The Rangers did it the old fashioned way last night against the Caps. They returned to basics. They returned to solid in your face hockey and more important Henrik Lundqvist returned to form with a 22 save shutout of his personal patsies, the Washington Caps. It is the third game in a row that Lundqvist has shutout the Caps, including games six and seven of last years playoffs. Coach Alain Vigneault can breath a little easier.
The Rangers won it in all aspects. They outshot the Caps, 36-22. They outhit the Caps, 35-21 and the Rangers blocked more shots by a 32-13 margin. The great Ovechkin launched 13 shots at the net, 8 were stopped by Lundqvist. However, he was outmatched by the Rangers Brad Richards, who fired 12, 5 on net and racked up two assists and was a plus 2. He was voted number three star for the night by the NHL while Lundqvist was the number star of the night in the NHL.
Ice time was fairly even with only three Rangers getting less than ten minutes. D-man Justin Falk had 8:57 and two forwards, Jesper Fast, 8:08 and Derrick Brassard, a plus 2, with 9:33. All in all a fine team performance. After the debacle out west this game was a welcome outcome. Hopefully they will keep it going as they tour the East now. But it is the same as last year. The Rangers will only go as far as Lundqvist will take them. If last night was any indication the Rangers may go quite far this year.
ICINGS: T/Birds JV lost their first game of the year, a 6-5 OT loss to Northport/Huntington. They are now 3-0-1.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Back To Basics!
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The Caps game was a good game. The second period was a really good indication of what the game plan should be, but it felt like all the air was let out of our balloon once Stepan was hit to start the third. Everyone is saying the hit was not intentional and Brouwer apologized but how in the world did he not see Step? Step said it was ok so I'm willing to say its ok but man, he was coming right at him. I am glad that nobody is talking about the Rangers lack of response since once again the ref warned us he was going to penalize us if the players didn't stop banging their sticks on the boards at the bench. Imagine if they handled it with fights? We would have put the Caps on a long PP and possibly lost the game. The NHL is looking to take fighting out of the game so maybe we shouldn't judge the players so harshly for some of these decisions to not fight. It sucks but its the way its going right now.
Anyway, that set up a strange feel to the third for me and the Rangers didn't keep up the pace or game plan they set up in the second which is the exact reason Cally broke his thumb blocking on a shot on his last shift of the game. 3-4 weeks for him now. That hurts.
I didn't comment on the post about the Stealth GM but I agree, of course. The guy is never held responsible for all of his shortcomings. Last season he waters down the talent to please a coach his players didn't want to play for, unbeknown to him. Then he fires said coach and hires one who can coach talent, except now he's traded it all away. What a circus. And that's just one example of his many ridiculous decisions. Where can I find such great job security with such great pay? Must be nice.
Sounds like a tough loss for the grandson, Mike. I was hoping they would win every game!