The Rangers had a helluva time in a scrimmage against the Flyers last night in a 5-2 romp against a defenseless goalie and Derek Stepan proving once again to be the best forward on the Rangers. Stepan, centering Nash and Hagelin, had a goal and three assists. Nash had two goals. Richards and Kreider had the other two goals against a beleaguered Ilya Bryzgalov, who made 26 saves. The Flyers have given up 99 goals. Only five teams in the entire NHL have given up more goals.
It is hard for me to decide whether this was the breakout game or that the Flyers are a defenseless team with a mediocre goalie. The Flyer D doesn't seem any better than the Flyer goalies. With 28 points the Flyers are in 14th place, seven points behind the 8th place Rangers and fading fast. But enough about the Flyers.
Stepan now has ten goals. Nash leads the team with twelve. Stepan's goal gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead and was eventually the game winner. The lame stream media is all agog how coach disagreeable shook up the lines to bring about this offensive outburst. Are they kidding? Every game is a shake up of lines. During the game and during shifts. So what's the big deal? Also they are touting that disagreeable posted his 400th win. Big deal. He's lost more than he's won. See one of our readers, jeanine posts, to get the full story on his wonderful record. A .500 coach at best.
So the road trip continues up north of the border against Ottawa and Montreal. Ah Montreal! The House of Horrors. Montreal is 4th in the East and Ottawa is 5th. The Rangers are in a New York Area dogfight for 8th place with the Devils and the Islanders. How the mighty have fallen. A year ago the fight for the top spot. This year the fight for the last playoff spot. I guess it's better than fighting the Flyers for 13th place.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Derek Steps Up. Again!
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For once it felt great to watch the rangers this year! That's the team I remember from last season.
Pundits' boy Step is on fire and playing the best hockey of his career. Hopefully disagreeable keeps him and Nash together.
This may have just been a romp over a mediocre flyers team, but damn it feels good beating the you know what out of that team. Keep it rollin' now boys...
Ha! Thanks for the props Mike! Tortorella career coaching percentage is .539, like you said big deal!! The Rangers PR machine is always cranking, trying to convince everyone how great of a coach he is. You change the lines enough your bound to hit it right some nights.
I would love to say I was excited by last nights victory. I'm glad we won, I'm glad we actually scored some goals, Brad finally gets one, but the game was kind of boring. We played ok but Philly was terrible. In all my years of watching hockey I've never seen a Flyers team so uncharacteristic of the Flyers. They don't hit anyone, they don't start any flyer crap, they're defense was atrocious and their goaltending was crappy. They're awful. Geez.
Stepan was the most exciting part of the night, he has really come into his own. It's been great to see how he's elevated his game this season. We will find out if the Rangers can carry any their offense over the Canadian border, history tells me don't expect much. We shall see.
For me that was the best game that I've seen this year. They put together almost a full 60 minutes of good hockey, except for the 2 goal Philly burst
It was a game of round numbers: Torts got his 400th. Richards got his 800th point (250g, 550a) in his 884th game. Nash got his 300th and 301st goals, in his 702nd game.
... And Boyle had zero's across the board. Why does Boyle (13:42) get more ice time than Kreider (13:00)?
How will giving JT and Kreider more ice time hurt?
I agree with JB, why not give more ice time to JT and Kreider? I will tell you why, coach can't "trust" a couple of rookies. They might make mistakes. Newbury only clocked 7:53 - what's the point? He may as well have played Powe who would have been playing his former team. IDK. What concerns me most is the way he runs down the top 4 D. Hamrlik only had 4:19 and Stralman (who I like) only had 10:22. Another thing that is really bothering me is how he continues to crap on Gaby. Once again he moved him to his uncomfortable position of LW and he only got 15:40 which are 3rd line minutes. Gaby scored two games ago and since then he's been dropped to the third line and had his position changed yet again. Coach wants him gone so he doesn't want him to start scoring. I saw it coming. I literally told Jeanine that I thought Gaby was getting Avery'd by the coach the DAY BEFORE the first trade rumor from Bruce Garrrioch showed up. Burns me up. Anyway the mess of the offense continues as the Rangers are now bringing back Zuccarello. Did anyone hear about that article where his Norwegian coach Roy Johansen made comments regarding the Rangers and Torts in particular? It was classic, here's what he said: "I do not exactly think agents have done some great work for Mats. Rangers are not a club that suits him. They play hockey Stone Age, they just dump the puck into the zone and chases after it." He went on to say he felt the agents should have "steered Matts away from the Rangers not only this time but the first time." Then he said he wasn't sure how much Rangers coach John Tortorella really wants Zuccarello because last time he kept sending him down to the minors and he said "Besides, it is clearly seen that the relationship between Zuccarello and Rangers coach was not the best. It shone through that Tortorella did not trust Matt when he was last there, and if the decision to bring Matt back to the club was by anyone other than Tortorella then it is not certain that it gets so much playing time on Mats this time either, says Roy Johansen." On Zucc he says he has "Extraordinary skills when used correctly." Yup Roy we know. Coach doen't use anyone correctly if he plays offense.