"Be Better, Be Tighter"

Those are the words of coach clueless after today's debacle. I call it a debacle because we can't get out of our own way in the offensive zone, were 0-9 on the power play, and despite putting 41 shots on goal we still passed up too many shots and the usual suspects continued to man the power play to no avail. Petr Prucha was again screwed which means the PP and the team suffered. Prucha got 10:47 of ice time and zero time on the power play and yet not one of the experts at MSG and the drive by media asked coach clueless the question. Why doesn't Prucha get power play time?

But according to coach clueless we have to play the game tighter which infers it was defense that cost us the game. I guess we are supposed to win games when we score two goals. Last game we lost to Florida 3-2 in the shootout. The previous game we beat Tampa Bay 2-1. The game before a 2-1 loss to the Islanders. So we have to play it tighter. How about, we have to open it up? How about, we should have won 6-3 today? So now we have lost three out of the last four and our next game is against the Islanders and it's Nolan against coach clueless so we are already down 2-0.

The first goal by Dallas was a gift by Gomez who refused to pull the trigger in the slot and had to make one more deke or pass. He coughed up the puck and trapped the whole Ranger team as Jussi Jokinen beat Lundqvist on a breakaway to tie it at one. After Shanny put us ahead, Loui Eriksson broke in alone on Lundqvist as Hossa waved at him and it was 2-2. The killer and winner was delivered by Brendan Morrow courtesy of Ribeiro undressing Girardi and putting a gimme on Morrow's stick. Since we already had gotten our quota of two goals the game was effectively over. Oh yes, Jagr had scored the first goal to give us a 1-0 lead. However, in keeping with the mentality of this team it was actually a pass that went off of a Star defenseman. Jagr looked annoyed that his pass didn't make it through and that he actually scored.

After the game Lundqvist thought he should have stopped the second shot. I don't know about that, but what I do know is that he should not get any more games off until he literally collapses. He doesn't look razor sharp after he returns from a game off. He insists he is not tired and is ready to play every game so why not trust him and play him until he drops. Who knows, maybe he does make that second save and even that first one and then coach clueless would brag what a great game the team played without going over their allotment of goals. By the way, the PK bent, giving up 2-5. Maybe we have to tighten the PK up.

So this is what the Rangers and their fans are up against. We will continue to play defense first at all costs, score a goal or two, and not make any critical mistakes. Go over this roster and you tell me who is incapable of making mistakes? And Malik isn't even in the lineup. I have to go dig up old films of the Sabres and the Devils and find where was the event that turned two pretty good hockey players like Drury and Gomez into tentative mushes. You don't think it's the coach? Nah!

ICINGS: Larry Brooks reports that Pat Burns is fully recovered and itching to get back into coaching. Very interesting. Nigel Dawes had a four pointer in Hartford the other night, 2 goals and 2 assists. What was it he was supposed to improve on by going back to Hartford? And Hossa continues to play. In six games with Hartford Dawes has 3 goals and 7 assists. He had four goals with the Rangers. Hossa has zero goals and 3 assists in 20 games. Thomas Pock had a goal and two assists in the same game and is 1-7-8 in 15 games.

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