Rangers Vs. Bruins: It’s A Tailspin, Folks
- The Rangers are a team who have won just three times in regulation their past 19 tries, and yet Wednesday night’s dismantling (this time at the hands of the Bruins) may well prove to be rock bottom.
- After the game, Alain Vigneault said the following: “I think tonight there’s no doubt that our guys were prepared to play and we knew what we had to do. We came out and we were doing it.”
- If THAT was an example of a no-doubt prepared to play team that was doing what they came out to do under AV’s watch, then you might as well put a dog behind the bench. You’ll get the same result, but at least the players can pet him after they give up their 12th goal of the game and the fans will have something to take photos of as Steven Kampfer delays the game to suit up as the goalie after goal 14.
- I find it astounding that even now, with what has to be considered rock bottom for this hockey team, Vigneault has not found a single flaw to either his coaching or his method. It’s astounding really. I would bet my bottom dollar every other coach in the league right now wouldn’t have even gone near a quote like that after the game. As Vigneault was saying that, by the way, probably-out-the-door Ryan McDonagh rightfully blasted the Rangers for not being ready and not having a compete level. At least someone in the room gets it.
- Continuing the Vigneault trend of this morning, why the hell is Lundqvist playing so much? The Rangers are clear sellers, the season is rapidly spiraling out of control, and you’re on pace to pay your soon-to-be 35 savior 68 games this year? What sense does that make? Especially with a defense that’s so porous Hank is actually getting less support than he did at the damn All-Star game.
- Rick Nash scoring to help increased his trade value was pretty cool. So was Bob saying Nick Holden has actual trade value as a depth defenseman. Figured I’d throw some good things in here to try to make it all less depressing.
- I’m convinced that the plan for power plays at the start of the year was “hey Shatty just do stuff to make it work” because now that he’s gone the man advantage is as disjointed as it was under Renney. And Tom Renney put Aaron Friggin Voros on the power play at one point.
- That was Brendan Smith’s worst game as a Ranger, which you don’t need me to tell you says a lot. He left defensive partner Anthony DeAngelo out to try half a dozen times, including a huge goal against when the game was actually close.
- The whole defense was bad, as you can imagine. Nick Holden doesnt have an answer when teams run straight lines at the net with speed, and Ryan McDonagh’s potentially last year on Broadway has been his worst by a mile.
- You’d expect a team with this many defensive issues to try something new, right? Or at least move a guy like DeAngelo up the pairings just to see, moving Kampfer down to the bottom pair, maybe giving Brady Skjei a top pair role. I don’t know. Something. Instead it’s the same thing over and over again. Where have we seen this before?
- I’m not sure what else to say about this. I would be shocked if Lindy Ruff survived the year, let alone the trade deadline. I think Vigneault will coach through the year, but after this showing I can’t imagine he really sticks around much more. Renney was fired mid-year with 5 regulation wins in his final 19 games. Vigneault is two below that. John Tortorella was fired just a year after an Eastern Conference Final berth. Vigneault really doesn’t have a resume here to keep him safe. /
