Rangers Recap: Rangers Stun Penguins, 4-1

Callahan out 6 weeks torts thinks….ouch

I know we despise the Penguins, but seriously…..is that really how you want to roll?

last year. Eh gentlemen?

What a great report, Jim! You were spot on in every way. Wow!

The Rangers’ resilience tonight was grand. Way to go, boys! Damn, this was a good win.

I am altogether OK with “Bitch Lips.” Did anyone notice Cindy’s attempt at a moustache? Who does he think he is, Lanny McDonald?

Stepan was not great either quiet tonight

as another game that we lose last year

Anyone watching “Road to the Winter Classic” on HBO?

None of them from the stick of Sydney Crosby.

S-I-D-N-E-Y Sidney

this just makes my whole day tommorow there is a douche bag pens fan at my work he said the pens were going to start another streak tonight lol lol yrah a losing one. boyle is really turning out to be a steal of a trade for the rangers what can you say about the d tonight sis the bitch did not do shit tonight this is a game last year we would lose but not this year. and a big thumbs up to torts he is doing a hellava good job with this team and the players are buying into his system great road win cant wait for sundays war against the fly guys callahans broken hand is a big loss hope it is only 6 weeks is that what the reports say ???

im going to watch Rangers in 60 tonight, I watched my Knicks beat Boston…………then found out we didnt
but watching Bitch Lips and his fruity tuity stash will be bliss

Bitch Lips? That’s the best you can come up with? I’d expect that from my 8 year old cousin, not a grown man who is a writer for a sports blog.

where i can find crosbys quotes from after the game?

What a great game this was. I woke up late, about two minutes into the third period (I crashed after studying Stats all day). I woke up to the bad news about Callahan’s broken hand and stomped around the house, grabbing something to eat. I returned to my couch and watched the Rangers slowly take over the game and wrestle 2 points away from the best team in the league.

What a gritty, quality win. Absolutely great stuff. Really hope Callahan is back before January is over. We get Dru back, we lose Callahan… good thing we have all of these extra forwards floating around.

My one Ranger game a season is tomorrow. I’ll miss you guys in the game thread, but I’ll be sure to make some noise. Hope it is a great game. :)

Seems like you are getting a lot of grief for absolutely no reason. Let me just say this: Great write up, I didn’t catch the whole game and you helped fill in the rest of it for me.

Keep doing stuff the way you are doing it, there are a lot more people who love this place than have complaints and beefs with it. Have a good night.

Last year there was a lot of noise about firing Glen Sather as GM. I repeatedly made it known that I thought this was a terrible idea and for this I took a lot of slack. Yet, the team that we are watching on the ice is the result of a long and patient process initiated by Sather. It marks the fruiting of a very intelligent game plan that can be traced to (and in several cases even before) his acquisition of Chris Drury. There is a reason why he signed Drury to the contract length he did and made him the centerpiece of his rebuilding process. This team epitomizes the work ethic and on ice sensibility he brings to the game.

I have long felt that the best way to win the cup is to start at the back and move forward. After a quick, run and gun start last season, Torts did a fantastic job reorienting his club to a gritty, win battles along the boards and make sure only garbage shots made their way to Hank. Not surprisingly, when we began developing this system, players like MDZ and Gilroy lost their game. As the season progressed and Torts was able to assert control of the team, we began to see real signs of success. It is hard to get players to commit to this type of system! Very hard. Professional athletes are, for the most part, a selfish bunch. They care first and foremost about their individual stats and the free-agent market. So I take my hat off to the coach and Drury, not only for this wave of success but also for the way they handled last season nurturing and disciplining this crop of kids.

