Rangers Recap: Rangers 4 Oilers 2
by Joe Fortunato on Nov 6, 2009 8:09 AM EST
in Rangers Recaps
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The New York Rangers defeated the Edmonton Oilers tonight 4-2, making them 1-1 two thirds of the way through this Western road trip. The highly publicized reunion of Tom Renney with the New York Rangers was fun to watch. For the Rangers it was just what the doctor ordered, a 60 minute effort that turned into a pretty resounding two points that were sorely needed.
All throughout last season we saw Tom Renney's New York Rangers back-check furiously, clog up the neutral zone and try to transition defensive turn overs into a quick offensive opportunities before getting back onto defense again; all while opposing teams were running the Rangers off the ice. Tonight it was more of the same, for Tom Renney. The New York Rangers made the Edmonton Oilers look like the Rangers looked last year. The Rangers controlled the play, took tons of offensive liberties and basically made the Oilers defense look motionless throughout the game.
Chris Higgins, Ryan Callahan, Ales Kotalik and Marian Gaborik were the goal scorers for the Rangers. The power play woes (0 for their last 15) ended last night with the Rangers converting 3 of 5 opportunities. The Rangers played a good defensive game but you really need to tip your cap to StephenValiquette who had an unbelievable game. He really bailed the Rangers out when they needed it.
Chris Higgins looks like a different player now that he has finally scored his first goal. He was all over the ice and was making brilliant plays with and without the puck. I guess all of my stories on him did the trick. Also nice to see Callahan score his first goal in 10 games, he also added an assist and played a great gritty game.
Join me after the jump.
I'm going to implement a new segment to my game recaps called "empty netters." This segment will be where I bullet point some important parts to the game. Without further ado here they are.
Empty Netters:
- This win was the Rangers first win in Edmonton since 1999.
- All 19 teams that passed up on Michael Del Zotto during the 2008 draft must be kicking themselves pretty hard right now.
- Back to Del Zotto, he seems to be gaining some real chemistry with Callahan; which lead to some great passes and deflections. Del Zotto was back to his normal self again today really taking control in the offensive zone. Man this kid was a steal!
- Marian Gaborik really rebounded well after he was nullified against Vancouver. He had a goal and an assist (on an brilliant pass) in this game and had tons more opportunities over the course of the game.
- Gaboik's goal was his 12th which is good for second in the NHL behind Alexander Ovechkins 14. Gaborik also has 21 points on the season (in 15 games), when was the last time you saw numbers like that from a Ranger?
- Ales Kotalik had another great game scoring a beautiful goal and adding two assists.
- Interesting to note here that Sean Avery played just under six minutes today. He was relegated to fourth line duty but you can't deny that he has been off his game of late.
- Chris Drury also answered the call tonight putting together one of the best games I have seen him play in a long time.
- It's amazing how bad Aaron Voros can be even when the team is playing an excellent game.
- Vaclav Prospal also added his league leading 15th assist on the season. He had another great game and really looks good with the A on his chest.
- Also did anyone see the MSG commercial for Saturday night's game. The announcer says: "Saturday the New York Rangers play this team ... with fire coming out of their logo ... how intimidating." Not exactly my idea of some good trash talk but what can you do.
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Drury
Obviously heard my rant on the show the other night, and it has inspired him
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 6, 2009 8:36 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Gilroy
Your ‘bullets’ should have included Matt Gilroy.
While he shouldn’t get all the credit for Higgins’ goal, there aren’t many d-men who could have made the play he did – and he also had a solid defensive game.
The reality was that the only standout ‘negative’ was Voros. I happen to like the guy, but his game has really regressed to the point of being detrimental to the entire team. Wouldn’t surprise me if Byers stays up and Voros either goes down or is the permanent healthy scratch.
by dbmaven on Nov 6, 2009 9:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
and helloooooooo million dollars in cap space, lol
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 6, 2009 10:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
and you are right, full props to Gilroy, he played a terrific game.
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 6, 2009 10:10 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Didn't see much of the game
But I liked the line combinations that Tortorella started with yesterday. Replace Voros with Byers and it should be a good team as constructed.
I especially like the Lisin-Drury combination (at least on paper). It’s almost like what we talk about with Staal-Gilroy….let one guy stay at home while the other gets to go nuts in the offensive end.
The 2nd PP unit still stinks, which will get lost since they went 3 of 5 yesterday. It’s not that big a deal, but they need to get production from other forwards eventually.
