The game was over and I was watching the Rangers post game show on MSG. The three experts, or hockey analysts, were Al Trautwig, Stan "The Maven" Fischler and Ron "Ooh La La Sasson" Duguay. They were analyzing the reasons the Rangers lost the final game and the series.
In case you forgot, Duguay played eight years with the Rangers, 1977-1983 and 1986-1988. He scored 141 goals in the first six years, 23.5 goals per year and had 13 goals in 82 games the second time around. Despite all of this Duguay was more famous for the "Ooh La La Sasson" television commercial than his heroics on the ice. There were times during that period that the Ranger fans turned the commercial on the Rangers with the chant, "Ooh La La We Suck." If you missed it, you missed a classic rebuke of a team by its fans.
But here were the three wise men and they basically were in agreement that the Rangers lost for the following reasons:
- Overall power play ineffectiveness.
- Not enough shots on goal. The Rangers got one in four attempts on the power play.
- Not enough shots in the game, especially in the first two periods. Twenty two shots the entire game and zero shots in OT.
- No pressure on the Penguin goalie.
- Team came out flat to start the game and only got 11 shots the first two periods.
- The Rangers were out hit almost 2-1, 41-22.
But these are not just playoff problems. The Rangers have suffered from an ineffective power play all year long and what has coach clueless done to fix it? Nothing. He continually puts out the same crew, 'rounds up the usual suspects' and they spend the time passing the puck around the perimeter looking for that open spot, that perfect goal. Prucha, the most efficient goal scorer on the team, sits on the bench, most of the time. Prucha, when he does play, gets less than ten minutes a game, and no ice time on the power play. Callahan who never gets power play ice time got all of 25 seconds on the power play Sunday. Dawes got all of 1:19 on the power play Sunday.
So who gets all the power play time. Guess who? The dynamic Czech trio of Jagr, Straka and Rozsival all got over four minutes of power play ice time, the most on the team. Straka, believe it or not got 4:26 of power play ice time, 23:35 of game ice time and got all of one shot on goal and one hit, and I missed both. Rozsival got 4:14 of power play time, 25:54 of regular time, no shots, one hit and took three lazy penalties for six minutes. I missed the hit. Jagr, got 4:01 of power play ice time, 23:36 of regular time, no shots and no hits plus two penalties for four minutes and let Jerko Ruutu dump him on his butt with absolutely no response. Coach clueless looked on approvingly. He also watched as the Rangers tic-tac-toe style of attack worked to perfection. Jagr to Straka to Jagr to Rozsival to Jagr to Straka to Jagr, well you get the idea.
Reasons, 5 and 6, coming out flat and no hits is a coaching problem, pure and simple. The Rangers have come out flat more often than not in the key games this year. You have to admit this was a key game. Renney does not know how to get a team up.
So with these facts before them the three wise men of 33rd Street produced a chart entitled, Tom Terrific. Tom Seaver should sue for guilt by association. Terrific indeed! The regular season record, a little over three years, is 133-118, a winning percentage of .529%, and in the playoffs he is 11-13, for .458%. The Rangers were eliminated in five in the second round and last year they were eliminated in six. You can see that the team is going backwards.
The three wise men base their opinions on the fact that the Rangers have made the playoffs three straight years. First year, swept by Devils in the first round. Second year, ousted by the Sabres in six and third, knocked out by the Pens in five.
However, the reasons they give for the Rangers poor performance is an indictment of the coach not an endorsement. Passive team? Did you see clueless go berserk on Crosby's key dive in the first game? Of course not. He kept chewing that stale piece of gum he chews. Did you see coach clueless stomp his feet on top of the boards when Drury was cut and bleeding and staining the ice and their was no call? Of course not.
What would have been the reaction of the Pens bench had it been Sidney Crosby cut and bleeding like that with no penalty called? In fact, what would have been the reaction of Bettman and the empty suits in the NHL? The Ranger responsible would have been suspended. But, no one screams so there is nothing to correct. Remember the 1992 playoff game between the Rangers and Pens where Graves slashed Lemieux, who went down like a rock? Supposedly his hand was broken. I believe he missed one game. Graves was suspended for the rest of the playoffs. It comes under the heading that the more things change the more they stay the same.
So you tell me. Is our coach terrific or is he clueless? Can he take this Ranger team to the next level? Can he take any Rangers team to the next level? You know how I feel. Let me know how you feel.
* Sorry, due to some technical gliches (poll wasn't appearing correctly in all browsers)
this poll was closed early. But, the trend is clear.
this poll was closed early. But, the trend is clear.
Funny how a guy, like Korpikoski, comes up for one playoff game. Doesn't know the Renney system and has the nerve to shoot the puck at the net. And score.
Damn that kid for scoring, doesn't he know you have to pass it first. Renney will fix that problem next year if the kid comes up. But don't count on it, he already has one strike against him. Not a Renney type, shoots too much.
A good example in the last game of the bad case of "no-shootitis" that the Rangers have was that short handed rush of Marc Staal and Marty Straka. Staal wouldn't take the shot after the pass from Straka, instead he passed back to an already covered Straka. It's infuriating.
Renney must let this team over pass in practice. If he yelled at them to shoot, maybe they'd learn.
I've been saying this since the day the Blueskirts were eliminated by the devils in 4 games 3 years ago. Tom Renney is the resurrection of Roger Neilson and doesn't have the passion to take this team to the finals. They both have similar records and similar coaching styles.
I'd love to see Tortorella in NY again. We need someone who stresses a physical style of play because the Rangers were hit out of the playoffs.
My son and I used to go to Canada every summer, where he would attend clinics for advanced hockey skills. One program had the name "Shoot to Score" and made a kid take a lap after games for each time he did not shoot on net. They had as their motto the famous Wayne Gretzky line "I never scored on a shot I didnt take."
There are a few basic problems with this team, and we here on this blog, Mike leading, have named them all. With all those flaws, I still think this team could have won it all if the power play would have worked. I agree with the Renney and Devils theory of hockey that says no one should score 5-5, even you, IF you can prevail on the power play. IF it fails, as it did all year, you better have a plan B. Renney's mistake was that Plan B was to repeat Plan A.
section 335,
One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Sounds like Tom Renney with his "Plan B was to repeat Plan A." When everyone could see Plan A was not working. And do that over and over all year long.