It is easy to be mesmerized by the Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago style and want to imitate it. Unfortunately, that is impossible unless we hit the jackpot with the first pick in a year that features a player of Ovi, Crosby (yea, I said it) or Stamkos. We could pick our noses for the next two decades waiting for this rare opportunity and sit around complaining about what a baby one of the best players to ever lace up a pair of skates is, or we can get smart and try to develop the type of system that can deconstruct that style of play. This is exactly and precisely what our coaching staff has been dedicated to for the past three years. Are we there yet? Probably not. It might not happen this year but as long as I’m loyal to the blue I will never abandon the possibility that my team can win the cup. If the Mets can win the ’69 World Series, well….

Right now I would say that the team that comes closest to my vision of the style of hockey that can dominate in this climate is the Flyers. If we keep playing this type of hockey, it will be a brutal, physical showdown between us. My guess is that they will be our, and the rest of the leagues, number one adversary come the Spring.

In terms of this game, I just need to agree with Joe. These are the types of games that we definitely weren’t winning last year. It is a joy to watch a club like this pour their heart and soul out. Like some of you have said, even if they had lost this game, and I’m glad they didn’t, I would have felt proud of them. I am happy to see MDZ keeping his game simple and staying in his zone. Staal is just now beginning to venture into the rush and its because his sense of the ice has gotten far more mature and he knows when he can and can’t commit. DZ needs to learn the basics first. If he’s not going down, then keep it simple. Also, I think what we are seeing in Gabby is a result of our team system. If we prioritize this style he won’t hit forty or fifty goals but that’s okay as long as we get secondary scoring throughout the lineup.

d

Glen did you hack voice22’s account?

Does Kennedy’s face in the game picture above freak out anyone else? It is going to haunt my dreams.

At the end of the first, the pens were swarming in circles around the Rangers. It was the first time I ever questioned Hank’s net minding. He gave up 3 key rebounds in that 2 minute stint when the pens recorded 7 shots. those rebounds lead to more and more Pens chances. And the momentum finally took over as the Pens scored late in the period.

Say what you want about lackluster D, but there comes a time when Hank just needs clamp down on the puck.

Okay now feel free to insult me…

1. Girardi guilty of “Crosby fixation” on the Pens goal. With that reach of his, Malkin scored – but he hogged the puck with Dupuis wide open (Tank failed to cover him on the back check).
2. Did anyone else notice Crosby whack Hank on the head as he skated by with 1:35 left in the game? I know the D man did (Staal?) but they let it slide, smart play to take the win.
3. Nice to see accurate shooting from the Rangers, finally picking corners instead of logo targeting or peppering the boards behind the net.
4. The number of posts hit by opponents lately is testament to Hank’s rock solid positioning (just look at Johnson with one leg OUTSIDE the crease on EC’s goal). Some bemoan clanging iron as almost scoring, I see it as a loud, drama-inducing MISS.
5. Re: Frolov – Prust and Boyle seemed inordinately happy when Frolov scored. If he’s endeared himself to those two lunch pail guys (based on that reaction) I take that to mean he’s doing something right in the locker room and in practice. Fro’s hard work hounding the defenseman out of the zone caused a bad pass and turnover leading to Boyle’s goal. I’ve been hard on the guy but he earned a two week pass for his performance last night. I like that line.
6. The other line I liked was Drury / Anisimov / Dubinsky. Kind of weird seeing three centers, but faceoffs should be a real strength.

I’m relatively new here, does this board usually get as distracted with the (Yahoo! message board-type) drama like the Ovechkin injury cheering and Crosby bitch lips stuff or was that an anomaly?

Episode 1 of Road to the Winter Classic closes with a nice Ranger crushing of the Caps. Episode 2 will include last night’s 3rd period barrage. Nice!

I was unaware of this rule. Never saw a goal disallowed ‘cause of incidental contact. Any time a skater has ever brushed or bumped a goalie, in my recollection, it’s either a minor penalty or a non-call. I can think of sooooooo many instances where a Ranger F was sent to the box for less, and many, many more occasions when an opposing F ran into Hank without a whistle.

So I was surprised last night when the goal was waved off, and equally surprised that Dupuis wasn’t sent off for two minutes.