Last night was more of the same. The Rangers played a competitive first period giving some Ranger faithful, including the fearsome foursome from Long Island, hope. Hope may spring eternal, but with the Rangers hope in Montreal is fleeting. At least I heard the food and the beer were good. Want to hear a meaningless stat? The Rangers out hit the Canadiens 32-13. However, the biggest hit was delivered by Max Pacioretty on Ryan McDonagh, crashing him head first into the boards. Pacioretty was given a boarding penalty and the play is being reviewed by the league. A suspension is in order. My rule. As long as McDonagh is out, Pacioretty should be out. The NHL? One game and a token fine.
Adding insult to injury Girardi blocked a shot with his ankle and was helped off the ice. Needless to say with the Ranger code of silence there was no info on the conditions of Ryan and Dan. So now we have Del Zotto, McDonagh and Girardi all hurt along with Nash and Asham and it sounds like it's time to call in Dr. House to get us back in shape.
The coach made some good moves and questionable moves. The good move, by accident, was keeping Lundqvist out of the game. Wasn't going to win it anyway, why waste him. The other move was benching Gaborik for the entire third period. Gaborik, the leading scorer and goal scorer (7) played all of 11:03 after taking a penalty in the second period. Meanwhile Brad Richards was given 18:19 of mostly wasted ice time, and rarely misses a powerless play. I mentioned before that Gabby is in this coaches doghouse. He doesn't muck it up, block shots, go into the corners, ad nauseum...
Richards doesn't do those things either, but he's Richards and him and Torts are family. Instead of trading Gaborik we should trade Richards. Buffalo needs a coach so let's make it a package deal. Richards and coach disagreeable to Buffalo for a Patrick Kaleta and Marcus Foligno. This will be a plus more for the subtraction than the addition.
The good news? We have only one more game in Montreal this year. The bad news? We have one more game in Montreal this year.
Yup the house of horrors is right and would you believe there are still fans who say it isn't time to "panic" yet. Oh to be young again. One thing I don't like is the use of the word "panic" from some fans to others. The last thing I feel is panic. Its more like waiting. Waiting for the inevitable firing of disagreeable so we can finally see what this underachieving group is capable of. Another annoyance is the use of last nights injuries as an excuse for the continued poor to average effort we see night after night. It would be an acceptable excuse if it were only last night but what is the reason for this play all season? Usually when the coach is asked how he will handle injuries he'll say "we play. we just play" - No excuses. Now all of a sudden he's saying after Ott game "we don't have a full line up" - hmm. I don't know, sounds like the master of covering his bases is at it again but having said that, I was good with the first period they played considering all of the injuries. I thought it was good. Not terrific as Ron Duguay made it sound during intermission. He was all excited at how he thought the coach had them playing "with fire in their bellies" to which Jeanine said "Doogie, we have 6 shots on goal, I hardly call that an assault." Then the 2nd period started and so much for the great and powerful Oz and his so called "motivation." Pay no mind to the man behind the curtain. Yup that's all he is.
On Richards. I don't want to trade him. Matter of fact I don't want to see anyone else go anywhere until the coach is gone. This is exactly how bad coaches destroy teams. We are finally getting somewhere as far as the players we have. They are just wasted on this idiot and his one trick pony system. He is the most average of coaches and we have a line up thats almost there, way above average. I say almost because we are now missing the grit. Anyway here's my take on Brad. When he signed here it took him a little time to decide. He clearly wanted to play in NY and he had friends here. He knows the coaches system and he also knows he's on the coaches good list so what was there to think about? Why did Avery have to take him to Jamaica on vacation to convince his good buddy to sign on the line? This is what I came up with. I once had a job where I had to work really hard on my feet 70-80 hours a week. I liked it but it took a toll on me after a couple of years so I moved on. Approximately one year went by and I found myself looking for a job again. My old boss told me he would love to have me back so I went back. I lasted about 4-6 months the second time around as compared to 3 1/2 years the first. Once I got away from it returning to it was really hard and I burned out faster. Richards figured he had a good relationship with the coach and he was able to play his style once before and even though it burned him out he did win a cup after all. He figured he could repeat that. So last year he did that. He played well. Then the lock out. Now he's having a hard time getting back into it because burn out happens quicker the second time around. Keep Brad. Lets see how he responds to a different coach. He was a "star" in Dallas after all. (I'm like Stan Fischler with that pun).
Ever hear the saying "would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?" Well, that sums up Torts thinking on everything. He will damn this team and damn his players just to make his points. He'd rather sit Gaby just to prove he sits a guy who takes a bad penalty, then to put the good of his team first and leave Gaby on the ice and possibly get back in the game. Plus he hates Gaby because he thinks he's soft so the first person on his blame list is always Gaby.
