The game was a microcosm of the season. The goalie stood on his head with 46 saves and the Rangers could get no more than 25 shots on goal. The result was a season ending 2-1 shootout loss and elimination from the playoffs. Too bad. They would have lost one day earlier they could have made the final round of the Masters. With the exception of Lundqvist and the fourth line, no one showed up, including the coach. He should have to explain why Gaborik, one of the five top goal scorers in the NHL did not participate in the shootout. Olli Jokinen? Are you kidding me? Tortorella's terse no is not an answer to why Gaborik was not used.
Talking to my two sons this morning I predicted that the Rangers would lose 2-1 and Lundqvist would make 51 saves. I am making a request to the NHL to review the game tape to find the other five saves that Lundqvist made and the scorer didn't record. Seriously, Lundqvist was great. The fact that he lost in that aberration known as the shootout does not diminish his performance. He did all he could and then some, to keep the Flyers off the scoreboard. If he has a weakness it's that he can't score goals. He should work on that over the summer.
Lundqvist put it best when he opined that it was difficult to beat the Flyers two games in a row when the fourth line is your best line. It's appropriate that the Rangers would lose in a shootout. The shootout is a disgrace to hockey and the Rangers played disgraceful hockey all year long. Plus their coach is a disgrace the way he handled the news conferences with arrogance. He should be fired. The Stealth should be fired. The Absentee Owner should sell the team .
All hail Prince Valiant, Henrik Lundqvist!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Prince Valiant
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I was wondering the same thing about Gaborik. Why wasn't our 42 goal scorer used in the shootout? Hello! When I saw Olli Jokinen racing towards goal I knew it was all over. I think you give yourself a better chance in the shootout if you slow down, creep towards the goalie, and make him think/react. I guess Olli was in a hurry to get to start his summer vacation. The misery is over. Bring back Tom Renney and Jagr at least they could get to 90 points.
Not much to say really. The Rangers real record is 38 wins and 44 losses. It is a sad comment on the NHL that they even had a chance for the playoffs. This was not a good hockey team.
Yes, they were a crummy team. This playoff "run" was a tempest in a teapot. Mighty mites playing for next year's contract or pride finally kicking in. Without Lundqvist they're pure flotsam. Watching Drury, a $7m/yr man, shuffle around the ice trying to block shots is pathetic. The idea of Rangers scoring actual goals in games against though opponents seems to go out the window.
Thinking of all the bad decisions Sather made this year wipes out any good that came from finally putting together a tough 4th line. Burying mistakes like Brashear in Hartford or Rissmiller in Grand Rapids while seeing guys like Prucha and Betts still playing is a bitter pill.
I like that line I heard about Sather not being fired until 5 years after he's dead. Sounds about right, this team of the dead men skating.
Amen Mike.
I'll be second-guessing in hindsight all summer long.
I'm finding it hard to believe that there are so many people out there defending Tortorella, and not just for the shootout selections. Why so many folks think that this season is not his fault is beyond me. The guy ranted and raved, changed line combinations almost as much as Tom Renney, threw his own safe is death nonsense out the window, had dozens of too many men calls (Sully's fault perhaps), placed too much faith in too many of the wrong people and was a complete and utter hypocrite. But there he is, being defended left and right. I don't get it.
Scott,
You have never heard me defend Torts. He is not the problem, and was not the solution. He has a lot of faults, from cutting off Avery's balls to over playing his "top" players, but he did get the PP going and he had the nerve to demote his useless pair of #1 defensemen to the second pairing.
The problem is Sather - who gave $18.5m in contracts to Drury, Rossy and Redden. A team can afford only 5 or 6 top players, and cannot afford to have 3 dogs among the top 5 or 6.
The way I see it, this team has a $10 million dollar drag on its payroll for another two years. For these two years, there is little hope UNLESS a kid becomes a star and plays like $6 million or someone takes one of our dogs off of our hands.
I think that Torts deserves just what he has and after 35 years with this team I am going to take a break for a while and star following the Coyotes!
The absentee owner needs to man up and get a new gm, plain and simple!
The coach changed lines WAY TO MUCH. You know its bad when the only line combo that worked all year was formed 3 weeks ago and its your fourth line!!!
Mike, you asked on an earlier post how would Lundqvist been if he had a NHL defense in front of him. Well he would 5 season's of 40 wins instead of 5 of 30 wins...
This team has no heart or pride. What an insult to its fans...
True to form the craven Maven goes to work as an apologist for "Full Tilt" Torts, with his dreck: "It might have been." He also never says a peep about the stealth gm and absentee owner. The Maven pins it all on the failure of Steve Valiquette. The Maven pins the downfall of the Rangers this year on the former backup goalie.
One of Stan's rules of engagement is to never say a disparaging word about anyone still within the confines of MSG and find someone dearly departed to take the heat. So predictable.
MSG has become a joke. The announcers are all homers, no one is honest. Sather's done what in the past 10 years to deserve another?
Renew my season tickets? It's a hard argument to make, giving Dolan and Sather money I don't really have.
Seaside
I agree with you. I will have a hard time renewing. The odds are that I will, but with the economy those odds are 50/50 and I will likely look to sell off tickets before I renew.