As if the game wasn't bad enough there was coach disagreeable with his 5-star growl daring the lame stream media to ask him a question. Daring them! And then, house lap dog Al Trautwig explaining to us that the coaches spend, "hours, and hours and hours," working with this team. Wow! Hours? Doing what? Another dismal offensive performance. Another blanking on the PP, 0-4. Another playoff loss, 1-0, in OT to the Caps.
See, the regular season strategy of playing defense at all costs, blocking shots, clearing the puck to get to the shootout, don't work for playoff hockey. That's why that stupid shootout should be abolished. It's irrelevant. The playoffs are what counts and there are no shootouts in the playoffs. Instead of developing a defensive game plan to get us into a shootout the plan should have been offense. Score goals. Shoot the puck. Get in front of the net. One more time. Get in front of the net.
Lundqvist was brilliant. While Holtby played good again, with 24 saves. I wonder the result if the goalies switched sides. Remember, the Rangers were one of the lowest scoring teams in the NHL. They had the goal scorers, Nash, Callahan, Stepan, Richards and for most of the season Gaborik. Yet they were basically impotent. You think maybe the coach had something to do with it?
The blame stream media will make much of McDonagh's clearing the puck for a two minute minor that caused the loss. You think maybe Ryan was tired for being on the ice for an extra long shift? You think? We could rail all we want about all the little nuances and coulda, woulda, shoulda. But the bottom line is that in playoff hockey you need game goals to win games. And the one thing that is consistent with this team. They can't score.
Pray for Henrik Lundqvist. He is our only hope.
Saturday, May 04, 2013
Bummer!
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The wait for your opportunities, play it safe mentality that torts preaches may be enough to sqeek into a playoff spot in the regular season but that doesn't get you very far in the playoffs. In the playoffs you have to set the tone, you have to take advantage of opportunities, you must command respect and own the ice if you want to win a championship. We do none of that. We play it straight, we don't get traffic to the net, we don't make the opposition fear us on the scoreboard or physically. After games we say we just need to keep doing more of the same and eventually we will get a bounce. A roll of the dice, a flip of a coin that is almost how we determine our outcomes. You never know what you'll get because we do not dictate, we wait, we watch and then wait some more. The only certainty we ever have is that Henrik wants it, Henrik will give his all, Henrik will be amazing. Without him we would already be golfing. We never make any necessary adjustments, we change nothing we just keep doing the same exact thing game in game out and get the same results. We had 3 pp's and 2 shots! 2. We stay on the outside never crashing the net, we don't make their D move, we start backing up too fast, don't take any chances boys. Why no hagelin on the pp? Why Pyatt? These are only 2 of the endless questions that torts makes us ask ourselves everyday. But don't dare ask him about it, he doesn't answer those questions, those answers are none of our business, those answers stay in the room. BULL. He has no answers, none because he has no idea what he is doing. He's a horrible coach. We have plenty of talent to score, plenty of talent to make a strong run, plenty of talent to entertain us and plenty of talent to help our goalie out a little. But we will never know what our potential is or what we can achieve until this coach is gone. What a crime.
Apparently Henrik needs to go down the ice with the puck and try to score as well. A whopping 1 goal in 2 games. Yep, put their names on the cup with this offensive explosion... Power play is so weak, they get more chances with 5 on 5 then with the man advantage. Frustrating as hell to watch... Why do I waste my time?
Jeanine, agree completely, well said. I am just so upset that this egomaniacal, know-nothing coach is pissing away the greatest goaltending in Rangers history. Lunqvist is in his prime, with his skills at their pinnacle perhaps. And this Tortorella-handicapped team can't give Henrik a couple of goals and skate of with a win or four and march straight to the cup.
Dan, I was thinking how I hate the Ranger powerplay so much, I was wondering if someone on the Rangers should immediately start a ruckus and draw a 2min minor after a whistle on the Caps, so they can skate 4-on-4. Because, I think they have a better chance scoring then, than they do 5-on-4.