Of course, from what I did see – Kotalik is lethal on the point, Higgins played well, Rozsival sucks, and Gaborik is the best vulture I’ve seen in some time.
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by RangerSmurf on Nov 6, 2009 10:18 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Avery
Is anybody a little concerned with Avery?
It seems to me as though he is not as aggresive and agitating as he used to be. I think he was a lot better in his first stint with the Rangers and even last year.
It looks as if he is just trying to play a regular game, which in his case makes him less effective. Maybe he is afraid of taking penalties and getting benched by Torts?? Any thoughts?
by MattPwrcf1 on Nov 6, 2009 11:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
I’m concerned with Sean for a couple of reasons – what you already mentioned is part of it.
Could that be caused by the fact that he’s not one of the Top 6? Don’t know…..but it wouldn’t surprise me….
I think he’s wasted on the 4th line – and totally unmotivated.
Depth is a good problem to have – but Avery needs to get more minutes.
by dbmaven on Nov 6, 2009 12:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
hmmm maybe you’re right, he did play under 6 minutes last night.
I just absolutely loved it when Avery was out of control , running around hitting everything that moves and trash talking at the same time. All that really used to work and got the opposing players of their games and they ended up taking penalties. He did cross the line sometimes though, but now it seems that the “milder version of Sean Avery” IS a little too mild…
by MattPwrcf1 on Nov 6, 2009 12:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
i completely agree. i think a lot of it has to do with the minutes hes playing.
to say the least i strongly disagree with higgins and drury getting twice as much time as avery. NO REASON seany should be wasted on the 4th line.
LET'S GO RANGERS!!!
by Moshe52792 on Nov 7, 2009 7:51 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Great team effort
hahaha yeah i saw that commercial, i was wondering who wrote that line…maybe they need to get a ufc fighter in there to write some trash talk for them…
i watched every minute of the game, and boy was i surprised when the rangers scored 3 powerplay goals…i couldnt understand that this was my rangers doing this and not a team like san jose or something. im glad to see they finally put a full game together and hope they can keep this momentum up for a while
and voros i think has got to be traded, we need a better 4th line winger thats not taking penalties in the first 2 minutes of the game..thats what brashear is for, not voros..hes all over the place which sometimes is good, but he hasnt gotten his touch since hes come to ny and i think is making it a strong point for torts to go back to his TB style of not playing the 4th line very much in the game..
and avery only got 6 minutes but thats his own doing, i dont think it was totally the coach..but i think your right, he needs more minutes in order to have that motivation to play better, but if hes not scoring points then its hard to give him minutes
by LIrangersfan on Nov 6, 2009 12:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
um higgins didnt score a goal for 13 games and the coach was putting him on the first line to get him going.
im going to go with. avery isnt scoring because hes not getting minutes. not the other way around
LET'S GO RANGERS!!!
by Moshe52792 on Nov 7, 2009 7:52 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Voros
I made a comment earlier, but saw this one by Rick Carpiniello (LoHud.com), Rangers beat writer:
7) Aaron Voros. Is this guy trying to get bought out?
Short sweet and to the point.
by dbmaven on Nov 6, 2009 12:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
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Atlantic Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Jersey
|
58 | 36 | 20 | 2 | 74 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
59 | 35 | 22 | 2 | 72 |
|
Philadelphia
|
57 | 29 | 25 | 3 | 61 |
|
New York Rangers
|
59 | 26 | 26 | 7 | 59 |
|
New York Islanders
|
58 | 23 | 27 | 8 | 54 |
(updated 2.9.2010 at 9:00 AM EST)
Rangers Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
Nashville
|
Wed 02/10 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
@
Pittsburgh
|
Fri 02/12 | 7:30 PM EST |
|
Tampa Bay
|
Sun 02/14 | 1:00 PM EST |
|
@
Ottawa
|
Tue 03/02 | 7:30 PM EST |
|
Pittsburgh
|
Thu 03/04 | 7:00 PM EST |
Last 5 Games
|
New Jersey
|
Sat 02/06 | W 3 - 1 |
|
Washington
|
Thu 02/04 | L 5 - 6 |
|
@
Los Angeles
|
Tue 02/02 | L 1 - 2 |
|
@
Colorado
|
Sun 01/31 | W 3 - 1 |
|
@
Phoenix
|
Sat 01/30 | L 2 - 3 |
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