Torts also is a master at deflecting any blame from himself. If he creates a drama then nobody is asking what does Torts have to do different? He says "we don't point fingers" but that is what he does everyday to take the attention off of himself. Benching and reducing ice time of players r great distractions that leave everyone talking about everyone but him. Him talking about "stupidity" makes people say, oh Boyle was stupid, Hagelin was stupid that's a turning point in the game. Nobody holds the coaching staff responsible for over using fav players, not using others enough, anxious line changes because the guys r jumping on the ice so fast because he barks at them to move. Nothing is ever his fault. Our pp has declined every season he's been here but people don't put too much blame on torts. Oh the guys stand around too much, work the perimeter, don't go to the net, it's all their fault. But who's job is it to change this? Torts. The players are more concerned with making sure they don't make any mistakes defensively, even on the pp and therefore have no aggression with a man advantage. How many times has the coach been asked what they can do to jump start the pp and he responds, I don't know, we have to stick with it. Wow, technical analysis there coach. He's clueless. And stick with what? Coming up empty? C'mon.
The guys seem to be run down mentally. Torts system and mental abuse is grueling and exhausting, it wears on guys, even guys who buy in and want to make things work seem to not be able to muster the full effort. Personally I think we have a great bunch of guys, a great group of talent and I see no reason why we can't be successful besides the fact the we have a huge weight dragging us down behind the bench. We lost a lot of grit, hard work, heart and physicalness in Prust, Dubi, and Avery. It is a loss we are certainly feeling as I knew it would be, but it seems to be much larger than that. There seems to be a lack of want from the team, a lack of putting their bodies and full minds into what torts is dishing out and I'm just hoping the coach will be gone soon because I'm tired of watching my team under achieve.
Pundit,
Brad Richards and Torts are not family. They hardly ever get along and we've seen Richards get benched for merely nothing just like Gaborik. The only difference is Gaborik has been here longer so he gets it worse. And Patrick Kaleta?! The guy who is a repeat offender for head butting players on the ice? We have Asham and Bickel for that. Richie goes nowhere in my opinion, Torts goes to the moon. Or Florida.
As for the McDonaugh hit, yes it was dirty and i don't like Pacioretty one bit. However, Previously on the same shift McD boarded pacioretty hard and there was no call. Pacioretty made a B line for him figuring there would be no call since he didn't get a call, but he was dead wrong. Bad hit, but we need everyone to stop doing these kinds of hits so that there is no retribution and carry over. I put that one on the refs for not calling the first one. Nothing enrages a player more than getting boarded hard and not seeing a call.
All in all, terrible game per usual as of late
jeanine,
Your point about the Rangers losing a lot of heart, grit and physicalness is echoed in the Puck Daddy roundtable that came out today (see the newest post here at RP).
jen,
Yup, I would not be surprised at all to learn that Torts has burned out Richards. Seems like a perfect explanation.
Thanks jb. I went over there and read it, some good stuff.
Like how i got skipped over on this one LOL.
I guess i'll just have to keep working hard to get to the Jen and Jeanine level. You guys are so good it may just be down to the two of you soon...haha
LMAO Andy! I hope its not down to the two of us. This is our therapy. We need you!
Oh and just so you truly don't feel "skipped over" I must agree - Torts and Brad family? The thought makes my skin crawl lol!
JB I enjoyed the roundtable too. Some good stuff there a lot like what we say around here. Lets see what the Jets bring for us tomorrow. Can't lose this one or we are not in trouble anymore, we'll be in REAL trouble.
Haha thanks Jen. Don't worry, i'll always be around to sound off on everything new york rangers ;)
Hopefully there is a sense of urgency from the staff, players, and, maybe most importantly, the garden. Can we get that place rockin already?! I'm sick of hearing 'Madison Square Graveyard' everywhere i go.
And Jen, excellent points on the Avery, Richards and Voros Jamaican get away. I remember seeing that picture of them together and thinking "wow, i know Aves, Richie and A.V. are close, but this seems like a business trip". Maybe it was. Stan Fischler pun was hilarious, btw.
LGR!
Thanks Andy.
The only sure fire way to bury Madison Square Graveyard and revive the walking dead in there is to get rid of you know who and fish Mr. Avery's skates out of the Hudson! I'm asking for an uproar from the kool aid drinkers but the guy works out like a fiend. He's always tweeting about how he's killing it with his new Nike fuel band so I know he's staying in shape. No one, not even the heaviest of drinkers, can dispute that no player is better at igniting the Garden and the Rangers for that matter than Sean. Sigh.