Marty Brodeur got lucky last night. He was lucky the Rangers got only 26 shots on goal. He was lucky that the Devils got a curious bouncing puck on a clearing shot by Andy Greene which landed about 10 feet in front of Ranger goalie Marty Biron, where David Clarkson put it past the Ranger goalie with 47.6 seconds left to tie the game. Finally, he was lucky that coach disagreeable decided to sit Henrik Lundqvist against the Devils.
Sit Lundqvist against the Devils? Sit Lundqvist against Brodeur? Talk about pissing away two points, that did it. The coach who never talks about big moments and is only interested in the two points, gave one away last night. How do you sit the force against the whiner? How do you sit a guy who has a 21-5-5 record, with a GAA of 1.62 against the greatest goalie who ever lived playing in front of the greatest defensive team ever put together? Naturally no one brought that up at the news conference. Sam did ask about the power play, 0-3, 1-24 and ad nauseam. The answer. "I don't want to talk about it." Sorry Sire!
The game was actually a very good game. The Devils scored the only shootout goal when million dollar man Ilya Kovalchuk put one through the wickets of Marty Biron as Stepan, Richards and Gaborik all failed. This post is not a knock on Marty Biron, who has been terrific for the Rangers this year and is now 9-2-1. But when you have the opportunity to pick up the two points, go for it. The point will look big in April.
This Rangers' Power Play Moment is Brought to You by...
I'm glad you brought up the issue of which goaltender started. With back-to-back games, why not go with a surely rested Henrik against NJ, a divisional foe with established firepower, and start Biron against the lesser Sabres? Having spent nearly a decade in Buffalo, you'd think Marty would be additionally psyched to start and win one there.
Plus, it caused alot of confusion for poor Dave Maloney. I think Dave must have called Brodeur "Biron" and vice versa about a dozen times on the radio broadcast last night...
Seriously, I don't understand Tortorella's reasoning on anything...
The shootout....
Gaborik THIRD? It could have been over before he even shot. How about trying Hagelin, or even Del Zotto in a shootout situation?
And yeah, I still miss Avery....
Ramblin' Pete- If you figure out coach disagreeable please let me know.
Funny you should mention Avery. He has scored two goals with Hartford plus a shootout goal. Also three goals with the Rangers with limited appearances and more limited ice time.
Great stuff as always Pundit! I am glad you brought up coach disagreeable's failure to capitalize on big moments. For an emotional guy he never takes into consideration the personal meaning of games to players unless of course we are playing Tampa Bay. This is a huge part of sports that should be used to a teams advantage. Lundqvist vs Brodeur should be a NO BRAINER but isn't that exactly what we are dealing with here? I am also, like you, sick of how coach never answers for the power play. In all of the time he's been here he has never said anything other than "we're working on it." He doesn't answer because he can't answer. Coach is absolutely clueless in all things offense, including the shootout and especially the PP. He just has no idea how to put one on the ice but of course that's the players fault, right? Right.
Now he is saying this week we will find out the fate of Wolski, a player he has never really used so we really have no idea if he can help this teams offense or not, and of course the coaches own personal "complete package" Christensen. The complete package who sits in the press box every night. Yeah sure coach whatever you say. I have lost count of how many lies this guy spews to cover up all of his own inadequacies. Sickening. Anyway, I am sure that he will send Wolski and his almost $4 million to the AHL since he doesn't like him at all. Makes me wonder how many big contracts Dolan will allow in Hartford. Meanwhile things are a mess down there. They have too many forwards as it is, they are on a 10 game losing streak, their PP looks worse than ours. The team has gone through the injury bug and serving as coach disagreeable's dumping ground isn't helping the chemistry very much. Gernander must hate him lol! I know I do!