiquette more hasn’t panned out. Perhaps because of the horrible game vs. San Jose. Perhaps because Torts feels that with the inconsistent play and effort in front of the keeper he needs his best out there until the system settles in.
I don’t know what the reason is – but Vally has only seen 2 starts – I figured that he would already have had 5. I agree that the way the schedule is laid out, Vally will probably see only one start on this trip – although I wouldn’t want to guess as to which one.
Callahan, Dubinsky, Higgins
I must say I ve been pretty disappointed in their production.
It seems as if Dubinsky’s season is going just like last season so far (awesome in the first few games and then production is gone; the good thing is that he is at least doing all the other things right, just not scoring)
Callahan puts in a lot of effort and does all the little things right, but just can’t seem to break out of his slump, but he will get going eventually.
I am starting to worry about Higgins. I was expecting a 25-30 goals from him. Maybe the West Coast trip is where he gets going. Lets hope.
Come on, Dubinsky is number 5 on the team in points. He does other things than score points too. You won’t see Gaborik crushing people against the boards. The last goal I remember Callahan scoring was that beauty against Washington.
Brooks said that Torts is talking about putting Higgins on the first line. I thought he had a good game against Boston But I agree, he looks a lot more like Blair Betts every day. I don’t see how ever got 30 goals.
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Atlantic Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Rangers
|
49 | 32 | 12 | 5 | 69 |
|
Philadelphia
|
50 | 30 | 14 | 6 | 66 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
51 | 29 | 18 | 4 | 62 |
|
New Jersey
|
50 | 28 | 19 | 3 | 59 |
|
New York Islanders
|
50 | 21 | 22 | 7 | 49 |
(updated 2.4.2012 at 8:30 AM EST)
Rangers Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
Philadelphia
|
Sun 02/05 | 1:00 PM EST |
|
New Jersey
|
Tue 02/07 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
Tampa Bay
|
Thu 02/09 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
@
Philadelphia
|
Sat 02/11 | 1:00 PM EST |
|
Washington
|
Sun 02/12 | 12:30 PM EST |
Last 5 Games
|
@
Buffalo
|
Wed 02/01 | SO - W 1 - 0 |
|
@
New Jersey
|
Tue 01/31 | SO - L 3 - 4 |
|
Winnipeg
|
Tue 01/24 | W 3 - 0 |
|
@
Boston
|
Sat 01/21 | SO - W 3 - 2 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
Thu 01/19 | L 1 - 4 |
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